newborn or size 0-3????? help

[stareyes76]

i have a bit of extra money this month to finish buying clothes or what ever for my baby due in jan. its because our income lowers from next month. id like to know your advise i mean practically newborn will be used for less, but 0-3 months seems more practical. i don't know how big baby is yet as im 25 weeks only. i have lots of vests for newborn been given to me etc but im worried as i don't want to buy to much as she won't be in them for long.
Any ideas?

I wouldn't buy more than two packs of newborn babygros (go to tescos - they're dead cheap). If you need more you can get them but I would certainly save your money for 0-3 (actually I would spend more on the 3-6 because you will be leaving the house more once they're a bit older).

Your instincts are right - unless your baby is quite little (less than 6lb-ish) he / she won't be in newborn for long. Mine was 6lb 6oz and we put him straight in 0-3 - was a bit big but it didn't really matter. Someone can always dash out to Tesco or Primark or similar for some cheap tiny sleepsuits if the baby is really wee!

your amazing. everyone has a different view. she is going to be born arouns 11th jan. do i need a coat for her or will the blankets do? i don't want to be cruel. i mean she won't be out to much for first month. i will get a size 0-3 month coat as i have a dog and intend to take them out together later. i have a baby holder thing. well beening delivered between now and 6 haha. yay argos.

My DS was 8lbs 6 oz at birth and in newborn for a suprisingly long time. We had get more sleepsuits from Tesco! But they are dirt cheap and lasted as long as they needed to.

For a Jan baby, I'd get an all in one suit rather than a coat. Much cosier (and cute!) and also easier to get a newborn into.

I am thinking about this at the moment - I have bought some NB sizes - I doubt I will be having a very small baby judging by size of me/brother/husband etc at birth - we were all average size. But I think it is worth checking the NB sizing as different shops have different sizes (for example John Lewis NB is up to 12lbs I think, whereas Jo Jo Maman Bebe is smaller)...

We did 0-3 gros and vests - roll sleeves if you need to. No proper clothes until at least 3 months old and then only very soft things.

Sign up to freecycle, you'll be able to get more clothes than you could ever need and it won't cost you a penny.

I'd also look at NCT on line and find out if there are any nearly new sales being held in your area. Really really cheap clothes, freecycle def worth it too.

I'd get more 0-3 than newborn, but not a huge number of either:

• You won't know whether its a boy or girl for sure (unless you've had a bloodtest, even a scan isn't 100% guarantee). White's fine but gets boring after a few weeks...

• you can get a pack of 5 babygrows or sleepsuits for about a £1 in ASDA

• apart from checking weights, different brands fit differently (I always found Tesco to be a much slimmer fit for the same length than Sainsbury's) - you don't want to buy too much till you know whether your LO is skinny or chunky

• you'll probably get given masses of stuff when LO arrives and it can be a real challenge to get it on the baby before it grows too big!

If you're planning on carrying your baby while dog walking, you might be better off with a couple of layers (babygrow, socks, sleepsuit, hat) and a big coat that goes round the pair of you. That's what I used to do with DD and she was always snug and warm that way - I'm not sure we were the prettiest sight on the planet, but that didn't bother me too much .

In a pram you can certainly start off with a pile of blankets over/under/round - just watch out incase they get kicked off. If your LO is a wriggler than a snowsuit all in one thing might be handy.

How self controlled are you? There's so much stuff that you can buy for a new baby, but very little of it that you actually need. If you can, get the minimum and stick the rest of the money in a safe place till your LO arrives and you find out what they're like, what you're doing and what would make you're life easier.

I wouldnt get hardly any newborn things - you will get quite a few as presents. I would just get a few vests and sleepsuits and a all in one snowsuit when you go outside for a January baby. My DS was born in January & I was surprized, he was usually too hot and didnt need as much as I thought. Though a nice warm hat is essential.

I wouldnt get 2 much newborn stuff, id say maybe 7 vests, 7 all in ones, and one or 2 cute outfits.
Ds1 born 9lb10 straight into 0-3,
Ds2 born 8lb9 in newborn for 3 weeks! (only 7 weeks now and is fitting into a few 3-6 top half bits!)
I just wouldnt waste the money on the newbie stuff because you'll only end up giving it away a few months on and being gutted about how much it cost and wish you'd bought it in next age up!
Only thing i would buy newborn is hats as ds2 is still in newborn hats now and his head isnt too small or anything!

I hardly got any newborn or 0-3 stuff as presents this time round. My family and friends are pretty experienced with
babies one way or another and all bought me (absolutely gorgeous) 3-6 or 6-9 month sizes, thinking that I'd be inundated with very tiny stuff that she'd outgrow in no time. She's longish and thin so far (not like her mum!} and nowhere near out of 0-3 yet at 7 weeks. She fits pretty well into newborn still apart from lengthwise in footed sleepsuits. It is nice to have one or two sweet things that fit properly so I don't regret my late pregnancy guilty ebay habit at all. You can get some fantastic bargains on ebay- much of it very lightly used or completely unworn, some of it starting at only 1p. There are very few takers at all on much of the middle range high street stuff like baby gap, zara and next and they go for a song- didn't pay more than a pound for anything of that ilk. Designer stuff sometimes has more of a resale value but there are bargains to be had there too. Worth a look.

I'd take some of that spare cash and buy some basics in a range of sizes, possibly right up to 18-24mths.

One thing you can be sure of is that your baby will wear them at some stage in their development, and it's comforting to have a few items in hand to cushion the shock of realising that they've had a growth spurt and you need to replace their entire wardrobe again.

I do the same thing with sale items and the NCT nearly new sales - if I see something that's good quality at a good price I buy it and stash it for later.

well tbh i would buy newborn...my ds was 5lb 11oz (born at 36 weeks) and was in newborn til he was 4 months old!!! 0-3 was just massive on him.

my dd (who is nearly 4 weeks old) is still in newborn and its still too big for her 0-3 would literally drown her (she was 6lb 11oz btw born at 39+3)

I bought 0-3 and ds was 6lb 13oz at birth. I've only got a couple of newborn sleepsuits in this time because there is a danger of this one making an early entrance.

True - recommendations are always going to be coloured by experience. DD was 9lb 12 (at 41+3) and I think there was some NB stuff she didn't fit in the week she was born...

I'd still lean towards a handful of things in NB and a little more in 0-3 - worst case scenario you need enough to tide you over for a few days till someone (DH, parents, outlaws, friends) can get to the shops and pick up something more appropriate. You can survive for that long with clothes that are too big but if you have a big baby and little clothes you've got much more of a problem!

I think the problem with this is that it depends on the baby and you can't know the details in advance!

My ds was 8lb 4 and 56 cm long and was only in new born baby gros for about 3 weeks. In fact the most expensive item we we given (£22 for a babygro from my mum ) never actually fit him as he was already too long. I crammed him into it once for photos and had to leave it unfastened as it curled his toes up when fastened!

I did have a little padded velour coat for him but I was out for at least daily walk from day 5 onwards.

I've not bought any NB stuff, just 0-3+.

DH is rugby player build, so I just can't imagine baby not being a chunky thing I just figure if I do, by some miracle, have a dainty little thing, I will just send DH out to get some emergency NB stuff at Tesco. If the 0-3 months stuff is too big, it will be fine long enough to buy some NB stuff and wash it, I'm not sure the baby will be experienced enough in clothing sizes to notice too much

M and s do an inbetween size of up to 1 month. They were great for my ds (8lb11.5) and I suspect would have been good on my dd (9lb9 ) but at the time i wasn't aware/they didn't exist! dd was def too big for newborn but she lost a bit of weight and stayed a bit lower for a while so 0-3 were still a tiny bit baggy.

My DD was 7lb when born so avg-small and has just grown out of some of her newborn babygros - can't stretch her feet out. Next and Mamas and Papas seem very small but she'll be out of the rest in a few days I think.
As a compromise some places (M&S) do "up to one month" which tend to fit newborns without swamping them like 0-3s. Even so, don't get loads!

lol at x post!

You might be surprised at how small a newborn baby actually is! We were totally... DD was 7 pounds 2 and 0-3 months was waaay too big for ages. We hardly had any NB clothes as I thought they looked so tiny. Definitely get some NB size basics.

I'm due this week and have got half a dozen vests and babygros in both newborn and 0 - 3. Given sizes vary in different shops, I have (based on advice from a friend) written out instructions for DH stating that if we need more (I'm presuming we will) then if baby weighs up to A then we need X size from, say, ASDA but Y size from, say, Next; if it weighs more than A but less than B etc as otherwise he (or MIL or whoever does the stocking up) will just stand in the shop looking confused and probably come home with newborn stuff on the basis that it is a "new born" even if the baby is too big for that size. Hope that makes sense!