newborn clothes for CD and low-key ECing « Back to Group Discussions

[lalazap]

Ok mamas, what do I really need on hand for this little one to wear? I want to be really practical here, and am SO fine with s/he not being dressed in matchy little designer outfits. We are planning to do prefolds from a diaper service, some low-pressure EC'ing, lots of babywearing. We're likely to have a long drawn-out wet spring that lasts until late June or early July. I'll be surprised if this kid is less than 8lb at birth. We have laundry.

I've accumulated a huge stack of free clothes but going through them last night made me wonder if I have the right stuff. There are soooo many onesies (like 20!) but I hear maybe these aren't the best for EC'ing - same probably goes for footed sleepers which I also seem to have tons of. I have (only?) 8 or so t-shirts and not many long-sleeved tops. Maybe 12 pairs of little pants/leggings. I have some hats. I have one pair of socks. 

I'm thinking I need more socks, and maybe some of those baby sleep gowns - I wonder if I could hack the footie sleepers into gowns somehow. I made my first actual baby-clothes purchase last night and ordered a few pairs of babylegs on sale.

I need advice from you experienced mamas - what do I need a lot of? A few of? And what does "a lot" or "a few" mean?

 Thank you!

[Rasa]

I don't have much advice, since we didn't start CD with DD until she was about 9 months old and crawling around...but since we are planning to CD this time I was looking at my stuff and realizing I have hardly any baby pants and even fewer that will fit over bulky CD/wool covers.  I was happy to find this free pattern for newborn pants that will work over CD:

http://www.made-by-rae.com/2010/10/free-raes-basic-newborn-pant-sewing-pattern/

And I whipped up a few pair this weekend.  It's a super easy pattern and easy to modify/embellish too (I lined a couple pair and did some cuffs/contrasting fabric too).  I find knit fabrics to be softest and stretchiest in general so if you buy some, head for those!

Other than that, I have lots of sleeper type gowns, some long sleeve side-snap t-shirts (it will be cool here too for some time)--the side snap is nice so you don't have to fiddle with the over-the-head stuff and they avoid the cord area while it's healing. I'm not sure how I ended up with so many socks (and they almost all match which is amazing because I remember them falling off all the time!) and I have 1 pair of baby legs but I'm not really sure about those (DD really wanted to buy them though so we'll try them!)

I really liked Hanna Andersson sleepers last time--I had a couple given to me as a gift--but they've modified them to be more snug-fitting which won't work as well with CD...so I scouted out a bunch of older, looser ones off Ebay so they'd accommodate the bulk of CD, especially at night.  DD never liked her feet covered by the footy sleepers (still doesn't) and Hanna ones are footless.

It will be cool here but not THAT cool, or I'd seriously consider just getting a couple staple pieces (long sleeve shirts and leggings or a sleep sack) in super-soft wool and using those as base layers if needed under a cute jumper/romper if you want to dress baby up.  I love wool!!  And it's a perfect match with CD, etc!  

Since you won't know how big/small baby will be or how quickly they'll grow, I wouldn't buy too much at first.  If you have any resale shops near you, hit those up because newborn clothes hardly ever get any wear before they're outgrown and you can usually get some great deals!  

[Mom2SammyJoe]

I love, love, love the nightgowns that have the elastic at the bottom for the early days. It is much easy to change a baby in a blurry-eyed stupor when there are no snaps to deal with. I like the Carters ones. They fit the longest and have cuffs that fold over baby's hands. These aren't good for going out because of carseat straps, but are great at home for a while.

I would say about 5-6 of these would be nice. Some brands are really tiny. Like I said, I remember the Carters ones fitting longer.

[CarlyVHT]

I have never done EC, so no advice on that. I will say that prefolds & covers are much bulkier than disposables, so your LO will always be in a bigger size than you expect, especially for pants but also for full outfits (sleepers, etc). 

Gerber everything (gowns, sleepers, onesies) fit the tiniest in my experience - which I needed when DD was born, as she was only 5lbs 14oz. Gerber newborn onesies were the only things that actually fit - everything else was way too big. I don't love the quality of feel of Gerber clothing in general, but I used it a bit in the begining because the fit was so tiny that it worked perfectly for my DD - doesn't sounds like that will be the case for you if you are expecting 8lbs+ ... so in that case, I'd say to stay away from Gerber because it's tiny :)

I don't like pants & tops on newborns because they are just so floppy that shirts always ride up and pant legs ride up, etc, and they just annoy me. I MUCH prefer footed sleepers and/or onesies (depending on season). But, like I said, I have no EC experience so I can see where footed sleepers would be harder for that. I think onesies would be okay because of the way they button at the bottom.

As for how many - gosh, I barely remember! I have NO many hand-me downs this time, I know I have too many!

[chapluqa]

Well, I'm not an experienced mama yet, but I am in a similar situation as you so I'm happy to share what I'm doing.

We're planning to EC as much as possible from birth, but have a stash of prefolds/covers on hand because who knows how it will really go in the very beginning?

So in my newborn clothes gathering, I have accumulated quite a few of the little gowns with buttons up the back (mostly second-hand), and also made a few of the ones that have the elastic on the bottom. There is a great tutorial and free pattern online that shows you how to recycle an old t-shirt into a baby gown:  Rockin' baby gown tutorial  - I just got a sewing machine a few months ago and this was my first project, it was quite easy even for my novice sewing skills.  I think it wouldn't be too hard to convert footed sleepers into gowns, just cut them up and sew the leg parts together, leaving the bottom open and adding some elastic. 

I'm trying to avoid stuff with pant legs and crotch snaps because I think it will be too much trouble for ECing. I'm also getting some cheap babylegs and will probably end up making some from women's knee-high socks that I can get cheaply at Target/Kmart.

It's going to be almost winter here (down under) by the time baby arrives so while I'd love to just go bare bummed (makes EC much easier), I think my baby will need to have clothes on most of the time. I've also purchased some wool sweaters at second-hand stores, shrunk and felted them, and started making little wool longies (pants/diaper covers) out of them. There are lots of tutorials for how to do this online as well.

I think most of the baby clothes we'll end up using are coming from friends, who have already started passing stuff on to me. I don't really plan on getting much new stuff since they grow out of everything so quickly anyway.

Happy gathering!

[lalazap]

Thanks everyone for the input!

Chapluqa, I was thinking about the t-shirt gown idea and am glad to hear it wasn't too complicated for a novice sewer.

[CherryBombMama]

We CDed my ds2 from the beginning, and let me tell you, he LIVED in those gowns for the first couple of months.  Onesies aren't so bad, as long as you size up, but I didn't like them after a couple of months.  Pants are so awful, especially with prefolds.  If you size up, the waist/butt is the right size, but then the length is way too long. Folded pant legs on a newborn NEVER stay put. (At least for us )  This is a CD point of view, we didn't EC. 

[Aletheia]

Here to report on the EC front.  :)

Onesies are fine-- in fact, better than many cutesie newborn shirts-- because they are longer.  The trick is to snap the crotch over the outside of the thigh, not over the leaky parts.  Then you can use them as an actual onesie if you are out an about. 

The biggest two dressing-related goals to consider when dressing an EC'd newborn are:

1) accommodating naked time well without freezing your baby.  This means that if it is drafty, you want as much skin covered as possible... just not the skin over the leaky parts.  :)  So I go with long sleeved onesies and kimono snap shirts (usu. gerber, you have to order online because few retailers carry them) and baby legs or "EC Chaps" (slightly different from split crotch pants.)  Gowns are helpful too, though during the day I rarely have them down around babies feet just so they won't accidentally get wet.  But I like the extra length to make sure the torso is as covered as possible.

2) accommodating quick trips to the potty.  When you aren't doing naked time, you still want as few pieces of fabric between the trip to the potty/bowl and the leaky parts as possible.  For us, this means that all one piece sleepers and outfits are out.  Too many snaps, too hard to get legs in and out.  We go with gowns, skirts (yes, even for the boys), little pants for outings,  and the get up for naked time plus a light dipe or trainer. 

Numbers of things are hard to guestimate.  If you feel you don't have enough, I'd recommend making sure you have a few bibs in case you have a spitty babe.  We went through countless shirts with DS1 until we figured out that it's much easier to change a bib than it is to change a shirt.  :)