let's help each other organize our baby clothes!

[brooklyn_warbler]

curlita suggested last night that we start a thread about what we're aiming for in terms of clothing and i thought it was a great idea. how many "newborn"/0-3mos/3-6mos etc onesies are you aiming for (or do you already have)? how many footed sleepers in each size? long-sleeve shirts/short-sleeve shirts/sleep sacks/etc etc etc?

getting a sense of what the rest of you anticipate needing will certainly help a new mama like me, so i'm hoping this thread will be useful to others too. i am all good on dipes, but somehow i have nothing to dress this baby in. i tell myself i'm waiting til after my shower to see what i need to buy, but i'm sure even then i'll have no sense of how many things in each size to shoot for. i do know from my experience nannying that i want baby in only the most comfortable clothing for as long as possible.

so what about the rest of you? what does your clothing stash look like? ideas? goals?

[Curlita]

I remember making lists of all the items and sizes when I was pregnant with Dylan, trying to figure out targets. I don't remember what my goals were then. This time around I think my goal is to just get by with what I have on hand!

Here's what I've got at the moment at the 0-3 mo size:

14 onesies
7 cotton nighties -- the ones with the elastic along the bottom, super easy to change diapers in
8 pair of feeted jammies
3 zip-up sleep sacks -- kind of like the nighties, but completely enclosed, very warm.
4 pair of pants with matching shirts.
And about a dozen thin receiving blankets, and a bunch of fleecy blankets.

My impression is that we are ALL SET for clothes, because this seems like a lot. Ten onesies and 5-7 pair of feeted jammies seems like it would be plenty to me, but as always, everything depends on how often you plan on doing laundry (and how dim my memory really is). I don't think I bought more than a handful of items for Dylan, because my mom and sister just wandered through the baby department in a rapture of spending for the last 4 months of my pregnancy. A lot of other people gave me gifts of clothing, too.

For the first 4-6 weeks, Dylan mainly wore onesies and was swaddled or nursing, as far as I can remember. Swaddling is where all the thin receiving blankets came in -- my husband had a swaddling system that used two blankets. The pants and matching shirts are pretty much novelty items, since it's a drag having to take pants off and put them back on again between diaper changes. I had a bunch of the little kimono shirts, but don't remember using them much at all. Dylan's standard uniform when we started actually leaving the house was a onesie and a long-sleeved, feeted something-or-other over it. Between diaper blow-outs and spitting up, it was not unusual to go through 2-3 outfits in one day.

Hope this helps, Robina! Worse to worse, a cute diaper cover and a receiving blanket should get the little one through all but the most formal events for the first couple weeks.

[*Lindsey*]

Well......

A lot. So I don't have to do laundry all the time.

My kids have always had WAY too many clothes, so I'm not much help. And this time, I've got double, so I'm really not much help.

[maisiedotes]

I have so far:
2 sleep sack/ nightgown thingies
6 "princess" (gag) onesies

That's it! Not off to a good start. I keep thinking I should have long-sleeved onesies since it will be late November... do we need short sleeved ones? I guess it wouldn't hurt.... I gotta do some research. We have people telling us every day "oh, I have bags and bags of clothes for you!"... the rest of what they don't want back will go to consignment. Cha-CHING!

[welldone]

Originally Posted by maisiedotes

I keep thinking I should have long-sleeved onesies since it will be late November... do we need short sleeved ones?

I wouldn't bother with long-sleeved ones, unless you plan on baby wearing them alone with pants. Long-sleeved ones are more expensive and harder to find. I use onesies as undershirts, and Baby always wears one under everything in cold weather. For example, a typical fall/winter outfit for my baby would be a diaper, a short-sleeved onesie, and a footie sleeper.

As far as layette, I have:

-SEVEN THOUSAND BAZILLION onesies
-a dozen or more undershirts (like onesies, with no bottom)
-7-9 footie sleepers
-5-6 gowns with elastic bottoms (love these!)
-3-4 shirt/pants outfits
-dozen or so pair of socks

Almost all of that is gender neutral, with one or two boy things thrown in. I don't mind at all. I actually think we're all set for 0 - 3 months.

For 3 - 6 months, on the other hand, we have almost nothing. We have a few bazillion onesies, true, but only 3 sleepers, and nothing else. (Well, we have lots of girl clothes in those sizes, but no boy clothes).

[YankeeMomInVA]

I've got to give a shout out for those elastic bottomed gowns.... (even for the boys!)... I had just one at the beginning with ds.... and when I finally used it b/c nothing else was clean, I ran out the next day and bought a bunch more.... they made mid-night diaper changes SO much easier!

I don't have much in 0-3 mos... my ds was an early summer baby....but I figure that we'll get by with what we've got b/c he'll grow out of it so fast.

My ds started out 6lbs 1 oz and by 4 mos he was 20+ lbs! LOL We didn't get to use the 3-6 mos stuff but for a few weeks if that!

[Curlita]

I second the veto (does Robert's Rules allow that?) on long-sleeved onesies. If it's cool enough to need sleeves, you'll need something covering Princess's (hee!) legs, too.

And if it makes you feel any better, we just got a tie dyed onesie that says, "My Dad is the Shiznit" on it. He'll be wearing that one on Saturdays with Dad while I am at work, believe me.

[gamitzer]

Well, thanks to this baby being the first grandchild on both sides of the family, our parents have gone crazy with baby clothes. My MIL brings something new every time she visits, and always finds a way to squeeze in baby-clothes shopping when we are together. And my mom just called yesterday to ask if we were driving our bigger car up when we visit her because she has a huge box of baby stuff for us. She said she was originally going to mail whatever she bought, but ended up buying way more than expected. Yikes. We also got a giant bag of clothes from a friend's sister, who had a son last October. So we are knee-deep in clothes, but it's wonderful. And, really, we each have two other siblings, and all will probably have children, so the stuff will get a lot of use in the future.
Of course, if anyone is in need of specific things, please PM me because we are happy to share.

[GinaRae]

I have to agree on the gowns! I refused to use them at first and like someone else, stumbled into them and have never looked back. I had a set of them for my three boys that were really old (had drawstring bottoms) and I yanked the strings out and used the gowns for all my boys and they were SO useful. The newer types I don't like as well, but I still plan to use them.

I am so glad you posted this Robina! It made me look through my little stash and I have more than I realized. Other than the things still needed, I should NOT buy any more 0-3 months. But it's hard to pass up a great find! Especially when I find something in gender neutral that's actually adorable.

STILL NEEDED:
(If anyone has some of these they want to unload, CONTACT me!)

Socks
0-3m and 3-6m onesies
0-3m and 3-6m undershirts
blankets and receiving blankets
3-6 month sleepers

WHAT I HAVE:

0-3 MONTHS
(6) Knitted caps, various sizes
(6) Gowns with elastic
(1) Sleep sack (one size, up to 21 pounds)
(6) Sleepers
(3) One piece outfits (not quite "sleepers")
(3) Bottoms only (pants or overalls)
(2) Onesies (decorative and more bulky, not good for just undershirts)
(2) Onesies

3-6 MONTHS
(6) Knitted caps, various sizes (same ones as above)
(1) Sleep sack (same one as above)
(3) Sleepers
(2) One piece outfits
(5) Bottoms only
(4) Tops only
(3) Matching 2 pc outfits
(1) Onesies (decorative)
(1) Onesies
(1) Warm kimono style jacket

[Momma Aimee]

I have to agree on the gowns! I refused to use them at first and like someone else, stumbled into them and have never looked back. I had a set of them for my three boys that were really old (had drawstring bottoms) and I yanked the strings out and used the gowns for all my boys and they were SO useful. The newer types I don't like as well, but I still plan to use them.

i have to vote NO on the gowns. I dislike them, have gotten rid of them all and request no more for this baby. I do not like how the ride up and how i felt Theo was "slipping" around in it and i wasn't really holding him. YK?

I like clothing to fit better

I was changeing Theo's clothing -- 100% of it at most diaper changes he would pee on himself, or i would make a mess, or he spit up soooooo mcuh .... so we used, easy, 7 to 10 oneis a day for weeks and weeks.

Really a lot of it was drool and spit up.....

we'd used 4 or 5 flannal balnets a day too

I am a firm believer, that within reason -- you can't have too much baby clothing. after you are done, save it, donate it, dell it, give to to freinds (handme downs are wonderful to give and get) -- no you do not need a dresser full of oneies -- but do not feel you need to limit yourself to 12 or whatever.

aslo remember -- 2 or 3 extra for the car bag, 2 or 3 extra to carry in the diaper bag......

and you never want to feel "I HAVE to do laundry NOW or the baby will be naked!!!" tooooo mcuh stress on a new momma (or any momma)

also Theo wore his new born 0 to 3 till past 6 months, and in fact started out in pre-mee clothing with THAT hangin off of him. at 21 months he still has 9 month onies he COULD wear, and a large part of his wardrobe is 12 month sized course my sister's 6 month old is wearing 18 mont PJs and 12 month stuff all day ....... so it all depends, i had more -- have more -- cuz we wear it soooooo long i want more. she has less in the smaller sizes ....

personally i never liked PANTS -- over a onies or whatever, till the baby was older (true of DS as well as 3 DN who came first) ... seems like too much clothing, i hate it bunching up and i hate exposed tummies if you do a shirt and pants without a onies. jsut me. i do not like exposed tummies, bunched up clothing, riding up clothing and so on ............. kep in mind the tiny abbay will be held or worn almsot all the time and take that into account with clothing -- ie gowns IMO and IME ride up, or bunch up and so on when the baby is slung .... a pain to me and i am sure the baby.

JMHO

I need

if it is a boy
gender specific -- 1 or 2 multi packs of onies (perferable 2)
gender specific -- sleepers / footed outfits (I only have like 3 or 4 total )
gender specific -- 1 pack on burp rags (i am picky about the ones i use)
gender specific -- hangers


if it is a girl
gender specific -- 3 or 4 multi packs of onies (perferable 4)
gender specific -- sleepers / footed outfits
gender specific -- 2 or 3 packs of burp rags
gender specific -- hats to match above clothing
gender specific -- socks -- jsut a few to look cute in photos i perfer footed outfits
gender specific -- flannel recieveing blankets
gender specific -- hangers

[renaissanceed]

It's fun to read the responses and check out the different opinions.

We never used any of the NB stuff for Miriam, and the 0-3 months fit her for maybe 4 days. So, I've just got what I had for her, which isn't much (maybe 4-5 sleepers and 4 onesies) and then I'm worrying more about the 3-6 month sizes.

I'm with Aimee on the gowns, although for a different reason. I found that I had to change Miriam's clothes at night every time I changed her diaper anyway, so the convenience of the gown never really mattered to me. Not sure if it was a diapering issue or that she was a heavy pee-er (how do you spell that?). Plus, at the beginning, she needed some naked time during diaper change to wake her up to get her to nurse.

I have never ever found socks that stay on newborns feet. If you have any recommendations for brands that might be available in Canada, I'd love to hear them. It's for this reason that Miriam spent almost all her time in sleepers, and all of the cute outfits we were given went mostly unused (plus I was terrified of anything that had to go over her head so unless it snapped or zipped up, it wasn't going on).

[Isaac'sMa]

Originally Posted by renaissanceed

I have never ever found socks that stay on newborns feet. If you have any recommendations for brands that might be available in Canada, I'd love to hear them.

Old Navy has socks that stay on...at least better than any others I've found. They are the little tennis sock type though, not a regular sock if that makes any sense?!

[Valerieg]

We have everything left over from DD...at that time there was a list somewhere that I went off of. But I want to say that we have 2-3 packs of onesies in newborn, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12. Most are white or gender neutral but I do have some girly ones too.

We have more gender neutral sleepers in 0-3 than I know what to do with (they went crazy at my showers) and girly sleepers galore as well starting at newborn.

I picked up some kimono onesies for the first week or two. We didn't have those for DD and they were desperately needed. I think her umbie stub came off too early because it rubbed on things.

Oh, and I hated those gowns as well. I've given all mine away or taken them back. They just never seemed to "fit" at anytime. Oh, and sleep sacks were great early on until she started moving.

We're pretty set. I'm not buying clothes until after s/he arrives since I don't need any more gender neutral and I'm also set on girly stuff. I'll just need some new clothes if this one happens to pop out with a penis!

[GinaRae]

Aimee, I think most of us used the gowns for nighttime only so that the diaper changing was easy and quick, cold air didn't hit the babe's chest and belly, etc...

But I can also see why you thought they were annoying.

With my kids, at the newborn age, they didn't move around enough to get it bunched up around them.

Edwina, Ohhh you had a serious wetter! That would be annoying then to use gowns. And if you have a serious sleeper who needs to be aroused by cold air, they may not work.

I also have trouble finding the right socks, but the boys' feet would get SO cold, so I just put the socks on under the sleepers and that helped hold them on. Any other time I was always straightening socks.

I would still definitely recommend getting a couple of gowns for new parents or new babies just in case! I have gotten brand new ones for 50cents a piece at yard sales and consignment shops for this babe.

[Isaac'sMa]

Originally Posted by GinaRae

STILL NEEDED:
(If anyone has some of these they want to unload, CONTACT me!)

Socks
0-3m and 3-6m onesies
0-3m and 3-6m undershirts
blankets and receiving blankets
3-6 month sleepers

Gina, PM me your address and I will send you a blanket. I have so much extra flannel lying around I could probably sew you up a cute blanket in no time.

[GinaRae]

Originally Posted by Isaac'sMa

Gina, PM me your address and I will send you a blanket. I have so much extra flannel lying around I could probably sew you up a cute blanket in no time.

Sweet! Thanks!

[Momma Aimee]

Old Navy has socks that stay on...at least better than any others I've found.

baby gap also -- owned by the same company i think......

With my kids, at the newborn age, they didn't move around enough to get it bunched up around them.

i felt I bunched it up -- holding, nurseing, moving him or trying to sling him

[renaissanceed]

I picked up some kimono onesies for the first week or two. We didn't have those for DD and they were desperately needed. I think her umbie stub came off too early because it rubbed on things.

Miriam's stub came off super early and I thought it was OK, but it took almost a year for us to be able to get all the ick out of her belly button. But would the kimonos work if you still had a sleeper on top of that?

[Momma Aimee]

we love the kimonos style stuff -- due to not haveing to try to get stuff over baby head


with Theo i refused to take anything to the hsosptial i could not lay him on and dress around him -- kimonos oor snap up stuff -- cuz i was afraid of looking like a bad momma trying to get his little head and neck into a neck hole

[GinaRae]

Hehehe.. my kids have big heads so sometimes it's traumatic going over the head, but thankfully most over the head stuff has snaps