Baby clothes - why are they all bloody pink and blue!!

[ClaireDB]

I'm 23 weeks with my first baby and I've just started looking at baby clothes. I'm having a girl and don't want to dress her in pink all the time but unisex clothes all seem to be white and boring.

Also, it seems to be hard to find nursery stuff which isn't either 'boy' or 'girl'. I don't see why everything has to be gendered, I mean they are all the same at that age aren't they?

What is this pink and blue fixation about and does it drive anyone else mad or is it just the hormones!?

if you think it's bad now, it was WAY worse 6 years ago!

I have a 6.5 year old ds and have had 2 girlies since and I see the most adorable boy clothes in red/orange/greens that i'd loved to have dressed my boy in.

have you looked in next? gap?

I agree is very annoying. Pink and blue toys are annoying as well. For clothes H&M, Mothercare and Pumpkin Patch all do some better, multi-coloured stuff. Boots baby clothes are nice too.

I find this really dreadful too. Hate the thought of having to gender my children so early. I hate the role models it implies, all princesses and fairies for girls and tractors and cars for boys. More annoying is the feeling that if you dont do it, and that takes effort then they may - as they get older - feel self conscious about looking different to everyone else...argh!

I am currenly planning on white babygros with the occasional coloured cardigan/hat etc to liven things up. Theres an online shop called myfamily shop whihc does brilliant brights. I bought these for my nephew a few years back with a pair of neutral dungarees. He wore, bright yellow, bright orange, turqoise, purple etc. Maybe seems a bit overpowereing when they are still tiny but at 9 months its suited him brilliantly. I think it was M and S that had soe cute jungle creatures. Probably meant for boys but they were ok I thought for a girl too.

Look at rainbowbabies - also Boots (Mini Mode online - though they have got their autumn/winter range in now which is depressingly brown for boys!!) and actually I got loads of nice things from ebay. Ebay is good actually if you use the filters - here's a sample search for you: Newborn - 3-6M, Girl/Unisex, Any colour except pink or white (I also ticked "unspecified" as you find more bargains but you do get some crappily listed things too) - you can also search by brand which is useful.

I find it quite fun and a challenge to pick out the lovely bright, colourful or just different baby things!

My final tip is to look in the boys' section as well. A lot of "boys" clothes can be unisex, especially if you pair them with a pink bodysuit or flowery trousers etc. There are no differences in their body shapes until puberty, and certainly not when they are babies. You can't do this in reverse though as everything for girls is either frilly, pink, purple or covered in flowers, glitter or hearts!

I have a boy (3) and a girl (1).

I hate the blue / pink thing and here's what I do...(the reason why I got angry with it was because I had accidentally brainwashed my DS into thinking everything pink belonged to DD and everything else belonged to him - clothes wise it was accidentally true but I was cross about it and thought I would stop the pink)

Neither of my kids have many clothes - I only buy clothes that I think are decent colours and they are really hard to find so I have very few. This is a good thing anyway when they are little because they'll grow out of babyclothes quickly.

Boys - I get brightly coloured clothes - for babies, the usual is pale blue and as they are toddlers, the usual choice is sludge sort of colours. So, I get bright red, green etc and have navy as well. Also orange.

Girls - I get red (girls section), navy (often from boys section), green (can sometimes get this for girls). I always go for strong, bright colours for DD. I get purple, but not light purple, it has to be a strong one!

Try babygap for bright clothes. Mini boden also have some nice bright clohtes, but I do prefer babygap. I usually buy the gap basics so they aren't too expensive, I don't buy the fancy stuff. Always buy boden stuff with discount codes.

White is OK for babygros, I don't like white on toddlers, think it is a stupid colour as they get dirty etc.

Anyway...I dressed my 1yo walking DD in a red pair of (girls) trousers and a yellow (girls) T shirt. She was mistaken for a boy. The same week, she was wearing navy (boys) trousers and an orange and white (boys) t shirt. Again she was mistaken for a boy. If you don't put your girl in pink, it will happen . I don't bother to correct people anymore because it doesn't really matter. I am growing my DD's hair anyway, so soon it will be very obvious she is a girl, even though she will not be wearing pink.

. . 'avalanche of pink shite as gifts' . . . .that your friends and family have probably got a great deal of enjoyment out of buying for you and probably agonised over picking just the right cute tiny pink outfit for your new arrivals just to put a smile on your face. Some people dont get anything. Hate to say it . .but yes, you do sound ungrateful

My birth announcement for DD read "no pink or presents required"

I pride myself in having not bought DD anything pink (except as part of a multi pack). She has lilac, red, brown, purple, yellow, teal, aqua... lots. It's there if you look for it. Pumpkin Patch and H&M seem to have a goodish supply of non-pink.

chubby is right - people find enormous enjoyment in choosing items in loathsome pink it seems. I have bags and bags of the stuff for soon-to-arrive dd. With ds we got no clothes at all from anyone!

I read on here recently that the 'pink for girls' thing came from Hitler and his treatment of gays in concentration camps. Makes pink seem very creepy to me tbh.

no its not hormones it annoys me too - but soupdragon is right that if you hunt around you can find non pink stuff (strangely seems better outside this country).

Zara have lovely non pink and blue clothes for babies.

We got tons of pink clothes as presents for DD, I don't mind pik, but to have everything pink is a bit much!

I'm with you too. I'm just telling people they can't be 100% sure when they think it's a girl and whenever babyclothes are mentioned I say that I'm telling my mum I don't want any pink and prefer the neutral stuff in the hope they get the hint without me seeming like I'm making assumptions about getting a present from them.

When DS was born I managed to find some lovely apple green clothes but now im pregnant for the second time I cant seem to find anything that isnt white, pink or blue (for newborns) Its a nightmare!
And dont get me started on toys, I work at ELC and have renamed it the pink shop, it drives me mad!

Yes, ELC's new idea of making everything come in both pink and blue but no other colours is irritating.

I don't mind getting baby blue/sludge for presents though, everything I choose is not that, and it isn't so overbearing when you only have 3 or 4 blue items in a sea of brights. You can mix and match things that way as well to get a nice outfit.

Not just pink or blue...don't forget that lovely mushroom colour too!

With DD I bought her lots of stuff from H&M- look in the boys section too. JoJoMaman has bright stuff as well as Tescos boys and Verdebaut. DD was born abroad in a country where pink and blue was hard to find so she lived in reds, bright yellows, bright blue etc.

We are having a boy next week and finding non blue or mushroom or stuff that doesn't look like it is faded has been really hard, but there is stuff out there, it is just hard to find. Pumpkin Patch and Monsoon (£££ though) has some good items as well as H&M. Places like Next/Mothercare etc go for the paler colours.

When relatives have asked if there is anything we need we tend to say no, but if they insist we tell them bright baby stuff.

crokky - I don't think it would make any difference if your DD were in pink - my sis's oldest DD was continuously mistaken for a boy, despite being head to toe in pink and/or lilac, because her hair took a long time to grow.
My Ds, despite being dressed in very non-pink, often blue or brown clothes, has frequently been mistaken for a girl, because of his eyes, apparently
Some people just get it wrong, despite all signals.

Zara & H&M are the places for non pink / baby blue clothes if it is going to be that upsetting and as for the avalanche of baby pink / blue gifts just buy some non gender specific jeans / combat trousers / long sleeved baby gros to cut through the colour and where the lovingly bought gift sets as separates, i found it the only way to cope with the pink avalanche. That said I also dress my daughter some mornings thinking I hate this outfit but I love the person that gave it to me and she ain't going to combust!

Just had to reply to this thread!!

I'm completely with you, I hatehatehate the pink/blue thing. I'm 28 weeks pregnant, and have trawled shops to find unisex stuff. I have actually been relatively sucessful in managing to find stuff! I echo everyone else, H&M are good, as are Mothercare if you look properly. Thanks for all the other tips everyone!
It's so sad, as bright colours are fantastic for babies, and they look so good in them!! Where are all the fantastic bright colours from the 70s/80s?!

Try Polarn & Pyret, great Swedish stuff in bright colours.

try Gap they have plenty of non baby blue/pink.

I am not a big fan of pink and blue but for very young babies there are few advantages.

Firstly, if everything is pastel colours you can wash it all together and along with white/cream things like sheets too. There is a lot of washing and usually at quite a high temperature to get rid of all the "evil" stains.

Things tend not to be yellow and green because they can make the baby look a bit ill and are not as flattering as blue or pink.

The bright colours always start off looking great but after a few washes they lose their colour and in a couple of weeks they look old enough to be from the jumble. But the pink and blue stuff still looks new.

I would stick to pastels for babies, move onto something more interesting for toddlers.

I would second about Polarn o Pyret, if you are near London or Windsor (shops in Westfield, Kingston, House of Fraser Oxford Street, and Windsor). Baby clothes are unisex, just the bright colours you are after, and wash better than most (colours don't fade). Of all the kids clothes we have bought they have lasted best. not cheap but have excellent sales twice a year.

Avoiding pink/blue is the best reason to tell people you don't know the sex of the baby!

My ds wore lots of pink in his first 9 months as we got sacks of hand-me-downs and they were lovely clothes - and easier than doing washing! Some people were really arsy about it...

I end up buying most of his clothes from charity shops and Ebay not because I'm tight but I can't find cheerful outfits without horrible slogans in shops here, or very few.