MMR! How many clothes does your infant need?

[Deleted]

I try to have enough clothes to last a week-ish, as that's how often we do laundry. For the little-bitty stage, it depends on whether you get a spitter or not. My DS never spit up, so an outfit lasted him all day. So about 10 onesies and 10 sleepers was a full wardrobe. We probably had some pants and hats and socks and things, but really he lived in onesies and sleepers.

Once I got to sizes I needed to buy I looked for lots on CL (like $40 for the garbage bag of 6-18 months clothes). We really like the pj's and clothes from Costco (they sell peckles and Carters).

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2012 9:44:35 GMT -5 @msstarry said:

What is the difference between a sleeper and a onesie?

(to me at least) sleeper = footie pajamas w long sleeves and ideally a zipper because I hate doing up a bunch of snaps

onesie = t shirt with snaps at the crotch

Nightwear and daywear. Because you know a newborn cares.

[jr009j]

We had about 10 newborn sleepers that she just wore most of the time, plus some onesies. But we generally just put her in a sleeper in the morning and if she didn't spit up in it, she'd wear it to bed too.

Once she moved into 0-3 months, we had an outfit for every day of the week and probably about 10 sleepers. Honestly, we could have gotten by with less sleepers because we ended having her wear them twice before washing them. But she's not a spitter and rarely has blowouts.

We tend to only do laundry once a week, so we tailor clothes purchases to that. I also like outfits, because getting her dressed made my routine with her more consistent. My mom bought her a ton of clothes at the consignment stores, so we probably have about 20 outfits in each size. That many is really not necessary.

[kittycatlove]

DS lived in sleepers for the first month or so. I just felt they were the easiest for us. We probably had about 10 or so? Though DS didn't spit up or have too many blowouts so one outfit usually lasted all day. Once he got to daycare I think we had about 20 different outfits. We had to leave a couple at daycare in case of blowouts, etc. I made sure that the clothes for DC were easy, onesies and pants or one piece rompers.

[ohgillian]

Not much. I think that a stash of about 10 sleepers was DS's wardrobe for the first year. (I mean, 10 in newborn size, then in 3-6 size, etc.) He seriously wore sleepers the entire year, and ditto the PP who told you to get zip-up ones and not snaps.

Btw, if you're cloth diapering, you may find that onesies don't fit unless you buy up a size.

[mrshandy]

Not much.

It is so easy to find newborn/infant clothes in great condition.

Do they have consignment sales in your area? Those are really the best sources for me for clothes and gear.

[jenny1223]

A lot of it really depends on the baby. DS was 10 lbs when he was born and could only fit in newborn stuff for a couple weeks. I would wait to buy the bigger sizes until you get closer to needing them. I would've totally underestimated the size DS would be in this summer (he's wearing mostly 12 months now).

[thatgirl2478]

I'll agree with everyone here - not a WHOLE lot - but have enough to last about a week. DD wasn't a spiter and rarely had a blow out - so a sleeper could last all day. We liked sleepers because they kept her whole body covered & her feet.

I'd recommend a few (not many) outfits without feet though - DD was SO long at first that she couldn't fit any of the NB outfits length wise but the 0-3m outfits were way to big on her. Footless outfits really helped out .

[Ashley&Scott]

DS lived in sleepers for the first 6 weeks. It was just easier. (The first 2-3 weeks we also had sleep gowns in the night rotation, then he got too tall & his feet kept poking out.) I'd say we had 7-10 sleepers (long sleeved, footed pjs w/zippers) Some people layer onesies with sleepers but we didn't.

We didn't start dressing in actual outfits regularly until 6 weeks. Once he started daycare at 9 weeks we switched to outfits daily. By then he was in 3-6mo sizes in some brands because he's so tall. (90% on charts)

I actually wish I would have returned most of the 0-3 outfits we were gifted & kept the gift cards to get more clothes as he grew. We went through clothes so fast & so many things were worn once or never because most of the 0-3mo stage was spent in sleepers for convenience.

I love shopping for baby clothes! Garage sales & consignment shops usually have great deals. I don't feel bad if we don't get much use out of an item because it's such a discounted price.

Also, I really wish someone would have told me not to rely 100% on size. It varies so much by brand, there were 6mo Gerber onesies that DS never worn because by the time I pulled them out he had outgrown them. Now I periodically go through his closet/dresser to adjust what's in the current rotation. At 6mo old he's wearing a variety of sizes. (9mo onesies & sleepers, some 3-6mo shorts, some 6-9mo shorts, some 6mo shirts)

[beachdweller]

Jul 24, 2012 10:57:50 GMT -5 jenny1223 said:

A lot of it really depends on the baby. DS was 10 lbs when he was born and could only fit in newborn stuff for a couple weeks. I would wait to buy the bigger sizes until you get closer to needing them. I would've totally underestimated the size DS would be in this summer (he's wearing mostly 12 months now).

This. I would not get much. My kid was over 9 pounds and had a hip issue that meant she couldn't wear sleepers because she had to wear leg braces for a couple of months, so I had WAY too much small footed stuff. I'd get the bear minimum ahead of time and just see what you need after kiddo is here.

[perhapsprincess]

Jul 24, 2012 9:47:02 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

Jul 24, 2012 9:44:35 GMT -5 @msstarry said:

What is the difference between a sleeper and a onesie?

(to me at least) sleeper = footie pajamas w long sleeves and ideally a zipper because I hate doing up a bunch of snaps

I always preferred the snaps because I hate having to take the sleeper off to change a diaper. With snaps you can just undo the bottom half, change diapers, and put it back together!

[hocus]

So in general you want enough clothing in every size to get through your laundry cycle. If you do laundry every 2 weeks you'll need more clothing. Babies are also very messy. Most of them will not wear just one thing all day every day. You'll have to change their clothing do to poop accidents every now and then (with my older kid this was less common, with my younger kid we had leaks at least twice a week). I think 10 "outfits" how ever you define that, and 6-8 PJ's should be fine if you do laundry every week.

The mix of clothing is a bit personal and weather dependent and I think it can be hard to buy a year in advance unless you live in a place where the weather is the same all year around. My younger baby was a summer baby. He wore a lot of onsies at first during the day and sleepers/pjs at night. In the winter we did shirt/pants/socks and PJ's at night. Now he wears shirt/shorts (no socks or shoes since he isn't walking) and a onsie to bed. He is one year old. Come fall we'll get long sleeves shirts, sweat pants, shoes and socks for him + 2 winter coats.

FYI -- in terms of sizing. My toddler who is 2.5 wears a 5T. She was a normal sized baby (~6.5 pounds) and she was wearing 18 months and 2T at her first birthday, she was in an out of 3T in a month more ore less due to a massive growth spurt. Our neighbors kid who is one week older is still wearing a lot of 2T. Kids are hard to predict. I'd suggest getting a fair amount of very light weight long sleeved stuff that you can layer for additional warmth if you need it.

[badtzmaru22]

You might not need to buy much at all, depending on your showers. We were so overwhelmed at the generosity of our friends and family, and got so much stuff, clothes and otherwise. I bought a couple of things I just couldn't pass up, but DD really only wears things a handful of times. I put everything in a big pile, and take a new outfit off the top each day, just to make sure she at least wears everything once.

[aspentosh]

Really not that much. I would also recommend having an assortment since the weather can really fluctuate. I just had to put DD in footed pajamas on Sunday because it was 65 degrees outside (day before was almost 100).

We had so much and DD never spit up, so it was nice not having to worry about doing laundry that much. You could probably get by with:

10 onesies
10 sleepers
2-3 pants
3-4 socks

[aspentosh]

Jul 24, 2012 10:57:50 GMT -5 jenny1223 said:

A lot of it really depends on the baby. DS was 10 lbs when he was born and could only fit in newborn stuff for a couple weeks. I would wait to buy the bigger sizes until you get closer to needing them. I would've totally underestimated the size DS would be in this summer (he's wearing mostly 12 months now).

This is also very good advice. DD was in newborn clothes until 3 months old (peanut!), so a lot of our clothes are out of season. She is still in 3 month or 3-6 month clothes even though most kids her age are in 6-9 month or larger!

[Deleted]

Not much. I think you could get away with just having enough onesies and sleepers to last you through a week (more if you don't like to do laundry that often). Then add in a few cute outfits for pictures. At this age, my kids have always liked to be swaddled tightly. DD has basically spent the last two weeks in those little side snap shirts (so her belly button isn't irritated) and a blanket.

eta: Also, I have found that people really LOVE to buy little girl clothes. We got a lot of gifts for the boys when they were little but our friends and family have really been going overboard on the girl stuff just because they think it's fun to shop for her. So hopefully you won't have that much shopping to do after your showers.

[rootbeerfloat]

Honestly, we received so much newborn and 3m clothing from showers and hand-me-downs that I don't think they ever wore it all. But my kids were big (DS never fit newborn, DD only did for a week or two) and grew fast. I found I needed to purchase more once they moved into the 6m, 9m, 12m size, but what size they will need in each season can be hard to predict ahead of time.

[Deleted]

Honestly my ppd sucked & one of my only joys was putting him in outfits. He was pretty much dressed from birth, & I felt like that was a great way for all of us to bond in those first few days & to have some normalcy ( getting dressed as opposed to both of us staying in jammies)

[oukapu]

Emily is tiny. She is 10 months and still wears a couple 0-3 month sleepers. Her cousin is younger and is in 12/18 months. It is hard to plan clothing since they can grow at different rates.

For the first month, she wore 4-5 newborn sleepers and 3 newborn onesies with pants.
The next few months, she moved on to 0-3. They were too big, but I was tired of the same outfits.

I try for 3-6 night outfits per size. For the day, I was planning for 10-14 outfits. We send two outfits to daycare. On average, two outfits are special occasions. The rest will last us the week. She wears one outfit per day, usually.

I wouldn't buy a lot before the baby. Lots of people will buy you clothing. You also want to plan for buying things at the moment. I had her clothing all squared away after Christmas. However, I didn't plan for my husband to keep buying baby clothing. ;-) Look at this cute valentines dress. Look at this 4th of july shirt. Randomly walking through target/carters - this is sooo cute! We have too much now. We got a lot of it really cheap.