Layette Questions

[jd11365]

1. How much is too much as far as clothes go? I feel like I have soooo many clothes that I got as gifts. Being a SAHM after the baby is born, I'm wondering if the baby will be out and about enough to wear all of the outfits.

2. What do you dress the baby in to go outside, to sleep? I have these beautiful onesies my mom bought at Denny's in NY, but they are not your regular onesies...they are beautiful! Can this be outdoor wear? I'd hate for her not to be seen in these beautiful little clothes. They are mostly early infant sizes so wouldn't they be ok to wear outside in the heat of the summer?

3. Bibs...I have more than I think I know what to do with. Some came with outfits, others seperately. I think they are supposed to be drool/spit-up bibs.

4. Sleep and Plays/Gowns...are these just for inside too? Again, my mom bought these amazing gowns and sleep and plays, but they seem too beautiful for the house! Did you ever take the baby outside in these?

Thanks!
Jamie
EDD
5/9/03

[August Mom]

I may not be the best person to answer this because DS has way too many clothes, courtesy of Grandma. :) Early on, DS's "uniform" was a sleeper. He wore them all day and at night. We also had some gowns. We never wore those outside - only to bed. I was concerned about using a gown in a car seat because the strap would have to go between the baby's legs and might rub against them in a gown, etc. The fancy onesies can be outdoor wear, either by themselves or with matching pants. They would probably be fine in the summer if it's warm. Also, I thought I had more bibs than I could ever use, but once we started solids, I found that I was using them all. Unless they are really tiny, I have found that you can use the drool bibs for feeding bibs while you are feeding the baby. Once you start self feeding you probably need bigger bibs. I do have a couple of drool bibs that are just way too small but most are fine. BTW, I never use the drool bibs for drool. I just let DS drool on his outfit. I don't think the drool bib is worth the hassle.

Once DS hit about 3 months (and moved into the next size of clothes), he started wearing sleepers just at night and wore coveralls or other "outfits" during the day. He still wears some nicer sleepers during the day on occasion, though. HTH

[bnme]

Its mostly a matter of opinion and preference, but here my 2cents:

Too many outfits can be good becuase it means less laundry, but I do have stuff that DS was never able to wear. It seems you have to do laundry often enough anyway for other things so it is kind of a toss up. Maybe keep the tags on some so you can exchange unused stuff. Its also nice to have a large variety at first so you can see what brands/styles you like.

We go through a lot of bibs, but it is good to have difft sizes for as babys neck grows. We really didn't start using them until about 4 weeks. He can go through 4-5 a day!

I tend to "dress up" baby during the day just because I have so much clothes. Then at night he goes in a traditional sleeper. The first few weeks though he lived in either ls tees or sleepers. I think u don't need too many "dress ups" in 0-3 size.

Hope that helps some!

[candybomiller]

It really is all a matter of what you prefer to do. DH was so afraid of breaking DS that he just lived in a diaper and blankets for the first month, unless we were leaving the house. I was sooo annoyed because we had gazillions of adorable outfits (courtesy of Mommy's shopping addiction) that never got worn.

As far as clothing being too cute to wear indoors, well, when everything else is dirty, you get over that really quickly! They wear the small size for such a short period of time that it seems like a shame not to put them in whatever you want them to wear. Otherwise, it might not get worn at all. And, as we all know, that's an even bigger waste of money!

It's really hard to predict what your particular style is going to be. I know of some babies that exclusively live in sleepers for the first couple of months, some babies (who obviously have extremely ambitious parents) that wear "normal" clothes in the day and sleepers at night, then, of course, my son who wore a blanket. :)

Candy
Mommy to Matthew Nicholas, 5/22/02

[MelissaTC]

Matthew wore sleepers and gowns to sleep. After his first couple of days, I dressed him. He mostly wore nice onesies (not under shirt kind) with the matching hat and/or socks. He was so small and it was so hot out that the onesies were his outfit. As he got a little bigger, I started to put the outfits on him. He pretty much wore everything but I think that was because I refused to have him in pjs unless it was bedtime or in the morning. I am not a fan of kiddies in pjs as an outfit but that is just one of my things :)

When we went to stores, etc.. (anywhere with heavy AC) I covered his extremities in a blanket. He was fine and seemed comfortable. I say do what you want. If you want that little one to be jazzed up when you go out, then by all means, do so. It is a lot of fun to see those little ones all dressed. But you might want to be more comfortable at home so use those clothes as well. Remember that you will probably be going through clothes frequently (DS had explosive bf poops in the beginning weeks).

Good luck! :)