How many clothes does one baby NEED???

[Persephone]

How many towels, sleep and plays, blankets, and onesies does one tiny person need? I have SO many clothes, and I'm so overwhelmed. I've got them in all age ranges, but I just have mountains and mountains of baby clothes! I can't even think clearly about what to keep and what not to keep anymore! (Don't get me wrong, everything was a gift, and I'm really grateful, but it's SO MUCH!!) Is it ok to keep part of a set and give away what you don't need? Why do I feel guilty doing that? Is it even worth keeping baby pants, or onesies when my baby's cloth diapered bum doesn't seem like it's going to EVER fit into those pants? I"m so torn about PVC free plastic toys... Everything I've read says all plastic is bad, but then I feel like a horrible witch throwing away my unborn child's only toys thus far. I just don't know what to do. How much stuff do you have for you child, and how much do you actually USE?

[ctdoula]

Okay, deep breath.

First go buy 6 large rubbermaid bins. Take a sharpie magic marker & label them: 0-3mo, 3-6mo, 6-9mo, 9-12mo, 12-18mo, 18-24mo, etc. Then start sorting. Donate anything really ugly, out of style, things you hate, etc. Don't toss things just because of stains, they will come out w/soaking (they seem to magically appear any time baby clothes are stored).

My kids have a lot of clothes. I find it a good thing because i'm not constantly scrambling for clean things, since it take a while for things to go back into the drawers from the dryer.

[BookGoddess]

I can relate. We have a closet full of clothes for DD. She has more clothes than DH and me put together! Most of the clothes were gifts from well-meaning relatives and friends. But I also wonder, "Where is she going to wear all these clothes to?!!" She stays home during the day when her grandparents babysit her. On the weekends, we go to the mall, bookstores, supermarket, on errands etc but she doesn't have enough places to wear all these fancy outfits to. I feel she's overdressed as it is. The weather here is in the mid 80s on most days. She has outgrown several things before she could even wear them.

What am I going to do? I'm going to donate the outgrown clothing to local charities like Catholic Charities and the newspaper's Christmas Fund. They collect clothing for needy families. Same thing with the 228 diapers in an unopened Huggies box that DD outgrew. I'm donating that too. Some of these charities will take gently used clothing. I called and asked. The other option is for you to give it away for free through freecycle.org

I'm torn over PVC toys too. I have a list of brands that don't have PVC in them. I'll be buying toys from them but what do I do with the plastic toys that were given as gifts that most likely have PVC? I feel bad giving them away to another child because I don't want to expose anyone's baby to harm. *sigh* I haven't found a solution to it. If anyone has ideas let me know.

[SomerG]

I also felt like I had way more stuff than I needed. And I was right about some things! I have already passed on several things as baby shower gifts (unopened of course!). The thing that surprised me though is how many onesies, socks, blankets, and baby washclothes I would use. I guess it depends on how often you want to do laundry. Babies spit up a lot and we often went through 2-3 onesies in a day. Keep the packages and just open them as needed. As for toys, fortunately we didn't get so many of those, so I'm not much help there!

[nabigus]

Don't take the tags off anything, and don't start tossing things too soon! Get rid of the stuff you really can't stand, but otherwise, just store it until you're sure what you need and like. Also, when you start sorting stuff, use the tag sizes ONLY as a rough guideline. An outfit labeled "6 months" might mean 3-6 or 6-9 months, plus there's lots of variation among brands. I now hold things up to a "tester" outfit to make sure I put it in the right size bin.

It seems like a lot, but babies grow fast. My ds is 3 1/2 months, and already into 6-9 month clothes. You just have no way of telling what will fit when, and what you'll reach for first.

[weebitty2]

Originally Posted by ctdoula

Okay, deep breath.

First go buy 6 large rubbermaid bins.

only 6?

Between my mom, my grandma, the in-laws, and having three kids ... I think we have six bins PER kid! (holiday helper thread, here I come!)

[MommaMoo]

My dp's mom is a shopaholic and a very giving lady, so we had way more stuff than I thought we needed, and begged her to stop sending things! Just keep it all organized by size, and don't get rid of any clothes until you've had the baby and end up not using them for whatever reason. My ds didn't wear several things that were gifts, mostly b/c I didn't like them (tiny babies look silly in pants, IMHO) or they fit funny. If you have Carter's brand onesies, I have found that they fit over ds's cloth-diapered butt ok. I ended up giving away lots of stuff at my midwife's office, where there's a collection for folks in need. I had dozens more blankets than I needed. Also, babies tend to go through outfits very quickly. There are so many bodily fluids flying everywhere when you become a mommy!

[carriedaway]

Originally Posted by ctdoula

Okay, deep breath.

First go buy 6 large rubbermaid bins. Take a sharpie magic marker & label them: 0-3mo, 3-6mo, 6-9mo, 9-12mo, 12-18mo, 18-24mo, etc. Then start sorting. Donate anything really ugly, out of style, things you hate, etc. Don't toss things just because of stains, they will come out w/soaking (they seem to magically appear any time baby clothes are stored).

:

that's pretty much what i did/do. definitely donate what you don't think your baby will wear. someone else can use them and you don't need to feel guilty about throwing out that sleeper that was made in the 80's that was your husbands organizing them by size will help you so much! also, hanging up your baby's current size clothes in the closet (if you're planning on hanging them) really helped me because i thought i'd forget about what they had and they would never get to wear it. i put as much of the next size up in the closet, too.

imo, babies really don't need as many clothes as some people seem to think. i suppose it varies from baby to baby, but when DS was a newborn he rarely had to change his outfit during the day. now, he is moving all over and the spitup has increased, so sometimes he needs clothes changed a few times!

carrie

[jerawo]

I don't think a baby needs that many clothes. I found that with washing diapers every 1-3 days, my DS always had plenty of clothes with only a few outfits. Plus the older they get, the fewer times you have to change them during the day. I've tried to only have what we use, so I've given away or sold the excess. DH and I try to be minimalists, so it hasn't been too hard to apply that to the baby.

[SneakyPie]

I wouldn't get rid of anything until the baby's born. You never know if your baby will be a barfer and if this is your first you may need some practice with the diapering before you're leak-free. Plus babies pee/poop during changes (sometimes it seems during every single one) so there's more for the wash. I found that being able to reach for a clean thing any time I needed it during those first few weeks/months was a blessing. Enjoy it while you can -- before you know it you'll be saying "I just spent $30 on shoes for that kid last WEEK!"

Also you may not have to just donate -- we have been working the consignment-store action this whole year and it has really made a difference in our kid-clothing budget.

[momofteens05]

It's your baby and people won't care what you do with the clothes. What ever works for you guys is all that matters

[curlyfry]

Keep the tags on everything that you are thinking of getting rid of. If you recognize the brands, you can take them back and exchange them. I know I took a bunch of stuff back to Babies R Us and was able to buy my Boppy pillow and a sling, and some other stuff I didn't get at my shower.

There's also ebay, and the trading post here...if you need some cash. And tags are a plus...

[alicia622]

I have so many clothes for dfs yet I can't stop myself from buying MORE!!! I have bins with his clothes divided by sizes to keep the things he doesn't fit into organized and I also have a big bin filled with stuff from his mother. That stuff isn't organized by size, I just have to root through it for more things. I made the mistake of buying a small bureau so the drawers are stuffed full and I tend to just use the items at the top of each drawer.

If there is another foster baby I will have a better idea of how to plan for clothes.

[hipumpkins]

If you can return some of it do so for store credit. If you got some hand me downs use those as much as possible b/c you can use that store credit later for somehting you/baby really need.