Best way to clothe babies - esp on a budget?

[BearMama]

Thoughts on this please...I plan to have my LO (due in March) in babygros and snowsuits for the first three months and am trying to resist the urge to buy all the cute clothes, even second hand as everyone says they grow out of it so fast.
I just found out today that there is a difference between "newborn" and "0-3". Novice mum alert!
Tell me your experience - what did you dress your LO in for the first year and what would you do differently?

ebay/primark/supermarkets are cheapest.

You will probably get bought lots of stuff as well.

Could you face bargaining? If so my tip for toys and clothes is to get late to the nct sales just before everyone packs up. There is always loads left over - particularly clothes. If you go up and chat to the sellers they often offer you stuff really really cheap cos they don't want to take stuff home.

My other tip is to have a small child. my ds is on the 2nd centile and is handed clothes all the time from a friend I made in the antenatal class whose ds is 95th centile!!

Haven't read whole thread but my DD lived in sleepsuits (plus a cardigan or hoody when it was cold) till she was about 10 months I think. Seemed to make sense as babies sleep during the day as well as at night (ideally).

They are totally practical, cheap and save you having to think too hard which is always good. And when they are a bit bigger and only using them as sleepsuits at night, cut the feet off (adding socks if necessary) to make them last longer, and also stop their feet getting tangled in them at night.

I also used to add those voluminous soft elasticated bootees on her feet to keep them warm (and to stop her legs from riding up inside the sleepsuit).

Charity shops are always worth looking in for little fleeces, cardies etc.

And yes agree, buying dresses for a pre-walking girl is a complete waste, I had tons which just never got used. Most of these were handed down, and had never been used by their original owners either

Have you joined your area's Freecycle? Just sign up on the web and you get email alerts of people giving away things for free. It's fantastic, and there are always baby clothes and things being given away on mine.

luvaduck - good tip about not washing anything!

ilove beinglazy - have avoided NCT sales so far as i've heard they can be a bit of a scrum but could probably face going there at the end of the day when its more relaxed.Have not heard the "centile" expression - what does that mean?

Pixelherder, good tip about cutting feet off sleepsuits for night use. And I am hoping to accumulate as many cardies as possible!

ladyhump, am on Freecycle and got my baby bath from there. Havent had much success so far with baby clothes - not quick enough off the mark or cant pickup to suit. But you are right they are always being offered so will keep looking.

jammi, kwym about not wanting white or cream clothes. Think I'll try TK Maxx when she is a bit older - but before she can get really fussy

Both of mine were in 0-3 at about four weeks, I would make life easy and get yourself a pack of newborn vests and sleepsuits from tesco or somewhere else just as cheap because you will find they will pull their feet up and stay in the fetal position for the first couple of weeks, with 0-3 they never quite get their legs back where they should be and get all tangled.

I kept my baby pretty much in sleepsuits for the first year, she is 14 months now and still wears one for bed and all day if its a lazy one, my boy is nearly 6 weeks and plan the same with him. Comfort is the most important thing with babies, they need to learn to roll, sit up, crawl, much easier if your not wearing restrictive clothing, i think anyway.

its about how big your baby is. If your baby is on the 95th centile only 5% of babies will be bigger. if your baby is on 2nd centile 98% of babies will be bigger. in other words ds is teeny tiny. The whole centile thing will be explained when they start weighing your baby so don't worry about it for now.

Primark is absolutely fantastic for vests, sleepsuits etc. Very cheap and looks nice. If there's something lovely but too expensive that I see in JojomamanBebe, Blooming Marvellous, mamas and papas etc I often see if I can find it on ebay and often can buy it way cheaper than the shop price. Also, lots of people sell bundles of baby clothes on ebay - I've bought lots (probably too much) of stuff this way - just search on, eg, bundle + 0-3 and you'll usually find loads at bargain prices.

Phatmouse, v interesting about babies staying in the fetal position for the first couple of weeks - its these little things that make the difference!

ilovebeinglazy - thanks for the explanation about centiles.

bellabelly-thanks will look on ebay, have been put off in the past but there have to be some reliable sellers there!

I didn't buy any new clothes for any of my children in their first year. I bought all the clothes second-hand on e-bay or from jumble sales or the the NCT Nearly New Sales.

It's only when my children reach the age of 3 that I start buying nice new clothes. At least at that age they last the year!

For my ds born in March 2007, all the items were from a fabulous aquaintance who gave me 5 bin bags full of clothes. I kid you not, there were 106 vests in the 3-6 months age group! She does have 2 boys but still. I will be forever grateful. She effectively gave me about £400 worth of free clothing and I barely know her. I can assure you, it was the best Christmas present I've received for a long time. Some of the clothes were either new or barely worn.

You could also put out a shout on freecycle or ask your local NCT for details of NNS or whether they'll put a shout out for any spare clothes from other NCT members. Members like myself regularly pass on wearable clothes to others free of charge.

I found that in the first year, you don't really need much. My children spent most of the 0-3 months in 0-3 months sized sleepsuits and vests, so I would get lots of those. You don't really need many outfits for the 0-6 months. For 6-12 months, lots of socks but be warned: they are easily lost so do not spend a lot of money on them.
Also dungarees. During the 6-12 months stage, your lo will learn to crawl. Dungarees, with poppers on the inside legs are best. Tescos and ASDA sell bargain new clothes for this age group, so if you can't find them second-hand, go down to TESCO and ASDA for excellent value new clothes.

my ds is 12 weeks and I already have a massive stack of clothes that dont fit him

I use asda vests and sleepsuits (though i got loads of poasher sleepsuits as presents) and I dress them in clothes right from the start hence the big pile thats ready to go on ebay.Its all NEXT so I justify it to myself that I get some money back

DS is just 3 months old, and he's pretty much lived in sleepsuits the whole time. They're a lot easier to hold when they're wearing sleepsuits than when they're in trousers and tops, or little dresses IMO...

He had a couple of outfits that we put on him when we went out, or and a meet with the antenatal group, but I think he was much more comfortable lounging around in his PJ's all day (hell, I did for the first month at least, why shouldn't he :-) )

You will be AMAZED at how quickly they grow too... some things only get worn a couple of times, despite best efforts.

Word of warning - boots and BHS stuff is TINY, so buy a size up.

Oooh, one thing I wish I had done was ask people to buy clothes for 3-6 months. You'll get loads of presents anyway and the expense of forking out for 3-6 months would have been eased if we'd had some stuff already. Same goes for toys - they don't need anything until they're 3 months old, so get people to buy for older.

ONE MORE>....

I have LOADS of knitted cardigans, if you want any... willing to post FOC.

[email protected]

some blue/green.. mostly white though i think.

my ds was so huge when he was born was straight into 3-6mth.. so stuff we were given/ bought didn't fit. my dh just whizzed out to the shops and bought some sleep suits, vests - the shops never close and internet shopping is always there for you
good luck!

My DS was born in July and he basically lived in vests and sleepsuits/playsuits most of the time. We were lucky though and people did buy some nice outfits which he wore if we were going out somewhere special.

Tescos are good for cheap vests and sleepsuits, but they tended to shrink/bobble quicker than more expensive ones. I did get a fair amount of stuff from Mothercare because it did last longer. I seem to remember I found the best combination of price and quality at Woolworths.

The best colour of all is white because you can soak it and put it through a hot wash without worrying. But it gets boring so I'd agree with whoever said try to get things in similar colours. Have one or two nice fleecy sleepsuits to keep your LO warm first thing in the morning.

Sleeping bags are the absolute best thing for nightime. You'll need two. Grobags are expensive but well worth it. They wash really well and they are generally more generous in size than the cheaper makes so you can guarantee they'll go the distance.

And another thing, playsuits or rompers are better than sleepsuits if you can find them. They tend to be more expensive but they'll repay you since they last a lot longer, having no feet.

HTH.

Oh, another thing about Tescos. Apart from the stretchy stuff, their clothes do LAST. DS is 19 months and he's still wearing Tesco trousers for 6-9 months - yes really. And he's not that small for his age either.

I forgot to mention quantities. You should have at least 6 vests and 6 sleepsuits. If you have a very pukey baby you'll need twice this amount, take it from me.

There are some GREAT tips here -
Thanks everyone for taking the time to write them. At this stage advice is almost as valuable as actual items! There is so much that you cant garantee, but recommendations such what clothes wear best and what worked for you with your LO are really useful.

Its so helpful when all this experience is shared. Dont have a Mum or Grandmother hence Mumsnet is invaluable!

There are some GREAT tips here -
Thanks everyone for taking the time to write them. At this stage advice is almost as valuable as actual items! There is so much that you cant garantee, but recommendations such what clothes wear best and what worked for you with your LO are really useful.

Its so helpful when all this experience is shared. Dont have a Mum or Grandmother hence Mumsnet is invaluable!

freecycle, ebay, charity shops, nct sales, mumsnet, car boots, look in the newspaper, ad board in supermarket, post office, newsagents etc. i would buy all 0-3 months stuff. then when its born if its all far too big you can buy smaller stuff and it will grow into the 0-3 stuff. if you buy all newborn stuff and then your baby is too big you're buggered and it will be wasted.

i dont think you can beat sleepsuits for the first couple of months, cheap, practical, comfortable and 'babyish' they've got the rest of thier life for clothes!!!

neither of my boys were small 7.15 and 7.13 but they both lived in white, early baby, sleepsuits for their first couple of weeks.

ds2, now 7 weeks, has a couple of 'going out' sleepsuits that are a bit nicer than the supermarket ones he wears at night or if were staying in!!! try mamas and papas, john lewis and debenhams for some gorgeous ones!!

agree with twinklemegan about tescos i only buy sleepsuits and bodysuits from there, they're so rediculously cheap i don't mind throwing rather than washing body suits covered in explosive poo (that might be a bf baby thing because my friends ff fed baby never does it!!)

hope this helps, good luck!!!!

xx

honestly, don't buy much, you will find friends and relations and people you don't even really know that well with buy or knit stuff, especially if this is your first baby. just buy enough to get through the first couple of weeks, sleepsuits, vests, socks, babygros, the day to day mundane stuff, if people buy you presents they tend to be the cute, fancy stuff.

also i never bothered with snowsuits, got a couple as presents, but i found them a pain in the ass to get on and off, particularly on my baby who ballooned in size in his first few weeks so i really had to stuff him in them if you see what i mean.

oh last tip, get front fastennig babygrows, much easier to get on and off baby.

agree with soopermum1 about snowsuits, a little jacket and blanket are far easier to deal with also better for regulating temperature with, i find snowsuits a bit thick for our weather, even on days like today, we've got snow : ) !!

xx

oh and with vests get the wrap style ones. they are much easier to get over little ones head i find.