Newborn Size Clothes are a Scam and Other Thoughts

@jerryklasic Thank you for this!! I’m just about 8 weeks pregnant and have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to eventually buying baby clothes, so I’m bookmarking this for reference later!
 
@jerryklasic Even if these aren’t everyone’s experience, they’re super helpful to consider IMO. I’m a FTM, 25 weeks preggers, and I’d honestly rather have to snag a few more Amazon 2-day shipping purchases than have a billion unusable items! Thank you!!!
 
@alex2017 Definitely! Alot of people disagreeing, but you have no real idea exactly how big the baby is before it's born, they can kind of estimate but it can be way off. Get a couple of nice newborn onesies for pics at the hospital :) and some 0-3 month clothes. Then if you realise you need more, in this day and age it will be dropped at your door in no time.

My bub was 8lb 4oz (39 weeks) when born and grew QUICKLY! By the time I'd managed to get the meconium stain out of the supercute newborn pyjamas MIL had bought she was growing out of them. Glad we had hand-me downs/gifts!

Also my girl was in onesies/babygrows until nearly 6 months old and almost nothing else. Cute and practical. When newborn you are just too tired and they poo too much to fuss with pulling off pants and fiddly buttons and stuff.

Congratulations!
 
@jerryklasic Our baby had this one newborn-labelled vest that still fit her at 6 months old!! I was so sad to stop using it when she finally outgrew it. Saying that, though, she still has some vests and dresses that are 3-6m (she's 9m now). So I think anything without feet is sure to last a lot longer no matter the size!!
 
@jerryklasic Everyone told me not to buy newborn, then I had a 6lb tiny nugget and had to go buy her a bunch of clothes. Even the newborns were large on her and the 0-3 were just fucking ridiculous! We just moved her up to 0-3 at 6.5 weeks old!
 
@jerryklasic I also disagree with #1. My baby was 4lbs when she was born and I followed this same naive advice. The day she was born my fiancé had to go pick out preemie clothes for her. She didn’t fit newborn till 2 months old and at 5 months, is just now in 3 month clothes. So unless the doctors clearly indicate they believe you’ll have a baby on the bigger side, I’d be safe and get NB AND 0-3 month clothes.
 
@jerryklasic My daughter was in newborn sizes for the first 4 1/2 weeks as well as newborn diapers for the first 3. We had to buy more newborn clothes than what we owned because she was swimming in 0-3 and I didn’t want her to suffocate in them. She was born 2 weeks early, and was 6 lbs 12 oz. At 5 weeks old she is now 10 lbs 8 oz. The doctors advised us that she was not premature as premies are at least 4 weeks early.
 
@jerryklasic Yeah I had an IUGR baby at 5.5lb full term. We were good in NB until 3mo but now at 7mo she's good in 6-9. We even bought some preemie sizes the first month because she was so small in nb and 0-3. So YMMV there.

Also not every brand fits the same so some NB might be comparable to 0-3. This is really a huge thing. I saw a post on some parent sub that compared sizes and it was helpful. I wish I saved it but basically Carter's is spot on for average height and weight and BB is good for tall kids. Can't remember others.

Snaps v zips is a very personal thing. Some prefer snaps. I prefer shirts and pants and forgo the onesies.
 
@jerryklasic My baby was 1 month premature, is now 2 months old and still doesnt quite fit newborn outfits. So every baby is different. We didnt buy any newborn clothes because everyone told us to just buy 0-3 because newborns are a waste of money, then we had to go out after our daughter was born to buy premature and newborn outfits so she would have something to wear.
 
@jerryklasic Some kids need newborn. My kid was born term, but even newborn clothes were swimming on her at the beginning. We needed to get more. She wore them for almost a month before 0-3 fit her. Now she’s big and wears a size or two above her age.
 
@jerryklasic My kid was prem so we were in newborn clothes for ages, but also we got heaps of hand-me-downs from other prem parents and have already loaned them out to another family who had a teeny baby.
 
@jerryklasic My son was in newborn for a while but then I thought oh my goodness he's going to outgrow these soon and stocked up on 0-3 month clothes but he's growing so quickly that at 11 weeks he is in 3-6 month clothes already and his 0-3 month clothes didn't last us long at all.
 
@jerryklasic Clothing fits different babies differently, I don't think that's a surprise to most parents. Just like all other shapes of humans. I didn't find it jarring to have a few pieces of NB that he never wore, but it was nice to have them in case. I know his cousin ended up wearing them for a few months when we sent them along. (My guy was 9.5lb, lol. He was fitting 3-6 month clothes by 3 or 4 weeks.)

As for gender neutral clothing, it boggles me that isn't the default place people go to. Kid doesn't care, and I don't understand the value of heavy gender signalling. Wear what you want, but also, no one is going to care if your boy wears pink stuff.

Snaps > zippers, every time. Snapped clothing contours to the kid way better, it isn't hard, and I seem to get another few weeks of fit compared to the zippers that always do that weird curly popping thing. And snaps you can keep snapped where you want them, vs. having to remember which sleeper has a two way zip or not.

But hey, that's why there's loads of options!
 
@anonymous123454 I thought I was the only one that liked the snaps better than zips! I always thought I was going to zip up my chunky kids skin.

Then I discovered magnet onesies. Those were legit the best thing ever
 
@dgrace The only magnet clothes I have is a long sleeved shirt, and like, what is even the point of a non-onesie shirt. XD The riding up got to me so fast, and it's been too warm for layers.
 
@jerryklasic Just to disagree a little, my little one was born 6.4lb and we had her in newborn for almost 2 months! Had to go buy some more so I’d suggest buying a weeks worth and getting more if you need it, we definitely did for a long time!!
 
@jerryklasic My baby was born 30 days premature at 6lbs 10oz and wore newborn stuff for several weeks. At about 2 months old she starting wearing 3-6 month clothes. Now at 3 months she wears 6-9 month clothes and those are snug
 
@jerryklasic Yeah NB are not a scam at all. Maybe the advice should be don’t buy them or do but keep the tags and receipt on them until you know how big your baby is. Mine wasn’t a preemie but was small (born 6lbs) and was in NB until she was 2 months old. We had to go buy more of them
 
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