With my daughters, I had SO many hand-me-down clothes, that their closets were FULL with stuff that they never wore. I want to avoid that this time around, and only keep the essentials (and a few fun outfits of course). When I first mentioned it to my husband, he was like "YES, PLEASE, let's keep the clothes to a minimum." He asked me how many outfits I thought would be good, and I said 10, but then this morning I was thinking... 10?! What the hell am I thinking?! Unless I want to do laundry more than my usual once a week (which I don't), I'm going to need more than 10, right?
Will I get by with only doing laundry once a week?
Also, I know it's been six years since I've had a baby, but jeez. I feel like I'm new at this!!
Forgot to mention: I'm 24 weeks pregnant with baby #3, and it's a boy!
As newborns my boys didn't wear very many "outfits". They spent most of their time in either a diaper shirt onesie (they were spring/summer babies) or sleepers. We had at least a dozen of each of those. We only had a few outfits for dressing up to go out somewhere special or for portraits. They didn't really start wearing real clothes every day until they were six monts old and sitting up and crawling and such.
Personally? I don't think they need more than 14...but that's a lot too...I have to admit - the first two weeks of both of my boys - they were in the NICU...my daughter was born in August so she was in a Onsie for the first 3 months of her life.
They spent more time in Onsies and PJs/Sleepers than they did in ANYTHING else...the "outfits" are more for mom's and dad's than they are the baby!! :)
I'm sooo happy for you !!! You'll be having this one before you know it!!!
I think you will be FINE!!!
There is a BIG difference between a whole closet full and 10 outfits.
I think the number you are looking for is somewhere in between.
I think in terms of dresser drawers.
One large drawer of onsies - they are small, you can fit a lot in there.
One large drawer of sleepers (should be about half the number of onsies).
I didn't bother with socks till our son was wearing shoes and he didn't wear shoes till he was walking outside (about 2 yrs old).
2 drawers worth is way less than a whole closet and you should still have vacant drawers in the rest of the dresser.
I would say 10 outfits to wear out (and to me, for an infant, a sleeper could be an outfit to wear out). But a whole drawer full of onsies to wear around the house. My reflux baby could go through 5 onsies in a day, LOL! No way 10 onsies would last a week.
Well it's been 13 years since I had a baby - but I sure do recall having one of those days when they peed, pooped or puked over numerous outfits in a day. But my kids were almost always wearing 100% cotton one piece onesies (long or short depending on the weather) with snaps down the front. They just seem so comfortable, no gaps at the tummy, no elastic waists, etc. There's enough of their lives that kids will be having to deal with tight waists and gaps with cool air coming in.
But a baby can go though 10 outfits in 2 bad days - so unfortunately you'll need more than 10. But let's face it , it's the fancy dressy outfits that are gifts that end up hanging in the closet. They're the ones that fill the thrift shops too - and that end up in our closets as hand-me-downs. If you hit Target, WalMart & KMarts clearance racks and Marshalls & TJMaxx's baby racks you can get some very good deals on comfy every day clothes. Don't even bother with the outfits - you'll get them as gifts from people who like to buy impractical baby outfits (I always give the every day stuff - that's what you'll need most of).
Congrats on your soon to arrive baby - what a blessing!
Aubrey spit up ALL the time until she was 8 months old. On top of that, babies get poop blow-outs, etc. I would stock up, especially on the essentials like onesies and little pants.
If you stick with ten then be prepared to do laundry oh about 3 times a week. At least.
With my babies, they were changed multiple times a day because of spit up and drool and diaper leaks and blow outs.
If I were you I would get at least 10 onesies and at least 8 sleepers/pjs plus however many actual outfits you want. And I would still plan on doing laundry more often.
Um... We'd go through 10 a DAY on bad days. (spit up, diaper explosions, etc.)
A normal day we'd go through at least 2-3.
I couldn't imagine just letting them sit and stink and molder for a whole week, though, either.
I ran an ex small load of baby things (or small load of baby things, plus my clothes that had been peed/pooped/spit up on) every single day. Super easy, everything in every night. Voila.
All said:
From 4-10 we have about 10-15 Mix'n'match outfits per year
0-1 = 20 or 30 every 3 months
1-2 = 20 or 30 every 6 months
3 = transition year as things started being pared down as his growing slowed and potty training was mastered / fewer accidents = fewer changes
4-10 = 10-15 every yeat
Hah!!!! You never know what you are going to get. My oldest DD spit up a total of twice her whole time as a baby, and had so many clothes that several were never worn.
My youngest OMG!!! She spit up so many times it was awful. I had to change her clothes at least 5 or 6 times a day, not too mention my clothes. I was so glad when she grew out of that stage and now that she is 2 we are down to 8 sets of clothes.
My kids were spitters and world class diaper blow out kids! I did have to change them multiple times a day for one reason or another. I would go to a consignment store and load up on sleepers, onsies, and simple knit pants.
Yeah, he'll definitely go through a few onesies a day when you factor in possible spit ups and diaper leakage. I'd probably get 14 or so comfy plain onesies and then a few cute ones for outings, visits, public. Congrats!
as long as you plan on keeping him in onsies non stop and have plenty of them its fine. emmy got changed from spitting up multiple times EVERY day....she was mostly in a onsie though
My daughter was a puker, and she probably went through 4 onesies a day. It depends how often you want to do laundry.
I would say about 20 outfits, 15 as they get older. Figure 2 - 3 outfits a day.
Both my boys, as infants, went through an average of 3 outfits per day (not including onesies and jammies). If you only want to do laundry once a week I would say you would need a minimum of 21 every day outfits and 3 or 4 going out/picture outfits.
And congrats :)
I would have 3 full changes per day for a week for a newborn, plus a special outfit or two - and if he's being born in the winter, then add layering to that equation. My DD was a summer baby so she lived in onesies her first months, but my cousin's baby was born in November and she layered the onesie under something else, like a sleeper. You might also consider keeping a few dinged up outfits in the car for spare. So think about what you are likely to have him wearing and then x3 is my opinion. I don't know about your older kids, but my DD had a lot of interesting diaper changes her first weeks and my sister talks about her son somehow missing his diaper entirely, but peeing all over his sleeper. I honestly used almost everything we got at least a couple of times - some of the onesies lived at daycare, some in the car, some in the house. When she was starting solids she had some blow outs....the daycare itself wanted 3 or 4 full changes (down to their socks). I've never done laundry once a week for myself, so I don't know what you will get by with. Anything not washed right away should at least be pretreated, IMO.
In a nut shell it all depends on how you live
I had 14, that way I was only doing wash on weekends. Though I found out that when he was born that he was longer than an average newborn. While he weighed normal, his feet didnt fit in the sleepers. I had to get 3 month sleepers and NB outfits without the feet. I gave away my sleepers and bought like 6-3 month sleepers.
Previous to him I had 2 girls close in age, so the first one was SMOTHERED in brand new clothes from friends and family. My sister went bizerk and gathered 4 BIG birthday bags full of clothes from her friends as well. So my 1rst daughter never wore some of the outfits. I saved those for my 2nd. My 2nd had so much hand me down that when she grew out of them, I had to have a rolling garage sale for 2 months just to sell it all. The rest I gave away to friends, family, and good will. It was crazy. I had to buy an Armoire for the girls clothes plus the 2 closets filled with it.
You will need as many as you can get your hands on. More like laundry everyday. Infants go through at least 4-5 changes a day with blankets,towels ect. You have forgotten all the spit up and poop on clothes. You are starting over and it is not like riding a bicycle.
Oh I don't know... I would have at least 2 weeks of clothes. Of course I only do laundry every other week. Well I do laundry every week just that I alternate between mine and the kids. Also are you allowing for blow outs, spit ups and other messes that infants make. - Granted I think in the first 6 weeks my first child could go days without dirtying an outfit but my twins seemed to need two or three a day. I would go with at least 14 outfits even if you do wash weekly!
Remember you now have an infant and 3 kids. You'll have a lot less time!
Congratulations! I would go with 10 foot-pajamas, 3 fuzzy Velcro swaddlers, 10-15 /tops and 5 pairs of pants (or look at it as 15 top to bottom outfits for the house) and 3 outfits for pictures/outside house events. More important than the clothes, don't forget 5-10 light blankets, 3 crib sheets, 3 heavier blankets for later and at least 15 burp rags. Plus about 10 pairs of socks. Good luck!
