Understanding Baby Clothes



Shopping for baby clothes...ohh what a joy and a challenge!! When I found out that I was pregnant, I could not wait to buy baby anything!!! But...I managed to hold off on making purchases for a while because how could I buy stuff for the baby when I didn't even know what I was having? A boy? A girl? Both?

My hubbie and I decided from the beginning that we were not going to find out the sex of our baby. We wanted it to be a suprise. So, I didn't buy baby clothes for a long time. This was very very difficult for me because I so wanted to buy the things I fell in love with and dreamed our baby would someday wear.

Then...one day I cracked and bought a few things! (much to my hubbie's dismay!!!...actually he didn't mind...!)

There were some things I learned about buying baby clothes ahead of time!

When shopping for a baby you have no idea is a boy or a girl, you need to make sure you keep a few things in mind.

  • Buy what you like...but...first find out what the return policy is! For some stores it's only 2 weeks, for others they have a nice 90 day return policy. This return time may dictate when you start to buy your baby clothes and maybe where you buy them. I'd stick with the stores that offer a great return or exchange.

  • Keep your receipts!!

  • Shop for gender neutral things as well as gender specific. This way you will for sure have something to dress your baby in if it turns out it's a boy and you've bought only pink frilly dresses!

    • What do these sizes mean?

    Good question! Do you know it took me quite a while to get a grip on these sizes. Baby clothes are not all that straight forward. Here are some questions I had regarding baby clothes and their fit....good thing for you there are answers to these questions!

  • What does 3M mean? Does it mean the same as 0-3 months or does it mean that you start wearing the clothing item at 3 months?

    • Answer: Strange that you and I even have to ask this...but I found out that 3M means 0-3 months. If you wait till 3 months to wear that item of clothing ...well you simply can't wear it longer than hmmm..a week or so...what a waste! Believe me...I should know.

  • Is it strange that this 0-3 month item of clothing still fitting my 6-12 month old?

    • Answer: No, I found it quite typical for clothing that says that it fits a certain size does NOT at all in fact fit when it is supposed to.

    Friends and I have come up with all kinds of reasons why this may be. We though that maybe because these garments are mostly made overseas...that they were made smaller because their babies are smaller. OR...maybe this baby clothing I bought was simply mis-sized! OR...maybe my baby is too big or too small for his/her age!

    Mostly I found that because baby clothes are made all over the world that nothing fit the same in one store as it does in another.

  • Question: My baby wears cloth diapers and she doesn't fit into the baby clothing she should be wearing at her given age. What should I do?

    • Answer: Well, in my oh so brief attempt at cloth diapers, this was one of my main frustrations. The ohh so cute baby clothes I had bought and dreamed of my baby wearing weren't fitting. It seemed my 1 month old was fitting into sizes that were for 6 month olds!

    Yes, the cloth diaper does add a lot of "big-ness" to the overall bum area of your baby. This is why nothing seems to fit. Let me just say from one mom who gave up on cloth diapers...DON'T let this small detail ruin your great efforts to do cloth diapers.

    Simply wear bigger sizes on your baby. Go up one size in most baby clothing and you should be fine. That means when your baby is 3 months old, he or she will be wearing 6-12 month old or 3-6 month clothing. Yes, the pants may be long...but cuffs are cute aren't they?

    The benefits of wearing cloth diapers far outweigh this little bump in the fashion world of your baby. Please read the page about cloth diapers vs disposable diapers. I guarantee you will be in shock as I was, when you find out the facts.

    Also, you may want to know that certain brands fit bigger or smaller.

    Old Navy: Smaller fit in pants, normal fit in tops.

    Gap: Bigger fit in pants, normal size to bigger fit in tops.

    Children's Place: pretty normal sizing.

  • Question:Do I have to stick to buying green and yellow if I don't know what sex my baby is going to be?

    • Answer: No! Please don't. The whole green/yellow thing is so over done! I guess a few items are nice, but a whole entire wardrobe is sickening. There are nice creams, whites, blacks, reds etc...that are very gender neutral (meaning, they don't specifically have cars or bows on them). Please, do us all(and your baby) a favour and try and stay away from the greens and yellows!

    You can suggest in a nice way that you would prefer beige or white or red when you complete your baby registry. If your friends and family are having a shower for you suggest they put these colour desires on the invites!

    Do not be afraid to buy second hand baby clothes

    There was this great little chain of stores in Eastern Canada called Guy Frency's. It was seriously the BEST place to get AWESOME baby clothes for a bargoon! What I loved about it was that they had set prices for an item of clothing and didn't care what brand it was. So, I ended up scoring all name brand cute baby clothes for like pennies! (If you ever get to Eastern Canada you better check this place out!)

    Second hand stores are awesome because you can find great clothes that leave you wondering if they were ever used at all. I even found stuff with tags on them still.

    Newborn baby clothes are the least worn of all children's clothes because those cute outfits only last a few months. Besides obvious stains from poop and spit up there isn't much else you have to watch out for. There will be no worn out knees, no rips, and no paint spills!

    There are many second hand stores out there. Most of the stuff you can get are great finds but beware of places jacking prices of name brand used things that honestly aren't worth the money...even if it is cute!

    Bottom line....wherever you decide to shop...enjoy buying your newborn baby clothes.



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