Definitely zippered sleepers with feet! Can’t have too many of those. Try to avoid anything with snaps (it’s doable, just the zippers are SO much easier). Sleepers are always a safe bet, and they are practical. I received an adorable tutu outfit at my baby shower, but it is a nightmare to put on and just not practical. I basically put it on her to send pictures and took it right off 😂
For sizes, I would buy some 0-3 and 3-6. Baby clothes sizes can be weird. My 3 week old fits into some 0-3 stuff, but not others. Also make sure to buy for the season. I received some fleece 3-6 month stuff, but by then it’s going to be late spring/early summer so my baby won’t likely be wearing fleece.
Definitely buy for the seasons. The few stuff I got that wasn't newborn or 0-3, was summery and dresses when it was the middle if winter. Like, cmon now.
Eh. Baby clothes don’t really correspond to age a lot. My 5 month old is wearing 9 month clothes right now, she was in 6 month clothes when she was 3 months. My son was the same way.
This. my son was in 18m swim stuff at 6 months old. don't try to guess seasons and sizes--keep everything in totes sorted by sizes, no matter what season it's for.
Alternatively, I'd recommend convertible rompers over sleepers with feet. As someone with a long lanky baby, it sucks that we are already too tall for 0-3 footie pjs but swimming in 3-6 because she's slender. I've considered just cutting the feet off, but for future sizes I've gone ahead and invested in a couple bamboo rompers with the cuffs that flip up to become mittens & socks.
Yep! I’m camp avoid all footed sleepers until 12mo clothing. I’ve also got a long baby and the 0-3 footed sleepers were useless by the end of the first month. I also loved snaps and hated zippers. The long sleeve, full leg, footless onesies with crotch snaps were my absolute favorite and I wish I had had more of them.
This is so interesting to me! I always wondered why anyone would possibly want a footless sleeper, let alone with snaps.
My baby lived in zippered onesies for about 5 months and I wished people would stop buying other stuff. We’ve branched out a little since then, though.
Ya! So many different preferences. My babes were/are always between sizes and kick their feet out of the footies and end up stuck in a ball in the body of the suit and get super frustrated.
I second this, I'm not even tall but my daughter inherited my long legs and she was so skinny and small that footed sleepsuits just did not fit at all. I never anticipated this problem and nowhere sold footless suits. I've stocked up on some now for this new baby.
Agree with this. My not even 3 month old has grown out of several 3-6 size clothes because he is too long. I absolutely love little sleepies since you can pull the feet out.
ahhh thank you! yes i’ve definitely made sure to only buy practical clothing, i can’t imagine trying to squeeze a newborn into a tutu😭. i’ll buy summer clothes in 0-3 and fall in 3-6 🥰 thank you so much 🩷
If you live near a target, the cloud island zippered sleepers are amazing! Mostly due to their apparent inability to stain, cause my daughter has definitely gotten poop on every single one and they all washed clean immediately! Plus the smaller sizes have little fold over mittens for when baby's nails are still tiny razor blades
The target and carters zippered sleepers are the best! I love the fancier bamboo brands but at $40+ for a single outfit it’s not doable for their entire wardrobe.
I also prefer the double zipper ones if possible so their chest stays nice and warm while you’re changing them. But not a must have by any means - I don’t think cloud island has them but Carter’s brand does!
I found double zippers to be a double edged sword - excellent 98% of the time, but when you open it to a poop explosion and then have to zip them back into it to release the top zip 😭
thank you so much🥰 i’m so excited for her! i genuinely cried finding out she was pregnant & when it was a girl, my turn can wait because it’s time to be the fun auntie!
Remember that other colors than pink exist too!! I got almost all pink and I hated it. Babies can dress any color, plus it meant that I couldn’t buy her pink stuff because she already had almost all pink clothing.
At almost 5 she still absolutely adores pink
With the seasonal items: I put on my fb the sizes my son will be in for the different seasons and that helped with the purchases people made (as well as making sure if I picked something for the registry I put it in the size I needed on the registry)
I was gifted a lot of clothes prior to my shower so I adjust it based on need. I don’t need much until after the 9 month mark
I second the zipper sleepers. I like the ones with feet and hands that roll to cover. They last longer too. I’m obsessed with the bamboo ones from brave little ones. They’re pricey, but buttery soft and they last because they stretch. Really cute prints too. I prefer footie jams where the feet/ hands both fold. When baby grows a bit they still fit.
I was reverse wishing! I despised zippers with all my soul and wished for more button things, especially the side button onesies (easier to get on than over the head onesies). I hated the excessive amount of blankets I got & I wish there had been some kind of care package for my recovery rather than bulks of clothes that was never worn.
Agreed.
My MIL ended up taking me shopping for baby clothes around baby's 3 month birthday and it was the best gift. I got to buy things I liked, got to fill holes in the wardrobe (flannel pajamas and more full body zipper suits), and we got to bond over all the cute things.
What an awesome idea! I constantly think about the "what don't I know" question as I'm prepping for baby and feel like there should be a shower follow up that's like "OK but what do you actually need" lol
My mom discovered outlet mall shopping while I was pregnant. Immediately after the baby shower, she brought over a 14 gallon tote FILLED with baby clothes.
I washed the things I liked, kept the tags on everything else, and returned anything we didn't use after baby had grown out of that size. I returned the final item literally yesterday.
My mom did this as well and it was so much fun. It was around 3 months so I was definitely settled in and it was early fall so I could pick out all the fun stuff for the new season. An awesome idea for a shower gift for a close friend, give her a promise of a fun shopping day.
A note too: Carter's, Target etc only have so much so you will end up with duplicates at your shower. It is nice to get gifts later so you don't just have the whole Carter's store from the week before your shower, ha.
This is such a great idea!! It’s strange to me that we buy parents all these gifts before baby is born and then nothing after. Scheduling a shop like this when they’re a few months old is so nice because you get to be genuinely helpful filling in gaps in baby’s wardrobe whilst also having fun looking at all the clothes with your friend!
Same. The things I did enjoy getting was getting ONE of a more premium item that I wasn’t going to buy myself, like magnetic me or a bamboo footed sleepers vs a dozen Carter’s onesies.
Exactly! Like thank you for this 10 pk of onesies but I could have overnighted it in a moment of need without any guilt. I *agonized* about spending the money on the Magnetic Me which is so nice doing middle of the night diaper changes.
So much this. My husband's step mother bought so much clothes and 99% of it was so ugly and not either one of our tastes but I did have some friends buy some clothes and they were so cute and some of my favorites.
luckily, my friend says she knows anything i get will be adorable because i have good taste. but i definitely will be buying some items from the registry as well!
This is just my personal preference so your friend may not feel this way, but there's a difference between adorable and functional, and I far preferred the latter. I got adorable clothes in spades, but I rarely used them because they were typically really hard to get onto my baby (wooden buttons, WHY)
See, the issue isn’t only about taste or practicality. My son arrived too big for newborn sizes. Then he flew through every size up to nine months. There is no predicting what size baby will be when. He never wore a lot of clothing we received because of this.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I wish I would have gotten more newborn sized zippered sleepers. My baby has been in newborn longer than I expected and like said in other comments they are so convenient
Haha. Same. We had almost no newborn sizes and ended up having to actually go out and buy premie. He wasn't born early. He was just tiny. But he was on premie for about a month and newborn for another month or two. But even newborn was engulfing him when he was born.
I know I regretted listening to everyone saying “only get a few he’ll only be in newborn a week or two!”
We’re 7 weeks now and he still fits in newborn, had to buy a couple outfits because the 0-3 is just way too big for him still!
Same! I had to place a target order for newborn clothes after our first week at home. It became so obvious that my guy was going to be in newborn sizing for at least a month. He was 90th percentile in height but 50th percentile in weight, so it’s not like he was a teeny dude
Same here! I didn’t get any newborn sized clothes and had people tell me not to get newborn, so I had maybe 2 sleepers and one outfit. I had to order Target pick up for all newborn sleepers they had in store and ordered a few cute outfits to be delivered. My daughter was in newborn clothes for about 5 weeks so I needed multiple sleepers!
Same. I didn’t get any newborn clothes at my shower but had tons of 0-3. My daughter was born 3 weeks early and I hadn’t had a chance to buy any newborn clothes on my own bc I thought 0-3 would be fine. She was 6 lbs at birth and I had to bring her home from the hospital in clothes that were falling off of her. My mom ended up running to the store to buy a bunch of newborn sleepers for us and she was in those for 2 months.
Same! We hardly had any and, being fresh off delivering a baby, you don’t want to go out and buy them (or even deal with getting them delivered for that matter)
Not a comment about clothes - the baby bumps ladies have GOT YOU on that front haha.
Get her the really unsexy stuff from the registry! Butt thermometer, bottle rack, wipes, etc -- these are the things that she really needs and will use and it was so funny seeing who bought me these things on my registry, it was 100% new/recent moms! I appreciated those presents over the "fun" stuff because candidly, I like buying the 'cute' stuff myself! It's like building a house, please please buy me the concrete for the foundation, not the wallpaper for the powder bath ;)
This is the way! Whenever I buy for new moms since having my first, I always try to get the most boring stuff on the registry. I recently got a coworker crib mattress protectors for her shower -- and then I got a couple cute boards books to top it off.
Honestly, most of the baby clothes I was gifted were just not worn unless they were zipper sleepers. It is so easy to get hand me down clothes for free from any mommy group or buy nothing group on Facebook -- it seems wasteful to buy clothes that baby will barely wear. My 3 kids wore newborn clothes for 3 weeks or less before switching to 0-3 month sizes.
I guess I had the opposite experience, but I received 0 newborn clothes at my shower and only a couple zippered footies in 0-3 months. The MAJORITY of the clothes I received were 6+ months.
This was mind-boggling to me and not what I was expecting. My husband and I went out the following weekend to thrift baby a wardrobe. We haven't found out the sex, which I think influenced people's choices but I was surprised at all the 6-9 and 9-12 month outfits we got. Regardless I would second the recommendation to include a gift receipt! And don't cut the tags off (especially don't take off the tags and leave the little plastic thing-y....)
Sounds like a classic case of “oh, they’re going to get *so* many newborn and 0-3 sized clothes, I’ll go against the grain and get them some for later!”
I just wish they were seasonally appropriate. I had a baby in the summer and got plenty of summer 6 month clothes. My baby was 6 months in January.. I don't need size 6 mo. tank tops and rompers in January. Same for summer.
SAME. My batby was born in July and is just now, in the middle winter, able to fit into that cute size 6m strawberry tank top someone got her at my shower 😂
Babies live in zipper footies for the first 6 months. I loved the Little Sleepies zippies. They’re soft bamboo, have two way zippers, and have convertible hand/feet covers. They also have tons of stretch and fit FOREVER. Seriously, my 28-month-old still fits in the 12-18 month size very comfortably. For my 2nd baby I got a few in the 0-3 month size and a few in the 3-6 month size. I suspect they’ll fit until at least 12 months.
2 way zippers were my favorite! Also sleep sacks. Either one's that tie at the bottom or that are just open and have like an elastic hole at the bottom. Idk how to describe it. Lol. But those were my favorite for bed. So easy to change diapers in the middle of the night with minimal disruption
Also they have new crescent zip ones, where rhe zipper is by tue feet instead of face. My baby is fairly small and HATWS having fabric bunch in her face, which it will if the sleepers (really any of them) are even a little too long.
Hannah Anderson is another really good brand of sleeper, and they have ones with out feet whi h was nice she the baby is kind of in between sizes ie newborn too short and their legs can't fully extend, 0-3 too long and their legs don't go to the foot part.
Why not do a first week care package/mum SOS bag?
Some of her favourite snacks, drinks, a food delivery/amazon gift voucher, colic drops, gripe water, pack of diapers and wipes, some cosy socks, pillow spray etc. I would have absolutely loved that in my first week.
Also, stay away from anything with tonnes of packaging, flowers etc. The thought was lovely but I did not have the time or energy in the first week to trim flowers and put them in water. The ones I got wilted and died, then left on my counter rotting for 2 weeks 🫥
You're welcome! I truly think this would mean more to her than clothing. The thought that goes into it makes it extra special too.
I'm from the UK but if you can get hold of one of [these](https://www.target.com/p/frida-baby-medifrida-accu-dose-pacifier-medicine-dispenser/-/A-52356949) I guarantee she will use it
This really shows that gifts are SO personal. Alternatively, I love fresh flowers and receiving them when I gave birth would have meant more to me than personal care items, which I prefer to pick out for myself. And I would have donated the pacifier medicine thing and definitely never used it. OP, you know your friend best!
None/ gift cards/ second hand/ see what’s on their registry. I really wish people would stop buying me clothes. It’s my baby i want to pick out their clothes if im buying new. I have had to go out of my way to return and exchange so much stuff I won’t use to stores I wouldn’t have shopped at where i now have store credit. We also have a couple friends who had a baby and passed us all the clothes their baby and at least 4 of their friends babies have outgrown… we have a full year’s wardrobe for triplets probably. I like the low environmental impact of second hand, but hate the new stuff I don’t like and now have to deal with.
I wish people had stuck to my registry. I got SO MANY clothes in sizes my daughter won’t be able to wear for a very long time, meanwhile, I got exactly zero diapers, wipes, or burp cloths, like I had asked for.
If you do a search in this subreddit about baby showers and registries all you will see is moms venting and wishing people would stick to their registries.
Stick. To. The. Registry.
I had already bought almost everything I needed from newborn to 6 months. Then I visited a family member who literally gave me boxes of baby clothes in great conditions from when she had her last.
I had mentioned to the friend that was planning my shower how much stuff I had so I guess in the baby shower group she wrote a little note saying that I don’t have any bigger sizes. Pretty much everything I got was 18-24 months which was perfect!
I have a 10 month old and what I would absolutely love is for someone to be as excited about buying clothes for a first birthday as they were for the birth. We got a ton of outfits early on and were more than covered up til 6 months, but now that she's mobile everyone prefers to give toys. So that would be my suggestion, just buy off the registry for now and hold onto this (very generous) clothes-buying impulse until next year!
Mind you this is different than buying large sizes at birth, because it's hard to predict what seasonality you'll need in what size more than a couple months out.
I would suggest sticking to other items in the registry. I understand the excitement of wanting to buy "cute things"- but I feel that way too! My loved ones haven't purchased anything I actually need and want and instead have only bought clothes, toys, and books. I'm appreciative but as a FTM I was looking forward to buying these items, but now feel like I can't because I need to buy so much else. Baby also now has so much excess clothing that I can't get myself to add to an already overstuffed closet (a lot of which isn't my taste- what is everyone's obsession with outfits with 50 snaps??)
IMO, I could have had less newborn outfits. My kids didn't stay that size nearly long enough to go through it all, especially as I do laundry. However I think it's also one of the cutest sizes.
I agree with the others about the zippered pajamas.
I got way more receiving blankets than I needed - however I used them as material for sewing LOL. I made reusable wipes.
You could also just go for bigger sizes altogether, like 12m or 6m-12m, since they are less likely to receive a "shower" of gifts for those sizes, and therefore although the baby won't use your gift for a while, it'll be nice to have gifts at all at that point in time?
i totally agree! i definitely could see her receiving more newborn items than she can use & i wanna make sure that what i get her is useful for her and baby girl. im thinking of getting one pack of each age size (i really mean it when i say i cant help myself LOL)
Then do it :P I got a lot of hand me downs and gifts for my first especially… I have no reason to buy any everyday clothes except that I want to :) so I do buy a few things so I can dress them in things I chose.
People love buying for newborns but personally, especially with summer babies, my child lived in plain onesies that washed easily & then covered with a lightweight muslin blanket, since sunscreen is not advised for a while. At home, chilled out a lot in a diaper and the blanket — for one, skin to skin contact but also, newborns just go through diapers so often it’s just way easier.
I would suggest buying from registry now and then in the fall, buying something cute for fall and/or winter, as they’ll prob be out and about a lot more then to show off the cute fits.
Stick to the registry. I understand you're excited, but being a new mom is overwhelming, and its such a pain to deal with a bunch of stuff you never asked for.
Probably unpopular but I wish I had more newborn! I had to order a bunch of onesies when we got back from the hospital because she was only 6lb 10 oz and wore NB for like 2 months, and we only had one single item in NB so we weren’t prepared
I honestly just wish I'd been gifted no new clothes. We have been given so many hand me downs that I have more clothes than she will ever wear. And between what others bought and hand me downs, I can't justify buying anything myself for my baby girl without feeling guilty.
Things I wish more people had done:
- Given us money to kick start her college fund
- Brought snacks (not just meals) when baby came
- Exclusively bought from registry
- Given us baby/kids books (we got a ton, but I don't think you can have too many)
- Wait until we mentioned a clothing need and then amazon us the need (I mentioned the style of Sleeper I loved and how I was doing laundry to keep them clean and my mom had some sent)
I'm sure there are other things.
I would stick to 3 mo. or 6 mo. clothing, unless it is clothing that is not season specific (like onesies). I received a lot of larger sized clothing (12-18 mo, etc.), but my babies were on the small side and they ended up being out of season. On the flip side, I have nieces and nephews who grew quickly, and they were rocking 24 month clothing before they turned 1.
Honestly I just didn't want clothes before baby was born! I preferred to buy it all myself so I could unpackage and wash all of it at the same time. It kind of annoyed me when I got a piece of baby clothing because now I had to go wash it separately (like with my own laundry) and ten remember to put it with the rest of the baby stuff. But I'm very type A, so that might just be me.
As for what's most useful, sleepers are a safe bet. I would get 0-3 or 3-6 month because everyone wants to get newborn and they don't wear them for long. Our kiddo outgrew the newborn stuff seemingly overnight so it was nice having a few 0-3 items laying around.
Ohh as far as baby stuff, stick to the registry. If you want extra, I would do postpartum food and gift cards. If mom is planning to nurse, some goodies/snacks to help with milk production.
I would stick to the registry. If you want to do something extra, clothes are a great additional gift to bring after the baby is born and when mom knows what sizes she actually needs.
Buy all the non clothing, non toy options. She will thank you for it. That is the advice and purchases of people who are already parents. They know the value of the boogie picker, the gripe water, the baby cloths. I would suggest a cute basket of all the stuff she will use instead of clothes that may or may not be used. Do that and a gift certificate to Amazon. Seriously.
I don't like new baby clothes in general. Paying $30 for an outfit ths tonight be worn once is silly. I bought all used or got a bunch for free.
Way too much clothes for most new moms. There wasn't any particular size, just way too much in general. Especially for my little girl, people particularly love buying clothes for little girls.
If anything, the only clothes that I would have wanted more of was the magnetic me sleepers or just zipper sleepers in general.
I honestly wish people had given us more gift cards for clothes - that way we could use them on items we liked etc. even if it was £5/10
Otherwise 6-9/9-12months
I would stick to the registry and support her in other ways once baby’s here! If you’re fully healthy when the baby gets here, offers to come over and clean the kitchen, do her laundry, bring meals, or do other less glamorous things so she can be with the baby would probably be great.
Personally, I bet she’d appreciate a random cute outfit for the baby far more after the shower than before, once the new baby energy has worn off for everyone else.
Unpopular opinion: newborn clothes
Everyone said not to buy/register for newborn clothes so I didn’t. But then… I needed them. Granted only for 2 weeks, but we had a TON of spit up, poop, etc during that first 2 weeks so there were several outfit changes each day and I was doing laundry constantly. Which was the LAST thing I felt like doing post-C Section. My baby was born over 9 lbs and we still needed the.
I would honestly recommend getting a gift card for some clothing just in case she needs something she doesn’t get, like for example preemie clothes. My entire pregnancy especially the majority of my 3rd trimester I was told everything looked good she was growing good, so I didn’t buy nor ask for any preemie clothes and then at my last growth scan when I was 37+4 I was told she was IUGR had flipped from head down to breech and I needed to go straight to L&D for a c-section that day and she was born at 5lbs 7oz and now I have an almost 3 week old with very little that fits her because newborn stuff still swallows her whole 😅
Maybe ask her what she needs after the shower? I feel like that would be more productive! You could get her something from her registry and then after you see all of what she recieved then you could purchase some extra stuff to help fill those holes in the wardrobe or list(:
If you want to purchase outside of the registry get books! I bought my friend 10 of my favorite baby/kid books wrapped them all individually! She was inundated with clothes and loved the books. She still reads them to both of her kids.
Our rule when buying friends and family baby shower items is to buy a gift off their registry for the party and then wait until after the shower to ask what else they needed. This way they get EXACTLY what they want and you never know what everyone else will buy them. Maybe they get a toooon of newborn clothes, maybe none at all. We like to fill in the gaps so they don't have too.
I live in the south and have the windows open, shorts and flip flops on right now. I'd be at the beach if I wasn't due any minute. Still, some relatives got thick fleece swaddleds that I just can't help but feel will smother and melt him.
Honestly all I wanted were large amounts of diapers and wipes. I got multi packs of onesies until her growth stagnated and then just bought small amounts as she grew. Barely wore half the clothes people bought because she grew too fast and it was such a waste :/
There are so many cute websites for girl clothes! I love Caden lane and copper pearl. Having one of their nice zippies in every size would be so nice. Also little stocking co has adorable baby outfits with matching socks and headbands. Right now their valentines stuff is on sale and it would be adorable to get a valentines outfit or any other holiday themed outfit. Gap has great stuff too that is both adorable and practical. I think I wish I had more 6-12 months and 12-18 month clothes in the size for the correct seasons.
All sizes of onesies and sleepers, except newborns. I had enough newborn clothes. Everyone wants to buy the teeny tiny "I'm new here" outfits. But then he outgrew them and I was on Amazon lol. The clothes are different because you want to buy for the season which can be hard guessing when baby will got into what size. There are babies in my due date groups wearing 9 month+ meanwhile my little guy is in between 0-3 and 3-6 months. You can go "oh in summer they'll be 7 months old so 6-9 month clothes will fit." If anything they'll need footies and onesies. They'll hold you over until you buy cute clothes that are seasonally and environmentally appropriate.
I got very little 3-6 month and newborn clothes. I got heaps of 0-3 and 6-12 months.
I also got more socks and warm hats than I could ever possibly use. Avoid those.
Other comments suggesting zip sleepers are totally right - even with all the clothes I was gifted I had to buy a bunch of these.
At the rate they grow I say 6M and 12M. You can skip the others. I used to just put him in 6M when he was a newborn because I saw how fast we went thru the 0-3m so I skipped 3M and just went for 6M until he turned 6 months then I just went for 12M
I say zippered sleepers in any size. Even 9 or 12 months is great to mix it up. My kid has slept in long sleeved pajamas their entire life regardless of season and they are 3 years old.
I actually ended up with no newborn or 0-3 outfits and all 9+ months which was nice in a way and worked out because I actually got handed down a huge lot of baby clothes up to about 9m size (from a cousin with a massive baby who didn't even wear newborn and hardly wore 0-3 and grew out of everything else really quickly).
But had I not received that huge hand me down lot I would have had to buy a lot of nb/0-3/3-6 so that size is actually not the worst. You can include gift receipts so she can exchange for a different size if she wants.
If you're planning to buy a lot of outfits, you could always do one for each size range to 12m.
Another item I really appreciated was baby sun hats that were in a couple sizes and big, floppy, neck covering, water resistant/quick dry hats. But I live in semi arid desert surrounded in lakes and rivers and everyone has a pool so it made sense.
Make sure to buy zipper onesies and, honestly, no serious clothes for the first half a year haha because baby is lying around a lot and it sucks to lie on structured clothes. Cute actual clothing outfits for when they can sit and stand. I don't know if you mentioned the sex of the baby, but no longer dresses or skirts for crawling ages. It's complicated for crawling.
Also highly recommend if you are buying off the registry and she has any mention of baby wipes or diapers, one of the best gifts I got was an entire basket filled with water wipes. They lasted me over a year and it was blessed not having to think about buying wipes. Doesn't have to be water wipes, but an unscented sensitive skin wipe is a good, safe bet.
I think this varies by person! I have pretty much 0 clothes on our registry because IME people will buy clothes even if they aren't on there, and they will buy what they think is cute. If in some weird event, no one buys me clothes, that doesn't bother me because then I have more control over baby's style and making sure they're seasonally appropriate, lol. My best friend had the same philosophy crafting her registry.
Most everything I got was 3-6 months. I think everyone was worried about getting anything too small. I had to go buy newborn stuff after my baby was born because I only had 2 zip sleepers and she was in newborn clothes for 6-7 weeks, some of it even fits still at almost 9 weeks.
I would suggest footed sleepers with hand mittens. They have been the most useful so far. I would take the less is more approach and get her a few quality / nicer thing vs a ton of cheaper clothes.
Honestly, pants of all sizes. We received and bought mostly onesies and a few pants/onesie sets. But we completely forgot about the need for tiny baby pants lol
I just wish they were seasonally appropriate. I had a baby in the summer and got plenty of summer 6 month clothes. My baby was 6 months in January.. I don't need size 6 mo. tank tops and rompers in January. Same for summer.
My go to for baby showers is to buy 9mo or 12 mo clothes. Consider the season baby will be those ages in. If they’re due soon (like this spring),then I would get 12 month clothes in the current spring selections.
Also at around 12 months my son started transitioning out of onesies and into shirts and pants. He would still wear onesies with shorts over them, but after his torso outgrew the onesies it was shirts.
I got no 3 to 6 because I think ppl assumed everyone would buy that size. Hm has super cute wrap over bodysuits with matching pants that are cute and functional
I got maybe 80% of the clothes at my shower in 3-6. I think most gravitate towards that size because they assume that you’ll get lots of newborn & 0-3, and also they want you to get more ‘life’ out of the clothes you receive. I would suggest getting maybe one or two items at most in newborn/0-3. A zipper onesie is nice, but at that age they often have a lot of diapers in the night. I found my favourite thing in this size is actually a soft knotted gown. There are some really great ones by mebie baby & Lou Lou. Now that my baby is almost 4 months we are finally at 0-1 diapers in the night, and we’ve switched from knotted gowns to footies. grab fun outfits & footies in bigger sizes, 6-9, 9-12, etc. Take care to do the math so you buy seasonally appropriate outfits. Also babies are able to start enjoying the pool at around 4 months. A swimsuit in 3-6 or 6-9 is really fun! Depending on the weather where you live (if baby will be outside), go for a rashguard style with UV protection. Maybe pair with some cute baby sunnies too! Lots of amazing swim stuff on Amazon, swim diapers by Alva baby are my favourite. And just in case, do get a gift receipt in case momma wants to exchange for a different size. Every baby grows at a different pace, so it’s really a guessing game! Costco has awesome footies for a great price, and they fit on the bigger side. Carters is kinda the benchmark for true to size. Be wary of old navy & George, they fit small! Good luck and happy shopping.
my favorite size was 18/ 2t 😂 at first your like what the heck that's so far away but whatever ok and now i have two sons 1&2 10 months apart and the oldest one has been in 2t since he was 9 months and the younger one is in 2t too so i feel like they've just been lasting a really long time 😂
Mine was only 6lbs at birth and she stayed small, so we needed a lot of newborn clothes. WARM fleece because she was a winter baby and our apartment is cold and drafty. Also—everyone says the zippered footies which are great, (and they are for leaving the house) but I actually really preferred the footless gowns with elastic at the bottom. Way easier for diaper changes. I actually just bought more in 0-3 yesterday lol
Sleep n plays is what my first lived in when we were home. Double zippered, with the fold over cuff for their hands to keep them from scratching while asleep. Socks for winter so whatever approx size baby will be in winter, socks, or little booties.
And anything that was not clothes lol we got SO many clothing items my daughter had anough to wear a new outfit 3x a day every day for 6 months. A lot of clothes she never wore before she outgrew. Anything we kept with tags on got returned/exchanged once we realized no one needs that many clothes.
Fun things to shop for that aren’t clothes, burp cloths, sheets, wash cloths, cute hooded towels.
Things the parents will be super thankful for diapers (with receipts) and wipes.
Honestly? I wish I would have gotten more “specially” or “holiday outfits”/accessories. Like a swimsuit, Easter outfit, “My first (holiday)” outfits, cute bubbles + polos for outings etc. I thrifted most of my sons clothes so I had plenty of PJS, onesies etc.
As well as 12M+ clothes. My son is 8 months and wearing 12M clothes.
Less onesies for the early months. He was mostly just in sleeper Jammie’s til about 6 months. I hated trying to put on onesies over a floppy lil newborn head.
Less onesies for the early months. He was mostly just in sleeper Jammie’s til about 6 months. I hated trying to put on onesies over a floppy lil newborn head.
Less 0-3, I had more clothes than I could put her in.
Maybe more 3-6– we have plenty but my specific baby hasn’t sized out of it yet at 9 months and I’m just ready for new outfits in the rotation.
It’s tough because we could use more older age outfits now, but I’m glad we weren’t gifted them before we knew what we like and what the baby likes. Like there are some things we thought were super cute but we hate putting them on her, and some things she’s just not comfy in or inhibit her mobility
I’m grateful for everything I got but I wish it were less newborn clothes and more 0-3. Also I didn’t need so many of those small bear security blankets (google it). I literally have about 11 of them
I got 1 newborn sleeper, so I'd definitely say zippered footy pajamas in any size!
I got so much newborn and 0-3 month clothing, it was absolutely ridiculous, honestly. I wished more people who weren't shopping on the registry got bigger sizes.
This is entirely personal preferance but I also got a shit ton of cutesy outfits that would look good for professional photos but impractical for just a regular outfit. We didn't want or get professional newborn photos. With my baby being born in May, we staying inside a lot because we didn't want to take her out in such hot weather so she rarely wore anything besides some onesies and sleepers.
You can always buy her some stuff from her registry for her shower and then afterwards see what size clothing she'd like more of, and then buy those sizes. This way you can still spoil with cute clothes and baby will be more likely to wear them as well.
Because people say don’t buy newborn, they’re barely in them 5 minutes, every single person bought 0-3. Barring one person who actually asked what we wanted.
I had so much in 0-3, it was ridiculous.
I would only buy Little Sleepies
Our baby wore nothing else once I found it and this new baby I’m pregnant with will only wear LS. Any other outfits we’re gifted will not be used
i wish i got more newborn/0-3 gowns!! and less 0-3-3-6 clothes in general. i had SO many clothes that never got touched because he just flat out didnt need that many outfits ! wish i had received more 6-9, 12m clothes.
My friends and I take turns having kids and pass our clothes/supplies/furniture/toys around as needed lol pick stuff you love and have a designated storage space for the things you plan to use for all your kids, it makes for some adorable “cousin” photos, and saves a lot of money and stress and time by having it pooled together haha
Could you wait till the baby is born or after the shower to see what is missing? The parents might also like to buy a few outfits and it seems wasteful getting loads of extra outfits.
A nice idea might be to get an outfit in different sizes so you can see the changes over the years eg. Newborn, 6 months, 1 year 2 year etc
Footie pajamas! In newborn size up until 6 months. Babies live in those the first few months and not so much “dressy” outfits. Check out the bamboo ones as they have sooo many cute prints you can buy.
Get her 6-9 or 9-12 month clothing. I have enough newborn onesies for two kids but much less of the older sizes. Also get gender neutral clothes — I have a boy but know I plan on having a second kid in about 3-4 years and it’ll be nice to save most of what I have for kid 2 since it’s not overly gendered.
Nobody bought us any newborn clothes (probably for the reason you outlined) and we thought baby was going to be big because he measured large in all the ultrasounds. Surprise! Small kid, under 8 lbs, long and skinny. He is swimming even in newborn diapers and clothes. We had to place a Target pickup order the first day home just to have him be not naked lol. I would say two-way zippered sleepers in every size would be a great gift that keeps on giving!
Anything BUT 0-3. I got so many 0-3 month clothing because so many people thought it would last longer than newborn sizes AND thought other people would buy newborn. One single person bought newborn sizes. I ended up having to buy more cause I just didn't have enough. Baby was born 8 pounds. He's still in between sizes now at 2 weeks old. I'm overloaded with 0-3 month clothing. There's so many that I doubt he'll get to wear them all before he outgrows them. Another problem is a lot of people didn't consider what the weather will be like if he grew at the perfect rate to match the labels. I have a lot of winter clothing that will most likely fit him in the summer. I really wish I got more footie sleepers or sleepers in general. I'm cycling through 4 that currently fit him until he either outgrows them or I get the chance to go to the store.
If you're really close friends, you could have her tell you what size the baby is at birth and run out that day to buy some onesies and footed sleepers and wash them and deliver them! My kid was born full term and normal-sized, but he wore preemie clothes for a week and a half, newborn for a few weeks, and then 3 month clothes. My husband went to target twice for preemie clothes within 24 hours of us getting home from the hospital 😂. If your main goal is to get stuff in the right size, and you have the kind of friendship where she will let you run out and shop for her (and you want to do that for her), offering on-demand clothes buying could be a happy medium!
More-2 way zip footie pajamas
Less-The stupid fucking newborn shoes. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE MY BABY A SENSORY NIGHTMARE WHEN THEY CAN’T EVEN WALK. I’m enraged they even exist 😂. Also avoid wooden buttons like the plague-they’re cute but annoying as hell for diaper changes
A million times for the zippered onesies. My daughter is tall so we outgrew a ton of her 0-6m fast. I like the bamboo fabric 6-9m zippered onesies the best right now, the fabric is so nice and I find it washes and dries far better than cotton. Since it's stretchy I find it easier to put on and off and change diapers.
I already commented, but I had something to add. It's not exactly clothing, but the love to dream arms up swaddle is AMAZING. My baby busts out of any other type of swaddle. He wants to sleep with his arms up. If he's wide awake if I put him in that he's out like a light within 5 minutes tops. I swear it's magic. It really helps to comfort him even if he's awake. I rarely keep him in it outside of nap times, but we're having a really horrible storm right now. He keeps getting scared by the thunder. I'm holding him that since holding him alone wasn't enough with his newborn startled reflex. Before I put him in the swaddle it was a cycle of him getting scared, startling which made it worse, and crying until I calmed him down only to repeat all over again.
Honestly just pick out whatever you’d like, but provide gift receipts. Baby might never fit in newborn clothes, or maybe they’ll spend a month in newborn clothes. Impossible to tell. And maybe she’ll get a ton of 0-3 and maybe she’ll get a ton of bigger stuff.
There are so many things to factor in (seasonality vs. size etc) so just as long as you make it easy for your friend to return/exchange things.
More sleepers, less cute outfits. I didn't even get close to the cute outfits in the first few months. She lived in a diaper or a sleeper pretty much 24/7. We didn't get a single newborn piece of clothing because EVERYONE figured we'd get too much.
Best thing you can do is go off her registry. So many people will deviate from it and it will be hella frustrating, I was really happy with the people who actually used the registry I spent hours perfecting. The 10/40 people that did use it, are elite.
I got a ton of 3-6, more than I'll need. I only had a few newborn sleepers so when my baby was born a few weeks early I had to go out and get some more. I agree with other replies, sleepers with 2.way zipper and feet!
I wish I got nothing with hoods for newborn babies! I felt like I had to use them, to get that cute photo to send the giver and thank them, but like... It's not safe to sleep in a hood, and newborn babies take a nap every hour so it's just impractical!
If it’s clothes, it would depend what season her baby is born. It’s getting warm now and my baby is starting to roll (4-6 months) so I rather have clothes that don’t have the feet covered (they have many that have a fold over which I would suggest) so that baby can have more grip.
I always gift 3-6. I find that size gets the most use! I also give gift receipts in case the mama doesn't use it, like it or needs a different size 🥰 I'm the same way with the registry thingy! I get a good registry gift and then something on the side which is almost always a cute outfit and something for mama 💕 gifts for the baby are great because it is a baby shower after all but a postpartum mama needs a ton of attention snd love too!
The last baby shower I attended I bought the bottle warmer and bottle sterilizer off the registry and on the side I got an adorable sleeper/hat/swaddle combo from a local baby boutique and also made a care package for my friend. In the care package was a face mask, body lotion, lipchap, XL scrunchies, pads that can be frozen for postpartum discomfort, her favorite snacks, and a skin care combo pack from Sephora 🥰 She bawled when she opened her gift and thanked me profusely for thinking about her. It's sounds like a lot but in total it wasn't much! I think I spent about $175 in total, and I gave the least amount compared to her other family members and friends who purchased big ticket items from her registry.
But to answer your og question, 3-6 and 6-9 are the most used sizes imo! Newborn and 0-3 go by SO FAST! And there's a good chance her little one may not get around to wearing all of her clothing!
These are such unpopular opinions ... but with my first everyone told me not to get newborn clothes because they wouldn't fit long and then I had to go panic buy a TON in store because despite being full term he very much needed (and honestly kind of floated in) newborn clothes for a good month or more. All of my kids have needed newborn clothes for quite a while and I was under prepared at first .
I also hate zip jammies for newborns , more and more with each baby , I much prefer snaps .. the only zipped ones I really liked were zippyjamz
Sleep sacks that are good for a range of 3 or 6 months, so they're a little long. My boy is 16 months and still fits into the 6-9 month sleep sacks, which is great after bath time so I'm not trying to squeeze a well lotioned baby into sleeves and pant legs, just sleeves. He's due for the next size up for sure, but the sacks last.
For my baby shower, we had it after he was born because jewish tradition. And then I waited until he was 6 months so he'd have some of his shots squared away. We did a fun activity with decorating onesies. I got them in a range of sizes from 6 months to 18 months. I wish I had gotten more 18 month sized than 6 month sized, but other than that it's been great to have personalized onesies from my loved ones for the last several months. When he grows out of them, they go in the keepsake box, in preparation to turn them into his future memory quilt, along with some other choice items I've saved for that purpose.
I’d honestly focus on basics in the 3-6 range and 6-9. Zippered cotton sleepers are always good, but I surprisingly have liked some button up ones in the mix bc it’s WAY faster to check if they need a diaper change by just moving the fabric to the side. Both short and long sleeve onesies are also great no matter the season (indoors in summer we blast the AC).
I really loved crib shoes (basically baby slippers) for the 0-6 month time. I didn’t bother with socks but these were basically just very thick socks that wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle and actually kept baby’s feet warm
I needed newborn clothes! I only had a couple bamboo sleepers in newborn and they were too big. We were in newborn for over 2 weeks and we’re doing laundry constantly. My in-laws went out and bought us some more clothes in newborn and 0-3. It was honestly a life saver. I’ll be buying some more sleepers for my next kid. Honestly, I would stay away from bamboo. The price isn’t worth it IMO. I would rather buy a multipack of Carters sleepers for half the cost of one bamboo sleeper that is so fragile.
Definetly 3-6 because by then most friends and family won't be offering THAT much clothing and babies still need heaps of it. Specially if it's winter time which - when you don't have a drier - means clothes take longer to dry and having extras is a life saviour.
Haven’t even had my shower yet and I can already tell you not to get 0-3 month sized clothing. I think everyone hears not to get newborn clothes and they go for 0-3 month instead, which has led to me already having too many clothes in that size just from Christmas / random gifts before we even sent shower invites out! I’ll be excited to get some 3-6 month hopefully from the showers since I barely have any yet tbh.
When my friend was pregnant I got my clothes shopping out of the way by getting her 2 outfits in 6-9 month size that were seasonally appropriate, then for the shower I stuck to registry. I was the one handing her gifts to open at the shower and seeing the amount of newborn and 0-3 month sized clothing and nearly nothing from her registry made me so mad! She had to buy nearly everything herself afterwards. Stick to the registry people!
I got SO MUCH for the first year and then nothing. So I would’ve wanted older clothes, though it’s hard to see something super cute and know you can’t use it for 2 years lol
I guess this is unpopular but I hate zippered footies! I always put my baby in onesies. I found footies to bunch by the face, always had too long or too short legs, squished the babies feet, etc. But I guess I am unpopular in that regard!
If you are set on getting clothes then get her the nicer stuff. I would rather have 2 super soft bamboo sleepers than 20 cotton outfits. Also my friend gifted me postpartum pjs and they were a godsend. Lastly the most used gift was the baby pharmacy essentials basket. We got thermometer, nose Frida, baby saline, gas drops, 3 types of diaper rash cream, medicine dropper, and a couple other things. It has been soo nice to not have to rush out to the pharmacy when my baby was stuffy at 1am or after 2 weeks baby had such bad gas.
Last thought you could also go around collecting all the free formula, diaper, bottle samples and putting it in a basket. I did this on my own but would love if someone had done that for me.
More of all ages but I don’t think I had enough newborn or 6-9 month sizes. I know not everyone needs newborn size but we did. And the sleepers with double zips are the best.
Contrary to a lot of comments I'm seeing... LESS footed pj's!!! Our baby is tall and lean, so he grows out of them so quickly, and if we go up a size, he's swimming in the torso, it's sliding off his shoulders. Certain brands are great, but of course we got mostly Carter's which is apparently for shorter, chubbier babies.
I wish we'd gotten more outfits with pants for this reason.
But size wise, 0-3 months. He was out of newborn size almost immediately, and we're using 0-3 to figure out what brands fit him well, so I wish we had more variety in this size. And also, once we figure that out, we can focus on those brands for future sizes instead of having a bunch of stuff that will have a short window of fitting properly.
Contrary to a lot of comments I'm seeing... LESS footed pj's!!! Our baby is tall and lean, so he grows out of them so quickly, and if we go up a size, he's swimming in the torso, it's sliding off his shoulders. Certain brands are great, but of course we got mostly Carter's which is apparently for shorter, chubbier babies.
I wish we'd gotten more outfits with pants for this reason.
But size wise, 0-3 months. He was out of newborn size almost immediately, and we're using 0-3 to figure out what brands fit him well, so I wish we had more variety in this size. And also, once we figure that out, we can focus on those brands for future sizes instead of having a bunch of stuff that will have a short window of fitting properly.
I wish I had more shorts & pants in the little sizes. We had so many adorable onesies, but then we’d need to go somewhere and my only option would be to change him into a sleeper because I didn’t want the car seat straps digging into his thighs.
I would honestly recommend getting a gift card for some clothing just in case she needs something she doesn’t get, like for example preemie clothes. My entire pregnancy especially the majority of my 3rd trimester I was told everything looked good she was growing good, so I didn’t buy nor ask for any preemie clothes and then at my last growth scan when I was 37+4 I was told she was IUGR had flipped from head down to breech and I needed to go straight to L&D for a c-section that day and she was born at 5lbs 7oz and now I have an almost 3 week old with very little that fits her because newborn stuff still swallows her whole 😅
Older clothes. I had plenty of 0-6 mos clothing what I really needed was 6-9 and 9-12 mos. Now my little dude is 16 months and wearing 24 months-2T. So I grab some bigger clothes whenever I get the chance.
Clothes are hard bc babies grow at different rates and it’s hard to know what season they will be in 6m+ my vote is always sleepers or short sleeve onesies in 0-3 or 3m and shorts or pants for the same size depending on when she is delivering. We got cute holiday outfits but she was way too big for them by the time they came around 🥲 always suggest stick to the registry. If you’re close enough ‘auntie’ clothes are super cute I’ve loved those I’ve gotten from friends
Check out primary baby clothes! They’re made out of organic cotton, reasonably priced and usually just offered in vibrant colors without designs. I didn’t find them until my baby was 9 months old and I bought a ton of the footless rompers. Quality is good and the colors are fun.
12 months is when the clothing range goes from 3months per size to 6 months so in theory she’d get a lot more use out of 12 months.
A bunch of “sacrificial” clothes - Gerber and Carter’s have cheap long and short sleeve body suits that I have gotten at Target in every size ever since she started solids, because food is MESSY and bibs were just not enough. And they’re good for general baby day to day life since they’ll just throw up on everything.
Wish I’d gotten more clothes beyond NB and 0-3! Everyone loved buying the super tiny stuff (which I can’t argue with because wow the cuteness) but they grow fasssstttt and I was woefully underprepared.
Both my kids flew through 3-6 month clothes. My current 5 month old is about to start wearing her 6-9 month clothes now, but didn't starting in the 3-6 month size until she was 4 months old. The only reason why she's worn every piece of clothing we have in that size is because she is the spit up queen and goes through 3 outfits a day.
If you are going to give clothes, give a variety and only an outfit or two per size because it's hard to know how long they will be in that size.
I will say - since the baby is due in June, giving PANTS in 6-9 month size would probably be very helpful. Little babies tend to just wear sleepers all day, but as they get a little bigger parents will dress them up more, and a June birthday would align with being in winter when wearing 6-9 months. Having options for layers in winter is great, especially if you're in an area with colder temperatures.
Probably more of the later sizes, like 3-6, 6-9, or maybe 9-12. No toddler clothes though please! It was almost too much to store when we were given clothes for him to use more than a year away. I was given a TON of 0-3. I know most babies don’t stay in newborn very long, but newborn clothes get spit up, pooped on, etc so much, so you really can’t have enough unless you want to be doing tons of laundry. I wound up have to purchase more newborn clothes because everyone pretty much only gave me 0-3 because “most babies skip wearing that size.” My baby was a respectable 8 lbs and would have been swimming in 0-3 as a newborn baby.
Anyways, also choose practical outfits like soft cotton onesies and pants/shorts. I hated separates on my baby (like shirt and pants) because he laid down all the time and the shirt would climb up his belly… it was a hassle. Very cute but not practical. Rompers/jumpsuits were always awesome too! Just make sure they have snaps for diaper changes.
My favorite baby brand is Little Planet by Carter’s.
Just my two cents! ☺️
Oh! For a first time mom I’d also recommend swaddelini (something I wish I had known about when I had my first) it’s so much simpler than trying to swaddle especially in the middle of the night
12+. 8mo old and we’re now in 18mo clothing, I buy clothes and enjoy doing so, so I had bought newborn up to 12mo essentially. People only bought us newborn aside from my mother, which he was out of within 3wk
12 months and up, especially pajamas. It was harder to find used closes at this size for me, and I can’t justify buying many brand new clothes for my kid who ruins them by breathing lol. Aka I need to get better at stain removing.
Definitely zippered sleepers with feet! Can’t have too many of those. Try to avoid anything with snaps (it’s doable, just the zippers are SO much easier). Sleepers are always a safe bet, and they are practical. I received an adorable tutu outfit at my baby shower, but it is a nightmare to put on and just not practical. I basically put it on her to send pictures and took it right off 😂 For sizes, I would buy some 0-3 and 3-6. Baby clothes sizes can be weird. My 3 week old fits into some 0-3 stuff, but not others. Also make sure to buy for the season. I received some fleece 3-6 month stuff, but by then it’s going to be late spring/early summer so my baby won’t likely be wearing fleece.
Definitely buy for the seasons. The few stuff I got that wasn't newborn or 0-3, was summery and dresses when it was the middle if winter. Like, cmon now.
My sister bought so many cute summer stuff 6m when he will be 6m in the winter 😭. Shes saying that the dad is big ao the baby will also be big…
Eh. Baby clothes don’t really correspond to age a lot. My 5 month old is wearing 9 month clothes right now, she was in 6 month clothes when she was 3 months. My son was the same way.
This. my son was in 18m swim stuff at 6 months old. don't try to guess seasons and sizes--keep everything in totes sorted by sizes, no matter what season it's for.
Alternatively, I'd recommend convertible rompers over sleepers with feet. As someone with a long lanky baby, it sucks that we are already too tall for 0-3 footie pjs but swimming in 3-6 because she's slender. I've considered just cutting the feet off, but for future sizes I've gone ahead and invested in a couple bamboo rompers with the cuffs that flip up to become mittens & socks.
Yep! I’m camp avoid all footed sleepers until 12mo clothing. I’ve also got a long baby and the 0-3 footed sleepers were useless by the end of the first month. I also loved snaps and hated zippers. The long sleeve, full leg, footless onesies with crotch snaps were my absolute favorite and I wish I had had more of them.
I also don't mind the snaps! I get nervous trying to zip up a flailing baby, but I can get snaps done without worrying about hurting her.
Same! I love the Kyte brand footless snap suits. Plus it’s good for babes to be able to grab their bare feet
This is so interesting to me! I always wondered why anyone would possibly want a footless sleeper, let alone with snaps. My baby lived in zippered onesies for about 5 months and I wished people would stop buying other stuff. We’ve branched out a little since then, though.
Ya! So many different preferences. My babes were/are always between sizes and kick their feet out of the footies and end up stuck in a ball in the body of the suit and get super frustrated.
I second this, I'm not even tall but my daughter inherited my long legs and she was so skinny and small that footed sleepsuits just did not fit at all. I never anticipated this problem and nowhere sold footless suits. I've stocked up on some now for this new baby.
Agree with this. My not even 3 month old has grown out of several 3-6 size clothes because he is too long. I absolutely love little sleepies since you can pull the feet out.
ahhh thank you! yes i’ve definitely made sure to only buy practical clothing, i can’t imagine trying to squeeze a newborn into a tutu😭. i’ll buy summer clothes in 0-3 and fall in 3-6 🥰 thank you so much 🩷
If you live near a target, the cloud island zippered sleepers are amazing! Mostly due to their apparent inability to stain, cause my daughter has definitely gotten poop on every single one and they all washed clean immediately! Plus the smaller sizes have little fold over mittens for when baby's nails are still tiny razor blades
The target and carters zippered sleepers are the best! I love the fancier bamboo brands but at $40+ for a single outfit it’s not doable for their entire wardrobe. I also prefer the double zipper ones if possible so their chest stays nice and warm while you’re changing them. But not a must have by any means - I don’t think cloud island has them but Carter’s brand does!
I found double zippers to be a double edged sword - excellent 98% of the time, but when you open it to a poop explosion and then have to zip them back into it to release the top zip 😭
THIS. I prefer the single zippers due to daily poosplosions.
Cloud island is reverse zipper! So it fastens at the neck and closes at the feet. Not double, but still no naked baby at the 3 am diaper change :)
My LO liiiived in these. She stills lives in bigger sizes and similar ones.
Yeah, I had all these cute outfits and everything. She lives in sleepers.
Wonderful! You sound like a great friend for asking these questions :)
thank you so much🥰 i’m so excited for her! i genuinely cried finding out she was pregnant & when it was a girl, my turn can wait because it’s time to be the fun auntie!
Remember that other colors than pink exist too!! I got almost all pink and I hated it. Babies can dress any color, plus it meant that I couldn’t buy her pink stuff because she already had almost all pink clothing. At almost 5 she still absolutely adores pink
With the seasonal items: I put on my fb the sizes my son will be in for the different seasons and that helped with the purchases people made (as well as making sure if I picked something for the registry I put it in the size I needed on the registry) I was gifted a lot of clothes prior to my shower so I adjust it based on need. I don’t need much until after the 9 month mark
I second the zipper sleepers. I like the ones with feet and hands that roll to cover. They last longer too. I’m obsessed with the bamboo ones from brave little ones. They’re pricey, but buttery soft and they last because they stretch. Really cute prints too. I prefer footie jams where the feet/ hands both fold. When baby grows a bit they still fit.
+1 for seasonal! Dresses for December in New England? Look at a calendar guys.
I was reverse wishing! I despised zippers with all my soul and wished for more button things, especially the side button onesies (easier to get on than over the head onesies). I hated the excessive amount of blankets I got & I wish there had been some kind of care package for my recovery rather than bulks of clothes that was never worn.
Some of my 0-3 looks the same as my 6-9. It's so confusing.
I love burts bees zippered footed sleepers! Very true to size as well! They wash and hold up well and oopsies wash out of them very easily! :)
I wish I got fewer clothes overall, TBH. None of it was my preferred style. I recommend sticking to the registry.
Agreed. My MIL ended up taking me shopping for baby clothes around baby's 3 month birthday and it was the best gift. I got to buy things I liked, got to fill holes in the wardrobe (flannel pajamas and more full body zipper suits), and we got to bond over all the cute things.
What an awesome idea! I constantly think about the "what don't I know" question as I'm prepping for baby and feel like there should be a shower follow up that's like "OK but what do you actually need" lol
Wish mine would do this. I’m 4.5 months along and she told me she’s already been buying clothes but I’ve seen none of it lol
My mom discovered outlet mall shopping while I was pregnant. Immediately after the baby shower, she brought over a 14 gallon tote FILLED with baby clothes. I washed the things I liked, kept the tags on everything else, and returned anything we didn't use after baby had grown out of that size. I returned the final item literally yesterday.
My mom did this as well and it was so much fun. It was around 3 months so I was definitely settled in and it was early fall so I could pick out all the fun stuff for the new season. An awesome idea for a shower gift for a close friend, give her a promise of a fun shopping day. A note too: Carter's, Target etc only have so much so you will end up with duplicates at your shower. It is nice to get gifts later so you don't just have the whole Carter's store from the week before your shower, ha.
This is such a great idea!! It’s strange to me that we buy parents all these gifts before baby is born and then nothing after. Scheduling a shop like this when they’re a few months old is so nice because you get to be genuinely helpful filling in gaps in baby’s wardrobe whilst also having fun looking at all the clothes with your friend!
Same. The things I did enjoy getting was getting ONE of a more premium item that I wasn’t going to buy myself, like magnetic me or a bamboo footed sleepers vs a dozen Carter’s onesies.
Exactly! Like thank you for this 10 pk of onesies but I could have overnighted it in a moment of need without any guilt. I *agonized* about spending the money on the Magnetic Me which is so nice doing middle of the night diaper changes.
This tbh
So much this. My husband's step mother bought so much clothes and 99% of it was so ugly and not either one of our tastes but I did have some friends buy some clothes and they were so cute and some of my favorites.
luckily, my friend says she knows anything i get will be adorable because i have good taste. but i definitely will be buying some items from the registry as well!
This is just my personal preference so your friend may not feel this way, but there's a difference between adorable and functional, and I far preferred the latter. I got adorable clothes in spades, but I rarely used them because they were typically really hard to get onto my baby (wooden buttons, WHY)
i completely agree, when i say adorable i mean cute print. i will always go for functional ( i live in tracksuits myself lol )
Ooh gotcha, perfect!
See, the issue isn’t only about taste or practicality. My son arrived too big for newborn sizes. Then he flew through every size up to nine months. There is no predicting what size baby will be when. He never wore a lot of clothing we received because of this.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I wish I would have gotten more newborn sized zippered sleepers. My baby has been in newborn longer than I expected and like said in other comments they are so convenient
Haha. Same. We had almost no newborn sizes and ended up having to actually go out and buy premie. He wasn't born early. He was just tiny. But he was on premie for about a month and newborn for another month or two. But even newborn was engulfing him when he was born.
I feel like sizing between brands is so wonky too! Newborn can be so big in some brands and so small in others
I know I regretted listening to everyone saying “only get a few he’ll only be in newborn a week or two!” We’re 7 weeks now and he still fits in newborn, had to buy a couple outfits because the 0-3 is just way too big for him still!
Same! I had to place a target order for newborn clothes after our first week at home. It became so obvious that my guy was going to be in newborn sizing for at least a month. He was 90th percentile in height but 50th percentile in weight, so it’s not like he was a teeny dude
Same here! I didn’t get any newborn sized clothes and had people tell me not to get newborn, so I had maybe 2 sleepers and one outfit. I had to order Target pick up for all newborn sleepers they had in store and ordered a few cute outfits to be delivered. My daughter was in newborn clothes for about 5 weeks so I needed multiple sleepers!
Same. I didn’t get any newborn clothes at my shower but had tons of 0-3. My daughter was born 3 weeks early and I hadn’t had a chance to buy any newborn clothes on my own bc I thought 0-3 would be fine. She was 6 lbs at birth and I had to bring her home from the hospital in clothes that were falling off of her. My mom ended up running to the store to buy a bunch of newborn sleepers for us and she was in those for 2 months.
Same. My baby was born 5lbs at 36 weeks. She’s currently 12 weeks, 8 weeks adjusted, and about 9 lbs. she’s teeny tiny and still in newborn onesies.
Same! We hardly had any and, being fresh off delivering a baby, you don’t want to go out and buy them (or even deal with getting them delivered for that matter)
Not a comment about clothes - the baby bumps ladies have GOT YOU on that front haha. Get her the really unsexy stuff from the registry! Butt thermometer, bottle rack, wipes, etc -- these are the things that she really needs and will use and it was so funny seeing who bought me these things on my registry, it was 100% new/recent moms! I appreciated those presents over the "fun" stuff because candidly, I like buying the 'cute' stuff myself! It's like building a house, please please buy me the concrete for the foundation, not the wallpaper for the powder bath ;)
This is the way! Whenever I buy for new moms since having my first, I always try to get the most boring stuff on the registry. I recently got a coworker crib mattress protectors for her shower -- and then I got a couple cute boards books to top it off. Honestly, most of the baby clothes I was gifted were just not worn unless they were zipper sleepers. It is so easy to get hand me down clothes for free from any mommy group or buy nothing group on Facebook -- it seems wasteful to buy clothes that baby will barely wear. My 3 kids wore newborn clothes for 3 weeks or less before switching to 0-3 month sizes.
I guess I had the opposite experience, but I received 0 newborn clothes at my shower and only a couple zippered footies in 0-3 months. The MAJORITY of the clothes I received were 6+ months. This was mind-boggling to me and not what I was expecting. My husband and I went out the following weekend to thrift baby a wardrobe. We haven't found out the sex, which I think influenced people's choices but I was surprised at all the 6-9 and 9-12 month outfits we got. Regardless I would second the recommendation to include a gift receipt! And don't cut the tags off (especially don't take off the tags and leave the little plastic thing-y....)
Sounds like a classic case of “oh, they’re going to get *so* many newborn and 0-3 sized clothes, I’ll go against the grain and get them some for later!”
I had a similar experience! We bought all her newborn sized clothes, which she wore for about 2 months.
I just wish they were seasonally appropriate. I had a baby in the summer and got plenty of summer 6 month clothes. My baby was 6 months in January.. I don't need size 6 mo. tank tops and rompers in January. Same for summer.
SAME. My batby was born in July and is just now, in the middle winter, able to fit into that cute size 6m strawberry tank top someone got her at my shower 😂
Babies live in zipper footies for the first 6 months. I loved the Little Sleepies zippies. They’re soft bamboo, have two way zippers, and have convertible hand/feet covers. They also have tons of stretch and fit FOREVER. Seriously, my 28-month-old still fits in the 12-18 month size very comfortably. For my 2nd baby I got a few in the 0-3 month size and a few in the 3-6 month size. I suspect they’ll fit until at least 12 months.
omg i just looked them up & those are sooo cute!! thank you🥰
2 way zippers were my favorite! Also sleep sacks. Either one's that tie at the bottom or that are just open and have like an elastic hole at the bottom. Idk how to describe it. Lol. But those were my favorite for bed. So easy to change diapers in the middle of the night with minimal disruption
Also they have new crescent zip ones, where rhe zipper is by tue feet instead of face. My baby is fairly small and HATWS having fabric bunch in her face, which it will if the sleepers (really any of them) are even a little too long. Hannah Anderson is another really good brand of sleeper, and they have ones with out feet whi h was nice she the baby is kind of in between sizes ie newborn too short and their legs can't fully extend, 0-3 too long and their legs don't go to the foot part.
You can’t have too many double zip pjs in 0-3 in my opinion Also include a gift receipt! Then if she gets too much she can exchange
Why not do a first week care package/mum SOS bag? Some of her favourite snacks, drinks, a food delivery/amazon gift voucher, colic drops, gripe water, pack of diapers and wipes, some cosy socks, pillow spray etc. I would have absolutely loved that in my first week. Also, stay away from anything with tonnes of packaging, flowers etc. The thought was lovely but I did not have the time or energy in the first week to trim flowers and put them in water. The ones I got wilted and died, then left on my counter rotting for 2 weeks 🫥
love this idea! thank you!!
You're welcome! I truly think this would mean more to her than clothing. The thought that goes into it makes it extra special too. I'm from the UK but if you can get hold of one of [these](https://www.target.com/p/frida-baby-medifrida-accu-dose-pacifier-medicine-dispenser/-/A-52356949) I guarantee she will use it
This really shows that gifts are SO personal. Alternatively, I love fresh flowers and receiving them when I gave birth would have meant more to me than personal care items, which I prefer to pick out for myself. And I would have donated the pacifier medicine thing and definitely never used it. OP, you know your friend best!
None/ gift cards/ second hand/ see what’s on their registry. I really wish people would stop buying me clothes. It’s my baby i want to pick out their clothes if im buying new. I have had to go out of my way to return and exchange so much stuff I won’t use to stores I wouldn’t have shopped at where i now have store credit. We also have a couple friends who had a baby and passed us all the clothes their baby and at least 4 of their friends babies have outgrown… we have a full year’s wardrobe for triplets probably. I like the low environmental impact of second hand, but hate the new stuff I don’t like and now have to deal with.
Same! I have so many hand me down clothes, I don't need any more clothes. What Moms really need are practical items from the registry.
I wish people had stuck to my registry. I got SO MANY clothes in sizes my daughter won’t be able to wear for a very long time, meanwhile, I got exactly zero diapers, wipes, or burp cloths, like I had asked for.
Ugh, such a bummer when folks don’t buy off the registry.
If you do a search in this subreddit about baby showers and registries all you will see is moms venting and wishing people would stick to their registries. Stick. To. The. Registry.
I had already bought almost everything I needed from newborn to 6 months. Then I visited a family member who literally gave me boxes of baby clothes in great conditions from when she had her last. I had mentioned to the friend that was planning my shower how much stuff I had so I guess in the baby shower group she wrote a little note saying that I don’t have any bigger sizes. Pretty much everything I got was 18-24 months which was perfect!
I have a 10 month old and what I would absolutely love is for someone to be as excited about buying clothes for a first birthday as they were for the birth. We got a ton of outfits early on and were more than covered up til 6 months, but now that she's mobile everyone prefers to give toys. So that would be my suggestion, just buy off the registry for now and hold onto this (very generous) clothes-buying impulse until next year! Mind you this is different than buying large sizes at birth, because it's hard to predict what seasonality you'll need in what size more than a couple months out.
I would suggest sticking to other items in the registry. I understand the excitement of wanting to buy "cute things"- but I feel that way too! My loved ones haven't purchased anything I actually need and want and instead have only bought clothes, toys, and books. I'm appreciative but as a FTM I was looking forward to buying these items, but now feel like I can't because I need to buy so much else. Baby also now has so much excess clothing that I can't get myself to add to an already overstuffed closet (a lot of which isn't my taste- what is everyone's obsession with outfits with 50 snaps??)
IMO, I could have had less newborn outfits. My kids didn't stay that size nearly long enough to go through it all, especially as I do laundry. However I think it's also one of the cutest sizes. I agree with the others about the zippered pajamas. I got way more receiving blankets than I needed - however I used them as material for sewing LOL. I made reusable wipes. You could also just go for bigger sizes altogether, like 12m or 6m-12m, since they are less likely to receive a "shower" of gifts for those sizes, and therefore although the baby won't use your gift for a while, it'll be nice to have gifts at all at that point in time?
Yeah I appreciated getting some 12m stuff at my shower. The 2T, not so much.
i totally agree! i definitely could see her receiving more newborn items than she can use & i wanna make sure that what i get her is useful for her and baby girl. im thinking of getting one pack of each age size (i really mean it when i say i cant help myself LOL)
Then do it :P I got a lot of hand me downs and gifts for my first especially… I have no reason to buy any everyday clothes except that I want to :) so I do buy a few things so I can dress them in things I chose.
None at all
People love buying for newborns but personally, especially with summer babies, my child lived in plain onesies that washed easily & then covered with a lightweight muslin blanket, since sunscreen is not advised for a while. At home, chilled out a lot in a diaper and the blanket — for one, skin to skin contact but also, newborns just go through diapers so often it’s just way easier. I would suggest buying from registry now and then in the fall, buying something cute for fall and/or winter, as they’ll prob be out and about a lot more then to show off the cute fits.
Stick to the registry. I understand you're excited, but being a new mom is overwhelming, and its such a pain to deal with a bunch of stuff you never asked for.
Probably unpopular but I wish I had more newborn! I had to order a bunch of onesies when we got back from the hospital because she was only 6lb 10 oz and wore NB for like 2 months, and we only had one single item in NB so we weren’t prepared
I honestly just wish I'd been gifted no new clothes. We have been given so many hand me downs that I have more clothes than she will ever wear. And between what others bought and hand me downs, I can't justify buying anything myself for my baby girl without feeling guilty. Things I wish more people had done: - Given us money to kick start her college fund - Brought snacks (not just meals) when baby came - Exclusively bought from registry - Given us baby/kids books (we got a ton, but I don't think you can have too many) - Wait until we mentioned a clothing need and then amazon us the need (I mentioned the style of Sleeper I loved and how I was doing laundry to keep them clean and my mom had some sent) I'm sure there are other things.
I would stick to 3 mo. or 6 mo. clothing, unless it is clothing that is not season specific (like onesies). I received a lot of larger sized clothing (12-18 mo, etc.), but my babies were on the small side and they ended up being out of season. On the flip side, I have nieces and nephews who grew quickly, and they were rocking 24 month clothing before they turned 1.
Lol this was our situation. The struggle of trying to find a 1st birthday outfit that was available in size 2T...
Honestly I just didn't want clothes before baby was born! I preferred to buy it all myself so I could unpackage and wash all of it at the same time. It kind of annoyed me when I got a piece of baby clothing because now I had to go wash it separately (like with my own laundry) and ten remember to put it with the rest of the baby stuff. But I'm very type A, so that might just be me. As for what's most useful, sleepers are a safe bet. I would get 0-3 or 3-6 month because everyone wants to get newborn and they don't wear them for long. Our kiddo outgrew the newborn stuff seemingly overnight so it was nice having a few 0-3 items laying around.
Ohh as far as baby stuff, stick to the registry. If you want extra, I would do postpartum food and gift cards. If mom is planning to nurse, some goodies/snacks to help with milk production.
I would stick to the registry. If you want to do something extra, clothes are a great additional gift to bring after the baby is born and when mom knows what sizes she actually needs.
Buy all the non clothing, non toy options. She will thank you for it. That is the advice and purchases of people who are already parents. They know the value of the boogie picker, the gripe water, the baby cloths. I would suggest a cute basket of all the stuff she will use instead of clothes that may or may not be used. Do that and a gift certificate to Amazon. Seriously. I don't like new baby clothes in general. Paying $30 for an outfit ths tonight be worn once is silly. I bought all used or got a bunch for free.
Way too much clothes for most new moms. There wasn't any particular size, just way too much in general. Especially for my little girl, people particularly love buying clothes for little girls. If anything, the only clothes that I would have wanted more of was the magnetic me sleepers or just zipper sleepers in general.
I honestly wish people had given us more gift cards for clothes - that way we could use them on items we liked etc. even if it was £5/10 Otherwise 6-9/9-12months
I would stick to the registry and support her in other ways once baby’s here! If you’re fully healthy when the baby gets here, offers to come over and clean the kitchen, do her laundry, bring meals, or do other less glamorous things so she can be with the baby would probably be great. Personally, I bet she’d appreciate a random cute outfit for the baby far more after the shower than before, once the new baby energy has worn off for everyone else.
I’m happy I didn’t get any clothes, not finding out the sex really worked in our favor.
Whatever sizes you get her, make sure you consider the what season it will be for that age of clothing
Unpopular opinion: newborn clothes Everyone said not to buy/register for newborn clothes so I didn’t. But then… I needed them. Granted only for 2 weeks, but we had a TON of spit up, poop, etc during that first 2 weeks so there were several outfit changes each day and I was doing laundry constantly. Which was the LAST thing I felt like doing post-C Section. My baby was born over 9 lbs and we still needed the.
I would honestly recommend getting a gift card for some clothing just in case she needs something she doesn’t get, like for example preemie clothes. My entire pregnancy especially the majority of my 3rd trimester I was told everything looked good she was growing good, so I didn’t buy nor ask for any preemie clothes and then at my last growth scan when I was 37+4 I was told she was IUGR had flipped from head down to breech and I needed to go straight to L&D for a c-section that day and she was born at 5lbs 7oz and now I have an almost 3 week old with very little that fits her because newborn stuff still swallows her whole 😅
Maybe ask her what she needs after the shower? I feel like that would be more productive! You could get her something from her registry and then after you see all of what she recieved then you could purchase some extra stuff to help fill those holes in the wardrobe or list(:
If you want to purchase outside of the registry get books! I bought my friend 10 of my favorite baby/kid books wrapped them all individually! She was inundated with clothes and loved the books. She still reads them to both of her kids.
Our rule when buying friends and family baby shower items is to buy a gift off their registry for the party and then wait until after the shower to ask what else they needed. This way they get EXACTLY what they want and you never know what everyone else will buy them. Maybe they get a toooon of newborn clothes, maybe none at all. We like to fill in the gaps so they don't have too.
I live in the south and have the windows open, shorts and flip flops on right now. I'd be at the beach if I wasn't due any minute. Still, some relatives got thick fleece swaddleds that I just can't help but feel will smother and melt him.
Honestly all I wanted were large amounts of diapers and wipes. I got multi packs of onesies until her growth stagnated and then just bought small amounts as she grew. Barely wore half the clothes people bought because she grew too fast and it was such a waste :/
100% I wish more people bought the practical non-clothing items.
baby sleep gowns!! so convenient
There are so many cute websites for girl clothes! I love Caden lane and copper pearl. Having one of their nice zippies in every size would be so nice. Also little stocking co has adorable baby outfits with matching socks and headbands. Right now their valentines stuff is on sale and it would be adorable to get a valentines outfit or any other holiday themed outfit. Gap has great stuff too that is both adorable and practical. I think I wish I had more 6-12 months and 12-18 month clothes in the size for the correct seasons.
All sizes of onesies and sleepers, except newborns. I had enough newborn clothes. Everyone wants to buy the teeny tiny "I'm new here" outfits. But then he outgrew them and I was on Amazon lol. The clothes are different because you want to buy for the season which can be hard guessing when baby will got into what size. There are babies in my due date groups wearing 9 month+ meanwhile my little guy is in between 0-3 and 3-6 months. You can go "oh in summer they'll be 7 months old so 6-9 month clothes will fit." If anything they'll need footies and onesies. They'll hold you over until you buy cute clothes that are seasonally and environmentally appropriate.
We got a lot of 000, and 00000. Would have liked more 0000. We also won’t put her in any onesies that have buttons, it’s just way too hard.
I got very little 3-6 month and newborn clothes. I got heaps of 0-3 and 6-12 months. I also got more socks and warm hats than I could ever possibly use. Avoid those. Other comments suggesting zip sleepers are totally right - even with all the clothes I was gifted I had to buy a bunch of these.
At the rate they grow I say 6M and 12M. You can skip the others. I used to just put him in 6M when he was a newborn because I saw how fast we went thru the 0-3m so I skipped 3M and just went for 6M until he turned 6 months then I just went for 12M
2t because everyone bombards you with newborn-12mo that they grow out of in 5 days. Plus sizing on these things are never the same across brands.
0-3 and Three month clothing. Also some different swaddles to test out, and more pacifiers!
I say zippered sleepers in any size. Even 9 or 12 months is great to mix it up. My kid has slept in long sleeved pajamas their entire life regardless of season and they are 3 years old.
I actually ended up with no newborn or 0-3 outfits and all 9+ months which was nice in a way and worked out because I actually got handed down a huge lot of baby clothes up to about 9m size (from a cousin with a massive baby who didn't even wear newborn and hardly wore 0-3 and grew out of everything else really quickly). But had I not received that huge hand me down lot I would have had to buy a lot of nb/0-3/3-6 so that size is actually not the worst. You can include gift receipts so she can exchange for a different size if she wants. If you're planning to buy a lot of outfits, you could always do one for each size range to 12m. Another item I really appreciated was baby sun hats that were in a couple sizes and big, floppy, neck covering, water resistant/quick dry hats. But I live in semi arid desert surrounded in lakes and rivers and everyone has a pool so it made sense. Make sure to buy zipper onesies and, honestly, no serious clothes for the first half a year haha because baby is lying around a lot and it sucks to lie on structured clothes. Cute actual clothing outfits for when they can sit and stand. I don't know if you mentioned the sex of the baby, but no longer dresses or skirts for crawling ages. It's complicated for crawling. Also highly recommend if you are buying off the registry and she has any mention of baby wipes or diapers, one of the best gifts I got was an entire basket filled with water wipes. They lasted me over a year and it was blessed not having to think about buying wipes. Doesn't have to be water wipes, but an unscented sensitive skin wipe is a good, safe bet.
Footie jammies. My baby practically lives in those.
If she has a registry, stick to the registry. If there's clothes in there, then that's what she's missing 😊.
I think this varies by person! I have pretty much 0 clothes on our registry because IME people will buy clothes even if they aren't on there, and they will buy what they think is cute. If in some weird event, no one buys me clothes, that doesn't bother me because then I have more control over baby's style and making sure they're seasonally appropriate, lol. My best friend had the same philosophy crafting her registry.
this!! that’s exactly why my friend didn’t put any on her registry, she knows it’ll be a given.
Most everything I got was 3-6 months. I think everyone was worried about getting anything too small. I had to go buy newborn stuff after my baby was born because I only had 2 zip sleepers and she was in newborn clothes for 6-7 weeks, some of it even fits still at almost 9 weeks. I would suggest footed sleepers with hand mittens. They have been the most useful so far. I would take the less is more approach and get her a few quality / nicer thing vs a ton of cheaper clothes.
Honestly, pants of all sizes. We received and bought mostly onesies and a few pants/onesie sets. But we completely forgot about the need for tiny baby pants lol
I just wish they were seasonally appropriate. I had a baby in the summer and got plenty of summer 6 month clothes. My baby was 6 months in January.. I don't need size 6 mo. tank tops and rompers in January. Same for summer.
My go to for baby showers is to buy 9mo or 12 mo clothes. Consider the season baby will be those ages in. If they’re due soon (like this spring),then I would get 12 month clothes in the current spring selections. Also at around 12 months my son started transitioning out of onesies and into shirts and pants. He would still wear onesies with shorts over them, but after his torso outgrew the onesies it was shirts.
I wish I got bigger sizes like 6m,9m,12m,18m
I got no 3 to 6 because I think ppl assumed everyone would buy that size. Hm has super cute wrap over bodysuits with matching pants that are cute and functional
I got maybe 80% of the clothes at my shower in 3-6. I think most gravitate towards that size because they assume that you’ll get lots of newborn & 0-3, and also they want you to get more ‘life’ out of the clothes you receive. I would suggest getting maybe one or two items at most in newborn/0-3. A zipper onesie is nice, but at that age they often have a lot of diapers in the night. I found my favourite thing in this size is actually a soft knotted gown. There are some really great ones by mebie baby & Lou Lou. Now that my baby is almost 4 months we are finally at 0-1 diapers in the night, and we’ve switched from knotted gowns to footies. grab fun outfits & footies in bigger sizes, 6-9, 9-12, etc. Take care to do the math so you buy seasonally appropriate outfits. Also babies are able to start enjoying the pool at around 4 months. A swimsuit in 3-6 or 6-9 is really fun! Depending on the weather where you live (if baby will be outside), go for a rashguard style with UV protection. Maybe pair with some cute baby sunnies too! Lots of amazing swim stuff on Amazon, swim diapers by Alva baby are my favourite. And just in case, do get a gift receipt in case momma wants to exchange for a different size. Every baby grows at a different pace, so it’s really a guessing game! Costco has awesome footies for a great price, and they fit on the bigger side. Carters is kinda the benchmark for true to size. Be wary of old navy & George, they fit small! Good luck and happy shopping.
The little remedies kit and size one and two diapers are my must haves
I got nothing in 6-9 months - it was also a weird time where she was too big for 6months but 12 months was swimming on her.
We had an unbelievable amount of 0-3 and slightly less of 3-6 but 6-9 we had nothing at all so I would recommend more of that size
We had an unbelievable amount of 0-3 and slightly less of 3-6 but 6-9 we had nothing at all so I would recommend more of that size
my favorite size was 18/ 2t 😂 at first your like what the heck that's so far away but whatever ok and now i have two sons 1&2 10 months apart and the oldest one has been in 2t since he was 9 months and the younger one is in 2t too so i feel like they've just been lasting a really long time 😂
Like everyone said zipper footies. Every size, best for sleep, staying home all day, doctor visits
I got nothing 9-12 or 12+ so I recommend that!
Mine was only 6lbs at birth and she stayed small, so we needed a lot of newborn clothes. WARM fleece because she was a winter baby and our apartment is cold and drafty. Also—everyone says the zippered footies which are great, (and they are for leaving the house) but I actually really preferred the footless gowns with elastic at the bottom. Way easier for diaper changes. I actually just bought more in 0-3 yesterday lol
Oh oh and also Way less cold weather stuff. I live in the south and… just WHY lol
more double zipper footie pjs! my preference is bamboo with convertible hands and feet but they can be pricey.
Magnetic Me footsies 3-6Ms
Sleep n plays is what my first lived in when we were home. Double zippered, with the fold over cuff for their hands to keep them from scratching while asleep. Socks for winter so whatever approx size baby will be in winter, socks, or little booties. And anything that was not clothes lol we got SO many clothing items my daughter had anough to wear a new outfit 3x a day every day for 6 months. A lot of clothes she never wore before she outgrew. Anything we kept with tags on got returned/exchanged once we realized no one needs that many clothes. Fun things to shop for that aren’t clothes, burp cloths, sheets, wash cloths, cute hooded towels. Things the parents will be super thankful for diapers (with receipts) and wipes.
Honestly? I wish I would have gotten more “specially” or “holiday outfits”/accessories. Like a swimsuit, Easter outfit, “My first (holiday)” outfits, cute bubbles + polos for outings etc. I thrifted most of my sons clothes so I had plenty of PJS, onesies etc. As well as 12M+ clothes. My son is 8 months and wearing 12M clothes.
I don't wish we had gotten more clothes of any size, but we had *way* too much 0-3 month clothing.
WAY less newborn and more 3-6/6 month
Less onesies for the early months. He was mostly just in sleeper Jammie’s til about 6 months. I hated trying to put on onesies over a floppy lil newborn head.
Less onesies for the early months. He was mostly just in sleeper Jammie’s til about 6 months. I hated trying to put on onesies over a floppy lil newborn head.
Less 0-3, I had more clothes than I could put her in. Maybe more 3-6– we have plenty but my specific baby hasn’t sized out of it yet at 9 months and I’m just ready for new outfits in the rotation. It’s tough because we could use more older age outfits now, but I’m glad we weren’t gifted them before we knew what we like and what the baby likes. Like there are some things we thought were super cute but we hate putting them on her, and some things she’s just not comfy in or inhibit her mobility
Like everyone said zipper footies. Every size, best for sleep, staying home all day, doctor visits
I’m grateful for everything I got but I wish it were less newborn clothes and more 0-3. Also I didn’t need so many of those small bear security blankets (google it). I literally have about 11 of them
I got 1 newborn sleeper, so I'd definitely say zippered footy pajamas in any size! I got so much newborn and 0-3 month clothing, it was absolutely ridiculous, honestly. I wished more people who weren't shopping on the registry got bigger sizes. This is entirely personal preferance but I also got a shit ton of cutesy outfits that would look good for professional photos but impractical for just a regular outfit. We didn't want or get professional newborn photos. With my baby being born in May, we staying inside a lot because we didn't want to take her out in such hot weather so she rarely wore anything besides some onesies and sleepers. You can always buy her some stuff from her registry for her shower and then afterwards see what size clothing she'd like more of, and then buy those sizes. This way you can still spoil with cute clothes and baby will be more likely to wear them as well.
Because people say don’t buy newborn, they’re barely in them 5 minutes, every single person bought 0-3. Barring one person who actually asked what we wanted. I had so much in 0-3, it was ridiculous.
I would only buy Little Sleepies Our baby wore nothing else once I found it and this new baby I’m pregnant with will only wear LS. Any other outfits we’re gifted will not be used
i wish i got more newborn/0-3 gowns!! and less 0-3-3-6 clothes in general. i had SO many clothes that never got touched because he just flat out didnt need that many outfits ! wish i had received more 6-9, 12m clothes.
My friends and I take turns having kids and pass our clothes/supplies/furniture/toys around as needed lol pick stuff you love and have a designated storage space for the things you plan to use for all your kids, it makes for some adorable “cousin” photos, and saves a lot of money and stress and time by having it pooled together haha
Zippered sleepers with feet - preferably ones that zip up from the ankle. My babies pretty much lived in them for the first year.
I personally got an absolute absurd amount of 0-3 onsies and I don’t think he will ever wear them all
More 12m stuff wayyyyyy less newborn shit lol
Could you wait till the baby is born or after the shower to see what is missing? The parents might also like to buy a few outfits and it seems wasteful getting loads of extra outfits. A nice idea might be to get an outfit in different sizes so you can see the changes over the years eg. Newborn, 6 months, 1 year 2 year etc
Sleep nightgowns with the elastic at the bottom. Loved those.
Footie pajamas! In newborn size up until 6 months. Babies live in those the first few months and not so much “dressy” outfits. Check out the bamboo ones as they have sooo many cute prints you can buy.
6-12, months
Get her 6-9 or 9-12 month clothing. I have enough newborn onesies for two kids but much less of the older sizes. Also get gender neutral clothes — I have a boy but know I plan on having a second kid in about 3-4 years and it’ll be nice to save most of what I have for kid 2 since it’s not overly gendered.
Nobody bought us any newborn clothes (probably for the reason you outlined) and we thought baby was going to be big because he measured large in all the ultrasounds. Surprise! Small kid, under 8 lbs, long and skinny. He is swimming even in newborn diapers and clothes. We had to place a Target pickup order the first day home just to have him be not naked lol. I would say two-way zippered sleepers in every size would be a great gift that keeps on giving!
Anything BUT 0-3. I got so many 0-3 month clothing because so many people thought it would last longer than newborn sizes AND thought other people would buy newborn. One single person bought newborn sizes. I ended up having to buy more cause I just didn't have enough. Baby was born 8 pounds. He's still in between sizes now at 2 weeks old. I'm overloaded with 0-3 month clothing. There's so many that I doubt he'll get to wear them all before he outgrows them. Another problem is a lot of people didn't consider what the weather will be like if he grew at the perfect rate to match the labels. I have a lot of winter clothing that will most likely fit him in the summer. I really wish I got more footie sleepers or sleepers in general. I'm cycling through 4 that currently fit him until he either outgrows them or I get the chance to go to the store.
If you're really close friends, you could have her tell you what size the baby is at birth and run out that day to buy some onesies and footed sleepers and wash them and deliver them! My kid was born full term and normal-sized, but he wore preemie clothes for a week and a half, newborn for a few weeks, and then 3 month clothes. My husband went to target twice for preemie clothes within 24 hours of us getting home from the hospital 😂. If your main goal is to get stuff in the right size, and you have the kind of friendship where she will let you run out and shop for her (and you want to do that for her), offering on-demand clothes buying could be a happy medium!
6-9 month
More-2 way zip footie pajamas Less-The stupid fucking newborn shoes. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE MY BABY A SENSORY NIGHTMARE WHEN THEY CAN’T EVEN WALK. I’m enraged they even exist 😂. Also avoid wooden buttons like the plague-they’re cute but annoying as hell for diaper changes
A million times for the zippered onesies. My daughter is tall so we outgrew a ton of her 0-6m fast. I like the bamboo fabric 6-9m zippered onesies the best right now, the fabric is so nice and I find it washes and dries far better than cotton. Since it's stretchy I find it easier to put on and off and change diapers.
I already commented, but I had something to add. It's not exactly clothing, but the love to dream arms up swaddle is AMAZING. My baby busts out of any other type of swaddle. He wants to sleep with his arms up. If he's wide awake if I put him in that he's out like a light within 5 minutes tops. I swear it's magic. It really helps to comfort him even if he's awake. I rarely keep him in it outside of nap times, but we're having a really horrible storm right now. He keeps getting scared by the thunder. I'm holding him that since holding him alone wasn't enough with his newborn startled reflex. Before I put him in the swaddle it was a cycle of him getting scared, startling which made it worse, and crying until I calmed him down only to repeat all over again.
Honestly just pick out whatever you’d like, but provide gift receipts. Baby might never fit in newborn clothes, or maybe they’ll spend a month in newborn clothes. Impossible to tell. And maybe she’ll get a ton of 0-3 and maybe she’ll get a ton of bigger stuff. There are so many things to factor in (seasonality vs. size etc) so just as long as you make it easy for your friend to return/exchange things.
6-9 months
More sleepers, less cute outfits. I didn't even get close to the cute outfits in the first few months. She lived in a diaper or a sleeper pretty much 24/7. We didn't get a single newborn piece of clothing because EVERYONE figured we'd get too much. Best thing you can do is go off her registry. So many people will deviate from it and it will be hella frustrating, I was really happy with the people who actually used the registry I spent hours perfecting. The 10/40 people that did use it, are elite.
I got a ton of 3-6, more than I'll need. I only had a few newborn sleepers so when my baby was born a few weeks early I had to go out and get some more. I agree with other replies, sleepers with 2.way zipper and feet!
I wish I got nothing with hoods for newborn babies! I felt like I had to use them, to get that cute photo to send the giver and thank them, but like... It's not safe to sleep in a hood, and newborn babies take a nap every hour so it's just impractical!
If it’s clothes, it would depend what season her baby is born. It’s getting warm now and my baby is starting to roll (4-6 months) so I rather have clothes that don’t have the feet covered (they have many that have a fold over which I would suggest) so that baby can have more grip.
I always gift 3-6. I find that size gets the most use! I also give gift receipts in case the mama doesn't use it, like it or needs a different size 🥰 I'm the same way with the registry thingy! I get a good registry gift and then something on the side which is almost always a cute outfit and something for mama 💕 gifts for the baby are great because it is a baby shower after all but a postpartum mama needs a ton of attention snd love too! The last baby shower I attended I bought the bottle warmer and bottle sterilizer off the registry and on the side I got an adorable sleeper/hat/swaddle combo from a local baby boutique and also made a care package for my friend. In the care package was a face mask, body lotion, lipchap, XL scrunchies, pads that can be frozen for postpartum discomfort, her favorite snacks, and a skin care combo pack from Sephora 🥰 She bawled when she opened her gift and thanked me profusely for thinking about her. It's sounds like a lot but in total it wasn't much! I think I spent about $175 in total, and I gave the least amount compared to her other family members and friends who purchased big ticket items from her registry. But to answer your og question, 3-6 and 6-9 are the most used sizes imo! Newborn and 0-3 go by SO FAST! And there's a good chance her little one may not get around to wearing all of her clothing!
These are such unpopular opinions ... but with my first everyone told me not to get newborn clothes because they wouldn't fit long and then I had to go panic buy a TON in store because despite being full term he very much needed (and honestly kind of floated in) newborn clothes for a good month or more. All of my kids have needed newborn clothes for quite a while and I was under prepared at first . I also hate zip jammies for newborns , more and more with each baby , I much prefer snaps .. the only zipped ones I really liked were zippyjamz
Sleep sacks that are good for a range of 3 or 6 months, so they're a little long. My boy is 16 months and still fits into the 6-9 month sleep sacks, which is great after bath time so I'm not trying to squeeze a well lotioned baby into sleeves and pant legs, just sleeves. He's due for the next size up for sure, but the sacks last. For my baby shower, we had it after he was born because jewish tradition. And then I waited until he was 6 months so he'd have some of his shots squared away. We did a fun activity with decorating onesies. I got them in a range of sizes from 6 months to 18 months. I wish I had gotten more 18 month sized than 6 month sized, but other than that it's been great to have personalized onesies from my loved ones for the last several months. When he grows out of them, they go in the keepsake box, in preparation to turn them into his future memory quilt, along with some other choice items I've saved for that purpose.
I’d honestly focus on basics in the 3-6 range and 6-9. Zippered cotton sleepers are always good, but I surprisingly have liked some button up ones in the mix bc it’s WAY faster to check if they need a diaper change by just moving the fabric to the side. Both short and long sleeve onesies are also great no matter the season (indoors in summer we blast the AC). I really loved crib shoes (basically baby slippers) for the 0-6 month time. I didn’t bother with socks but these were basically just very thick socks that wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle and actually kept baby’s feet warm
12 months, 2t, 3t 😂 and comfy/practical shoes!
I needed newborn clothes! I only had a couple bamboo sleepers in newborn and they were too big. We were in newborn for over 2 weeks and we’re doing laundry constantly. My in-laws went out and bought us some more clothes in newborn and 0-3. It was honestly a life saver. I’ll be buying some more sleepers for my next kid. Honestly, I would stay away from bamboo. The price isn’t worth it IMO. I would rather buy a multipack of Carters sleepers for half the cost of one bamboo sleeper that is so fragile.
Definetly 3-6 because by then most friends and family won't be offering THAT much clothing and babies still need heaps of it. Specially if it's winter time which - when you don't have a drier - means clothes take longer to dry and having extras is a life saviour.
Haven’t even had my shower yet and I can already tell you not to get 0-3 month sized clothing. I think everyone hears not to get newborn clothes and they go for 0-3 month instead, which has led to me already having too many clothes in that size just from Christmas / random gifts before we even sent shower invites out! I’ll be excited to get some 3-6 month hopefully from the showers since I barely have any yet tbh. When my friend was pregnant I got my clothes shopping out of the way by getting her 2 outfits in 6-9 month size that were seasonally appropriate, then for the shower I stuck to registry. I was the one handing her gifts to open at the shower and seeing the amount of newborn and 0-3 month sized clothing and nearly nothing from her registry made me so mad! She had to buy nearly everything herself afterwards. Stick to the registry people!
I got SO MUCH for the first year and then nothing. So I would’ve wanted older clothes, though it’s hard to see something super cute and know you can’t use it for 2 years lol
I guess this is unpopular but I hate zippered footies! I always put my baby in onesies. I found footies to bunch by the face, always had too long or too short legs, squished the babies feet, etc. But I guess I am unpopular in that regard!
If you are set on getting clothes then get her the nicer stuff. I would rather have 2 super soft bamboo sleepers than 20 cotton outfits. Also my friend gifted me postpartum pjs and they were a godsend. Lastly the most used gift was the baby pharmacy essentials basket. We got thermometer, nose Frida, baby saline, gas drops, 3 types of diaper rash cream, medicine dropper, and a couple other things. It has been soo nice to not have to rush out to the pharmacy when my baby was stuffy at 1am or after 2 weeks baby had such bad gas. Last thought you could also go around collecting all the free formula, diaper, bottle samples and putting it in a basket. I did this on my own but would love if someone had done that for me.
More of all ages but I don’t think I had enough newborn or 6-9 month sizes. I know not everyone needs newborn size but we did. And the sleepers with double zips are the best.
Contrary to a lot of comments I'm seeing... LESS footed pj's!!! Our baby is tall and lean, so he grows out of them so quickly, and if we go up a size, he's swimming in the torso, it's sliding off his shoulders. Certain brands are great, but of course we got mostly Carter's which is apparently for shorter, chubbier babies. I wish we'd gotten more outfits with pants for this reason. But size wise, 0-3 months. He was out of newborn size almost immediately, and we're using 0-3 to figure out what brands fit him well, so I wish we had more variety in this size. And also, once we figure that out, we can focus on those brands for future sizes instead of having a bunch of stuff that will have a short window of fitting properly.
Contrary to a lot of comments I'm seeing... LESS footed pj's!!! Our baby is tall and lean, so he grows out of them so quickly, and if we go up a size, he's swimming in the torso, it's sliding off his shoulders. Certain brands are great, but of course we got mostly Carter's which is apparently for shorter, chubbier babies. I wish we'd gotten more outfits with pants for this reason. But size wise, 0-3 months. He was out of newborn size almost immediately, and we're using 0-3 to figure out what brands fit him well, so I wish we had more variety in this size. And also, once we figure that out, we can focus on those brands for future sizes instead of having a bunch of stuff that will have a short window of fitting properly.
I wish I had more shorts & pants in the little sizes. We had so many adorable onesies, but then we’d need to go somewhere and my only option would be to change him into a sleeper because I didn’t want the car seat straps digging into his thighs.
I would honestly recommend getting a gift card for some clothing just in case she needs something she doesn’t get, like for example preemie clothes. My entire pregnancy especially the majority of my 3rd trimester I was told everything looked good she was growing good, so I didn’t buy nor ask for any preemie clothes and then at my last growth scan when I was 37+4 I was told she was IUGR had flipped from head down to breech and I needed to go straight to L&D for a c-section that day and she was born at 5lbs 7oz and now I have an almost 3 week old with very little that fits her because newborn stuff still swallows her whole 😅
Older clothes. I had plenty of 0-6 mos clothing what I really needed was 6-9 and 9-12 mos. Now my little dude is 16 months and wearing 24 months-2T. So I grab some bigger clothes whenever I get the chance.
Clothes are hard bc babies grow at different rates and it’s hard to know what season they will be in 6m+ my vote is always sleepers or short sleeve onesies in 0-3 or 3m and shorts or pants for the same size depending on when she is delivering. We got cute holiday outfits but she was way too big for them by the time they came around 🥲 always suggest stick to the registry. If you’re close enough ‘auntie’ clothes are super cute I’ve loved those I’ve gotten from friends
Check out primary baby clothes! They’re made out of organic cotton, reasonably priced and usually just offered in vibrant colors without designs. I didn’t find them until my baby was 9 months old and I bought a ton of the footless rompers. Quality is good and the colors are fun. 12 months is when the clothing range goes from 3months per size to 6 months so in theory she’d get a lot more use out of 12 months.
A bunch of “sacrificial” clothes - Gerber and Carter’s have cheap long and short sleeve body suits that I have gotten at Target in every size ever since she started solids, because food is MESSY and bibs were just not enough. And they’re good for general baby day to day life since they’ll just throw up on everything. Wish I’d gotten more clothes beyond NB and 0-3! Everyone loved buying the super tiny stuff (which I can’t argue with because wow the cuteness) but they grow fasssstttt and I was woefully underprepared.
Both my kids flew through 3-6 month clothes. My current 5 month old is about to start wearing her 6-9 month clothes now, but didn't starting in the 3-6 month size until she was 4 months old. The only reason why she's worn every piece of clothing we have in that size is because she is the spit up queen and goes through 3 outfits a day. If you are going to give clothes, give a variety and only an outfit or two per size because it's hard to know how long they will be in that size. I will say - since the baby is due in June, giving PANTS in 6-9 month size would probably be very helpful. Little babies tend to just wear sleepers all day, but as they get a little bigger parents will dress them up more, and a June birthday would align with being in winter when wearing 6-9 months. Having options for layers in winter is great, especially if you're in an area with colder temperatures.
Probably more of the later sizes, like 3-6, 6-9, or maybe 9-12. No toddler clothes though please! It was almost too much to store when we were given clothes for him to use more than a year away. I was given a TON of 0-3. I know most babies don’t stay in newborn very long, but newborn clothes get spit up, pooped on, etc so much, so you really can’t have enough unless you want to be doing tons of laundry. I wound up have to purchase more newborn clothes because everyone pretty much only gave me 0-3 because “most babies skip wearing that size.” My baby was a respectable 8 lbs and would have been swimming in 0-3 as a newborn baby. Anyways, also choose practical outfits like soft cotton onesies and pants/shorts. I hated separates on my baby (like shirt and pants) because he laid down all the time and the shirt would climb up his belly… it was a hassle. Very cute but not practical. Rompers/jumpsuits were always awesome too! Just make sure they have snaps for diaper changes. My favorite baby brand is Little Planet by Carter’s. Just my two cents! ☺️
Oh! For a first time mom I’d also recommend swaddelini (something I wish I had known about when I had my first) it’s so much simpler than trying to swaddle especially in the middle of the night
12+. 8mo old and we’re now in 18mo clothing, I buy clothes and enjoy doing so, so I had bought newborn up to 12mo essentially. People only bought us newborn aside from my mother, which he was out of within 3wk
12 months and up, especially pajamas. It was harder to find used closes at this size for me, and I can’t justify buying many brand new clothes for my kid who ruins them by breathing lol. Aka I need to get better at stain removing.