Baby Clothes - How much did you end up needing?

[Alenzia]

I scoured the baby existing baby registry posts and couldn't find much info on quantity of clothes for a baby. The sizes seem to be broken into Newborn, 0-3, 3 (is that same as 0-3?), 3-6, 6, 6-9, 9, 6-12, etc. About how many onesies/outfits did you find useful to have in each size? I'm guessing I may or may not even need Newborn clothes depending on how big the baby is, but for each other size, what would you say is useful so that I'd be doing laundry every 3 days or so? 10 outfits/size? Thanks in advance!

[Milizard]

10 sounds good to start with.  Some kids tend to spit up more than others.  The spitter-uppers need more, obviously.  My babies were tiny, and I had no newborn sized clothes, so we were scrambling at the beginning because of that.  We had lots of "outfits" from baby showers.  However, our infants practically lived in the footed PJ's (with a onesie underneath).  I had to make a concerted effort to dress them in some of their unnecessary fancy outfits so they wouldn't go to waste.  I wouldn't get too far ahead in sizes--other than the basics--if you are in an area with different seasons--unless, of course, you get a great deal on them.  They may not be wearing the size you expect during the season you expect, and you may find they skip a size altogether.  I should add, Gerber's sizing seems smaller than most, so they may outgrow those before you realize if you're not paying attention. 


ETA:  If you prefer regular outfits for your baby during the day, you'd probably not need quite so many of each (sleepers vs. outfits) for laundry every 3 days, unless you have a prolific spitter, as previously mentioned.  I'd only register for the basics, though.  People seem to love buying whatever outfits strike their fancy regardless of what you registered for.

[little_brown_dog]

I would get a couple of versatile newborn outfits like onesies or sleeper pjs. We avoided newborn clothes based on common advice, and ended up with a smaller little one who needed to wear newborn sizes for the first 2 months. Thankfully we had some used newborn clothes on hand. Unless your baby is born a 9lb+ chunky monkey, most babies will easily fit into newborn for a few weeks, and alot of babies are born smaller (6-7lbs) and even the 0-3mo clothes are way too big. You don't need to buy many, but 4-6 should do it and will be a very minimal cost. See if friends or family are willing to let you borrow a couple just in case, or buy a few new ones and keep the tags on them until baby arrives.

Just forget the difficult/fashionable outfits for really young babies. You want to focus on outfits that are EASY - easy to get on and off (babies often hate being manipulated into/out of clothes), easy to open for diaper changes, easy to wash, etc. Beware anything that looks complicated, utilizes numerous accessories, or has special washing instructions. There is a reason veteran parents almost always have their really young ones dressed in simple onsies and pajamas, not ruffle tutus. I would have 6-8 sleeper pjs and onesies on hand per size at a minimum.

Lastly, definitely get the longsleeve onesies with the built in hand covers in newborn/0-3mo. Those separate little mittens are cute, but babies flop them off easily and I found it was nearly impossible to get the baby to keep them on her hands for more than 5 minutes at a time. With the hand covers on the onesies, they can't get them off to scratch their faces, and you won't be losing mittens left and right.

[ErrantPen]

10 sounds like a good number. My little man is 9 months, and we used only the footed pjs until it got pretty warm outside. He now uses rompers during the day and the pjs at night. I think that we have just enough for him to have a set of pjs each night and a romper during the day. That lets us go a week without washing them if he doesn't get too messy. Though, at the beginning we were going through multiple outfits a day. I also agree with Milizard that you don't want to get too ambitious with your purchases. Little man was outgrowing stuff at a lightning pace for a few months, but he's been in the same size for the last three. I started sizing him up this week just to be sure that he wears all of his warmer weather stuff before the cold hits!

[Kyle Schuant]

Very few. You will find that people pop up giving you baby clothes as gifts (if childless) and hand-me-downs from their own children (if not). And in a few years someone you know will be having a baby and you'll leap at the chance to clear out some of the clutter of clothes, blankets and toys.

[MyPlanBLife]

A huge hug to you as you begin the awesome, exhausting world of parenting!!  And a huge piece of advice that I lived throughout my daughter's early years (till probably grade 2??)  Almost all of her clothes were from second-hand stores (or hand me downs from friends.)  Especially age one to five, they are growing SO FAST that you're constantly (maybe every 9 months) buying larger sizes, so why buy new?  It's a decision I made long before I'd heard of Moustachianism (my daughter's now 25) but I would pay $12 for a cute little second-hand party dress, as opposed to $50 buying it new.  I always justified it to my close friends (who knew of my thrifty ways) that I'm spending cheaply while she's little, so I'll have the money to spoil her when she's a teen and wants a special outfit...
Ironically, she inherited my "thrifty gene" - or perhaps absorbed it through watching me all those years, so when she got to the teen years she got a job and earned her own money to buy the clothes she wanted!  And, as a family, we were mortgage free in 9 years, because all that $$ I could have spent on baby clothes went on the mortgage principle!!  :-)

[Kyle Schuant]

Plus the kids will wreck the clothes anyway, once they're walking, especially if you have active kids. My boy tears out the knees...

[Milizard]

Plus the kids will wreck the clothes anyway, once they're walking, especially if you have active kids. My boy tears out the knees...

Yeah, good luck finding decent used boys clothes after they start walking/jumping down on their knees all the time.  I find clearance sales are actually cheaper than Goodwill sometimes--and the clothes aren't worn out yet like GW.  Girls clothes are so much easier to find everywhere--thrift shops and regular stores that devote twice as much space to them.

[LouLou]

I recommend announcing to your friends with kids that you'll take used clothes.  People will also buy you clothes if they aren't on your registry because baby clothes are so cute. I have enough clothes for my daughter's first year!

My daughter spits up all the time so I use lots of bibs and she still changes outfits a lot.

[Alenzia]

Plus the kids will wreck the clothes anyway, once they're walking, especially if you have active kids. My boy tears out the knees...

That's exactly why I'm asking - should I assume that I'll need more than 10 outfits if I know they'll tear through some number?

[MayDay]

3-6 is the same as 6.  6-12 is the same as 9-12.  Basically, whatever the bigger number is, go with that.

BUT there is huge variation between brands, so really its a crapshoot. 

I found it easiest to have one piece outfits when they are little and basically sleep all the time.  And then coordinating pants and shirts/onesies once they are ~6 months.  So like the 6 pack of pants, and the 6 pack of shirts, that are all the same color scheme.  Voila- done with clothes for that size. 

At our house we do laundry as soon as the basket is full, so we never needed more than ~5-6 outfits in a size, but it really depends how much baby pukes and how often you wash.  But Amazon can deliver clothing overnight, so don't overbuy!

And yes, it is pretty easy to buy zero baby clothes for at least the first year.  Seeing as how you only need 5-6 outfits per size, and grandmas alone tend to buy that much, most people end up with gobs of barely worn clothing.

[gaja]

It is impossible to say before you meet the little person. What size is she when she is born, how fast does she grow, does she spit up a lot, how well does she regulate temperature, etc. for the youngest, we could only use these side buttoned ones, since she couldn't stand having stuff pulled over her head: http://www.petit-bateau.us/set-of-2-newborn-baby-girls-longsleeved-bodysuits/d/10577C31285?CategoryId=199&Page=2

[tonysemail]

10 outfits is a nice round number.
there's no reason to accumulate more than that.
I was doing laundry very frequently and the kids rotated between 6-7 outfits.

you can always buy more if it's a problem.
ask around and see where other parents buy their used clothes.
it should only be $1-2 for baby items.

[bogart]

I don't remember, but what I do remember is that I developed very, very strong opinions about baby clothes once I had a baby to put in them.  Basically, I wanted long-sleeved/legged onesies that zipped, and short sleeved/legged onesies that snapped in such a way (open front) that one could lie them down fully open, lie baby on top, and snap them all the way onto the baby (no pulling onesie over baby's head).  Also, I loved sleepsacs (but not with carseats, otherwise that might have been all baby ever got to wear!).

You may find you have different opinions from mine, but my key point is, until you're the sleep-deprived parent of a tiny person, you won't know what they are.  Ten is plenty to start, get some variety, add more of what you like (if required/desired) as needed.  Congratulations on your growing family!

[rae]

Lastly, definitely get the longsleeve onesies with the built in hand covers in newborn/0-3mo. Those separate little mittens are cute, but babies flop them off easily and I found it was nearly impossible to get the baby to keep them on her hands for more than 5 minutes at a time. With the hand covers on the onesies, they can't get them off to scratch their faces, and you won't be losing mittens left and right.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. So babies need mittens so they don't scratch their face? Is this all day, during the night, or all the time? Until what age?

[Milizard]

I don't remember, but what I do remember is that I developed very, very strong opinions about baby clothes once I had a baby to put in them.  Basically, I wanted long-sleeved/legged onesies that zipped, and short sleeved/legged onesies that snapped in such a way (open front) that one could lie them down fully open, lie baby on top, and snap them all the way onto the baby (no pulling onesie over baby's head).  Also, I loved sleepsacs (but not with carseats, otherwise that might have been all baby ever got to wear!).

You may find you have different opinions from mine, but my key point is, until you're the sleep-deprived parent of a tiny person, you won't know what they are.  Ten is plenty to start, get some variety, add more of what you like (if required/desired) as needed.  Congratulations on your growing family!

This was us, except for the onesies that snapped--took too long and we didn't have any trouble getting it over baby's head.  We used the sleepsacks forever--after we were done with swaddling, which we also did as long as we could.

[Milizard]

Lastly, definitely get the longsleeve onesies with the built in hand covers in newborn/0-3mo. Those separate little mittens are cute, but babies flop them off easily and I found it was nearly impossible to get the baby to keep them on her hands for more than 5 minutes at a time. With the hand covers on the onesies, they can't get them off to scratch their faces, and you won't be losing mittens left and right.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. So babies need mittens so they don't scratch their face? Is this all day, during the night, or all the time? Until what age?

Just newborns.  I wouldn't do it all the time.  My babies liked sucking on their fists. Personally, I only covered their hands because they got cold.  They were swaddled while sleeping, so didn't need it then.

[little_brown_dog]

Lastly, definitely get the longsleeve onesies with the built in hand covers in newborn/0-3mo. Those separate little mittens are cute, but babies flop them off easily and I found it was nearly impossible to get the baby to keep them on her hands for more than 5 minutes at a time. With the hand covers on the onesies, they can't get them off to scratch their faces, and you won't be losing mittens left and right.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. So babies need mittens so they don't scratch their face? Is this all day, during the night, or all the time? Until what age?

Yup but usually just newborns (<3mo) and not necessarily 24/7. They have these tiny sharp nails which grow really quickly, and as they flail their hands they will often accidentally scratch themselves on the face. My little always ended up with some nasty ones on her nose. It's not a major thing unless the baby is drawing blood, but mittens or onesies with hand covers are usually a good thing to have just in case. The problem disappears as they develop better motor control and their fingers get large enough for parents to comfortably wield a nail file or nail clippers.

[MBot]

A few semi-random late night thoughts on this topic:

I found for newborns the sleepers with zip-ups (instead of a million snaps) were a godsend when you're doing a late-night diaper change and they're screaming. Scratch mitts didn't stay on too well so the sleepers with foldover cuffs were nice. Or we used baby socks as well to pop over his hands because they stayed on a little better.

When they are older, instead of a short-sleeve onesie, bottoms AND a long-sleeve shirt.. it's a lot easier just to buy long-sleeve onesies. And one less thing to wash. Even "dressy" shirts come in onesie form for babies. Much easier.

I've also found that people tend to give you a lot of one item (I got a ton of baby jeans and shirts, for example). I needed to buy onesies and shorts. My local secondhand kids' store has a "10 for $10" deal on onesies.

Socks suck. They fall off and they yank them off. We were given some "robeez-style" store brand leather shoes, and those are great. He wore them for months and months instead. One pair for the winter one for the summer.

For colours, light colours are great the first 4-6 months because they're spitting up only milk. Milk shows up a lot worse on a navy onesie than a white one. Ditto with white swaddle blankets, sleep sacks, jackets, mittens, etc.
After they start on solids, it's nice to have some darker and patterned clothing... so sweet potato and spinach vomit is less obvious.

As far as sizing, there's definitely a big difference between newborn and 0-3, and 3-6 months. But as they get bigger, it matters less. eg the 9 month and 12 month sleepers I bought are almost identical in size, and I keep his 6-12 stuff together.

[a rose by any other name]

Congratulations! I wouldn't register for clothes at all because people will buy whatever they think is cute when it comes to baby clothes. More thoughts:

Maybe I'm strange, but I find anything you have to yank over baby's head (including onesies) a bit annoying. I prefer side snap shirts to onesies and the one piece pj type outfits (especially zip ups) are the best. They're easy to get on and off, and you don't need to worry about putting baby in new pjs before bed (especially if you just changed baby because she spit up everywhere...).

If you have a happy spitter or a drooly baby, get dozens (not joking, DOZENS) of bibs and change those out often to avoid some outfit changes.

Baby clothes are usually sized Newborn, 0-3 (often just listed as 3) months, 3-6 (often just listed as 6) months, 6-9 (often just listed as 9) months, 9-12 (often just listed as 12) months, and so on.

Don't get too much in newborn size as most babies grow out of those clothes pretty quickly. Also, it's ok for baby to wear something that's a bit baggy anyway. If you cloth diaper, the clothes might be a little tighter (especially in the length) due to the extra bulk of the diaper. You can buy onesie extenders too to help with this.

As far as how many clothes to get, it depends on how often you do laundry. But you probably want to plan on 3, maybe 4 outfits per day just in case (or maybe my happy spitter just manages to make lots of laundry).

And overall I would say just stick with soft, comfy stuff. There's really no reason to put baby in stiff, scratchy clothes or dress her like a mini adult.

Oh, and keep in mind many coats can't be worn in the car seat. So for winter, you will want some light layers or perhaps blankets to wrap baby in.

[brycedoula]

Another tip: as tempting as it is in your final pregnant days to wash ALL the new clothes & fold/hang them...don't. Leave the tags on the new clothes (as I'm sure you'll get some!) and only wash when you actually need them. Most baby clothes stores will allow you to exchange items without a receipt as long as the tags are still on. Depending on WHEN your baby arrives and HOW FAST he/she grows you may not even get to all the new outfits before they're too small.

Example: my giant baby was born weighing 9lbs 5.5oz and we had to stuff her into the NB-sized outfits, which only fit her for a few days anyway. A more seasoned mother would have held back on a few of the NB outfits and traded up to a larger size right off the bat ;)

[rae]

Milizard and little_brown_dog thanks for clarifying the mittens thing.

[arebelspy]

We've fluctuated between 2 and 4 outfits at any given time, though she's never spit up.. we'd probably need 5ish if she did (we do laundry daily anyways due to cloth diapering).  Keep in mind, a lot of times she's just in a diaper, nothing else (which seemed like a weird idea to me, at first, and now it seems weird the other way)--outfits are mostly for "going out."  Two was a little sparse, we prefer 3.

I mean, you can always use more, but we got all ours free (hand me downs--some completely unused--some people buy WAY too many baby clothes), aside from a few bought while traveling, and just didn't want more due to space reasons.  Since you'll likely have space, it won't matter, and any you get free you can keep in a drawer.

You'll mostly use just a few though, rotation aside.

100% agree with this:

Just forget the difficult/fashionable outfits for really young babies. You want to focus on outfits that are EASY - easy to get on and off (babies often hate being manipulated into/out of clothes), easy to open for diaper changes, easy to wash, etc. Beware anything that looks complicated, utilizes numerous accessories, or has special washing instructions. There is a reason veteran parents almost always have their really young ones dressed in simple onsies and pajamas, not ruffle tutus.

[ABC123]

Lastly, definitely get the longsleeve onesies with the built in hand covers in newborn/0-3mo. Those separate little mittens are cute, but babies flop them off easily and I found it was nearly impossible to get the baby to keep them on her hands for more than 5 minutes at a time. With the hand covers on the onesies, they can't get them off to scratch their faces, and you won't be losing mittens left and right.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a question. So babies need mittens so they don't scratch their face? Is this all day, during the night, or all the time? Until what age?

My older son had eczema and crazy sensitive skin and would scratch till he bled if we didn't keep his hands covered.  The baby mittens never stayed on at all. We used socks, and they were perfect for covering hands.  About the time he started to figure out how to get them off, his skin started to clear up a bit.

[MommyStache]

I haven't read the other responses, but yes I think you are right on track with 10-12 outfits per size. You could maybe get away with 10-12 onesies and only 5-6 matching comfy cotton pants (gray, black, jeans...) this will depend on how badly baby stains their clothes. We've had to completely trash a few onesies during the "learning to eat solids stage, as well as due to a few very explosive poops. I also like to have one or two favorite, extra cute outfits in each size for nicer outings when pictures would be taken such as religious places of worship, zoo trips, holidays, etc. And I will just say that in our experience, the   stiffer materials like denim aren't very comfy for babies. We stick with the comfier legging or sweatpants type of materials.

Also, in our experience, the six month size corresponds to three to six months, twelve month corresponds to six to twelve, etc.

[Metric Mouse]

2-3 per size. They grow out of them so fast. Never felt the need for more than two, really, even when out of the house for a week a time camping. Of course the snowflake is only 6 weeks old, so once they start really crawling around outside and getting dirty that may change.

[raindrops]

depending on how big the baby is newborn isn't a must and size 10 is not a bad number.

[I'm a red panda]

2-3 per size. They grow out of them so fast. Never felt the need for more than two, really, even when out of the house for a week a time camping. Of course the snowflake is only 6 weeks old, so once they start really crawling around outside and getting dirty that may change.

Do you wash daily? My newborn often needed 2-3 outfits a day.

I'd recommend 7-10 per size.  But put a call out into the world for baby clothes, and they seem to just appear. We did not need to buy a single thing for my daughter until she hit 2T. And then we really only added 1 shirt so she wouldn't repeat an outfit in 2 weeks at daycare, so not really a "need"


I will note that until after size 3 we were entirely in footed pajamas.  (I preferred snaps, husband preferred zipper)  We needed no pants, no socks.  She was in newborn size until about 4-6 week, then moved to 0-3 months.  I wouldn't buy more than maybe 3 newborn outfits until you determine if you have a newborn sized baby though. Lots start at 0-3.

[kimmarg]

As you've seen from this thread, kids come in many sizes. Mine wore newborn home from the hospital and not much longer than that. One pieces are easier. I was averaging 2 outfits a day at least between diaper accidents and spit-ups. 

The sizing between brands are also very inconsistent.  Disney is SUPER small so put them in that cute character outfit from grandma ASAP! Carters shrinks a lot so hand me down Carters will run almost a full size below brand new carters.  My advice would be don't just put them in a pile by size and think you'll  start the 3 month clothes in 3 months. look at a size bigger or smaller to see how it fits.  Here's a sizing chart http://www.happylittlehomemaker.com/wp-content/Baby-Toddler-Clothing-Sizes-Sheet1.pdf

Start with fewer. If you need more it's super easy to get more at goodwill or facebook buy/sell groups.

[Cameronq1]

And if the baby was born large and immediately need to buy clothes a few sizes larger than for a newborn, how to guess what he will be in 3 months if the weight gain is not as fast ... ?

[LucarO1]

And if the baby was born large and immediately need to buy clothes a few sizes larger than for a newborn, how to guess what he will be in 3 months if the weight gain is not as fast ... ?

The size range is a reference since all babies are different. Mine was a big baby and we bought clothes for 3 months right away. I wanted to spend less, but at the same time to make sure the baby was fashionable and neat and wore nice clothes even if he didn't care yet. It's a sign that I'm a good mother and his clothes aren't washed 15 times a day. I bought 5 bodysuits and one bonnet every six months from The Trendy Toddlers on the website. For the winter I took 1 big romper. When he was a year old, I bought 2 bodysuits every six months and clothes for the season. Two sets to change out. They grow up fast and there is no point in buying lots of new ones as he will grow out of them tomorrow

[cupcakery]

10 seems low to me, but it always seemed like my kids were spitting up or having a blow out.  You can always start with that and see how it goes.  People will give you clothes and you can pick up cheap stuff at consignment shops.

[Mr. Green]

I don't think I saw it mentioned here and it's not technically clothing but...BIBS! Our 8month old has already cut 3 teeth and there have been days we've gone through 10 bibs. If you can find ones that have a waterproof lining it'll help keep the saturated bib from making their clothes wet if they're wearing any.

[Dicey]

Ooh, a lovely necropost! I'm not sure who is actually asking the question this time, but here are some resources:

There is a lively baby and pregnancy chat thread here with tons of great advice. Also, paging badass frugal mom expert @PMG.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/fertility-baby-and-pregnancy-chat!-part-two!/msg2647037/#msg2647037

From the archives, there is this: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/09/mrs-money-mustache-what-do-newborn-babies-really-need/

[luchorpan]

Adding one thing I didn’t see mentioned (sorry, I know this is an old post!): I felt that I needed a much smaller layette since I used cloth diapers. A load of diaper laundry every other day, topping it up with baby’s clothes and linens to make the load size more reasonable, meant I rarely needed more than 3 days of clothes in a given size. (Though I had many many more due to handmedowns and shopping grandmothers.)

[PMG]

I’m not sure anyone is asking a question! Hah!  But in the words of Mimi Baldwin in the Homecoming Waltons Christmas Movie “there’s no reason to stop a conversation just because no one is there.”

In my very limited experience I think the advice of 7-10 is solid starting point. I’m guessing the number is very circumstantial. How often do you do laundry? Do you have a drier? Does baby spit up a lot? Do you stay at home? Are both parents working and child in care? 

My advice would also be to have enough easy practical outfits but also to love what you have. I made the mistake of keeping hand me downs that I think are visually awful even though they were physically practical and now many of our first pictures of our sweet baby are of her wearing horribly ugly hand me downs.  Lesson learned.

Also. Swaddles and sleep sacks.  I did not know there were zipper swaddles until baby was a couple weeks old. I sure wish I had a little variety on hand from the get go.  It took us trying several styles to find what worked for us. They can be very pricey new but I do run across them from time to time second hand.  eBay and postmark are great for these specific types of items and for lots of baby clothing.

[Mr. Green]

Holy cow this was an old post! Paid no attention to that since I'm used to topics being recent. Oops!