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!?

rainbowbabies
H&M
Boden

I have got loads of second hand bright/dark stuff and have always washed it all together and haven't found it has faded at all, so I don't know what I am doing right but it must be something

Londonlottie I would just accept it but try to make hints at preferring bright things, if you want. I found because I had bought nothing in pale blue, the fact that my MIL bought me loads of pale blue things wasn't an issue, I just mixed and matched stuff. She did buy him one outfit with Tigger on which I only ever dressed him in once though .

Oh, actually, except the Liverpool FC romper DH insisted on buying, the white collar of that went pink and so did a few of his vests!

Tbh I'd rather have loads of pink / blue stuff given to us than have to shell out loads for other colours (best selection is sadly in all the more expensive places, so great for a treat but most of can't afford for every day sicking up over).

Having said that Mothercare and other large high st shops will have a wide range of colours and it helps if you're willing to look at boys clothes for girls and vice versa - I've found some great jumpers for my sons in the girls sections of the Gap sale, John Lewis etc - and always look on Boden in the sale as it makes their stuff just about reasonable and you can buy for the following summer / winter etc.

Pretty pricey but this site has great unisex bright stuff! I'd love to kit out my future twins' whole wardrobe from here, but unfortunately our budget definitely won't stretch that far Great for presents though!

www.nordickids.co.uk/store.asp/d=4/0-6-months

I know, it's sodding annoying, isn't it? We had some lovely yellow/green sleepsuits and vests from Mothercare to start with, and dd looks lovely in bold bright and deep colours now. Lots of great stuff at H&M for when they're in outfits rather than just babygros. I hate baby pink, and actually told my mum to tell all relatives NOT to buy us anything in girlie colours.

Incidentally, I find it hilarious that unless dd (5 months) is wearing pink people always assume she's a boy. I mean wtf is that all about, eh?

If you are near a TK Maxx it's worth popping in for a look as they get quite a lot of Scandinavian baby clothes which tend to be much brighter colours - they are greatly reduced as well which is great, as Nordic Kids and similar websites have lovely clothes but are expensive!

eg I've found Katvig, Molo, Me Too, Imps & Elfs, Ej Sikke Lej clothes all in TK Maxx

funny I felt like this when pregnant but now my daughter is here, I actually quite enjoy dressing her in pink, as we did receive quite a few pink presents. However, that said for colours I go to H&M, Boden, Zara, Mothercare & Asos.

Not everyone will be able to do this, but I'm knitting for sproglet (now 17+5). Husband bought some mad wool for a multicoloured wrapover top, and I'm knitting a blanket in mustard, teal, purple, burnt orange and red, in a gorgeous cashmere yarn. And if you can sew, there's even more choice! buy the new magazine called SewHip which has beginners level patterns for children often.

I'm really pleased to have found this thread and the link to PinkStinks. I'm hating shopping for my babies for all the reasons above. The stereotyping is almost as bad for boys with all the monster/robot/big trouble stuff. My boy/girl twins are nearly 5 months now, but they are dressed mainly in gifts and hand-me-downs. The gifts are almost invariably pink / blue, so Abigail has had to wear horrid pink things even though she's got red hair and it's a dreadful clash. I'm too stingy to buy all new stuff, but hate, hate, hate it.

Don;t worry. If you have a boy, by the time he is walking his clothes will only come in a a choice of beige, brown or sludge.

In the mean time, have a look at H&M, John Lewis, Boden, Toby Tiger, ASOS, Sainsbury's (yes, really) , Mini Mode (Boots), Rainbow Babies, Viking Kids, Bohemia Desing, Italy Baby, topkiddies.co.uk, and - occassionally- Next. And TK Maxx.

Oh my pet peeve as well, wait til you try to buy shoes . . .

Try www.naturebaby.com/us/ for lovely unisex clothing online, or the Scandinavian labels like Molo or Smafolk.

I'm having a girl too. DH and I are hippies and don't fancy a pink, frilly girl. We're going for grey, cream and dark pink/plum coloured babygrows with coloured tights and things.

Oh, don't start me. Despite knowing we are having a little boy since the 18 week scan, we only recently told family, because we didn't want to start the insane gender stereotyping with an avalanche of horrid clothes. I have had this conversation - and specifically said 'Please do not buy blue clothes' at least ten times to my mother - ast weekend my parents visited and left a huge parcel of, you've guessed it, exclusively blue baby clothes covered in (a) trains (b) cars and (c) tractors. Grr.

Seconding Polarn O. Pyret, andToby Tiger has some insanely cute unisex stuff, stripey with appliqué penguins and the like.

www.tobytiger.co.uk/sleepsuits-hats/app-sleepsuit-penguin.html

Mothercare has some nice bright blue, green and yellow stuff. And Ikea are good for fun non-gendered furniture and bedding and stuff.

I've not told the family we're having two girls because the mountain of pink stuff would start arriving by return of post... With my mother I went one further and said anything that was pale blue or pink was going to the charity shop with the tags still on. I fought with my mother over having to wear girly stuff from about the age of three and my ones will get to dress how they like- but while they're too young to have an opinion it's going to be rainbows and happy farmyard animals all the way...

Mmmm agreed on the pastel attack, dont get me started on clothing with creepy animals on it...

btw the pink thing was actually for boys at the beginning of the 1900s and Nazis did make homosexuals wear a pink triangle..so there you go

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink#In_sexuality

Boots do some lovely neutral coloured baby clothes. Were having a surprise and have got most of our bits from their

Gender neutral things for the nursery from Ikea - the Torva, Barnslig and Fabler series have some lovely bright things in.

Or ASDA have some nice basics -
like this or these or these :)

Not much, but it's a start! D

You might also find 'There's a Good Girl' by Marianne Grabrucker an interesting read :)

We didn't know what we were having until we had a 4d scan in dec and we only found out cos the shopping for clothes was nigh on impossible. Unless I wanted to dress the child in a symphony of beige. No thanks. Since found out it's a girl and even knowing hasn't made it easier. Whoever designs girls clothes are so unimaginative. It's pink or pink. Boys clothes are much more varied.

However I do have to say NEXT have some brilliant girls stuff in at the moment. Got a 2 pack of onsies that are very yellow and blue. And a 3 pack of onsies that are very green and grey!

Didn't want to find out the sex, and LO helpfully kept his/her legs crossed during the scan 2 1/2 weeks ago. Even if it is a girl, everyone knows my total hatred of the colour pink to the extent that even my DSS2 (5) goes "Enfyshedd wouldn't like that nor would baby" at anything pink - and he's convinced I'm having a girl. I think the total amount of pink in my home & wardrobe is a pink fleece backed multicoloured crocheted blanket my great aunt made for me when I was born, and the stripes on a few pairs of my socks which came in multipacks.

I tried Primark last week, and I got a lovely 7 pack of pastel (white/orange/lemon/green/turquiose) babygros with chicks, frogs & bugs which were nice & cheap, and I think are reasonably unisex. The lime green & grey stuff in Next looks interesting on the website and, as someone's said earlier, H&M have some lovely outfits for when baby is a bit older which aren't all pink & blue (really liked the little tuxedo detailing on one babygro for a boy to be paired with a pair of trousers - would be nice for a party methinks). In any case, it's due in May and all I'm expecting LO to be wearing for the first few months is babygros (praying for a non-cold & damp summer while on ML), as I don't see the point in wasting money on clothes that LO will grow out of in a matter of weeks.

Pop online (Polarn o Pyret)

polarnopyret.co.uk/

The best quality clothes there are, all in unisex bright colours and funny patterns. Their moccasin socks are a must for toddlers and the outerwear is pricey but lasts! I bought a winter jacket last year and he wore it this year as well and will still fit in it next year and it looks brand new. Cant recommend enough! ( am swedish so have grown up with the brand and still use hand me downs from my siblings....)