What to Buy in Baby Clothes
Let me paint you a picture. Imagine a toddler running around your house wiggling and dancing. He/She is holding onto some loud toy playing music and singing along at the top of their lungs. The doorbell rings as your mailman drops off a package delivery. Before you can stop your toddler, (s)he rushes to the front door and greets the mailman. None of this would be bad, except your toddler is naked. Butt naked. And the mailman laughs all the way back to his vehicle as you blush the color of your toddler’s rosy cheeks.
No kid likes to be clothed. I have yet to meet a baby or child who does not prefer to be naked. Running around naked can happen as much as you will allow, but sometimes they have to wear clothes. Here are tips for purchasing clothes for your little one to make the experience of dressing them less of a struggle.
1. Newborns do not like embellishments
Ever heard of tummy time? Your newborn will likely dislike their tummy time, but it is crucial to give them at least 20 minutes a day on their belly to work neck muscles and prevent a flat skull. Putting baby in clothes that have buttons, zippers, or generally any embellishment on their front ensures baby will not be comfortable during tummy time. You can start to disregard this criteria around 6 months when baby can roll and sit up. Otherwise, look for pajamas with the snaps to the side so baby is not laying directly on them.
Tummy time is enjoyable when there’s nothing uncomfortable over baby’s belly
2. Bold not Pastel
Unless you enjoy cleaning and pre-treating stained clothing, buy bold colors for your baby, not pastels. Search for navy, red, dark pink, and brown. Avoid baby blue, light pink, yellow, and run away from white. Bold colors clean up a lot better, a necessity at EVERY age of babyhood.
3. Footies!
If you want some practice with dexterity and fine motor skills, try putting socks on baby feet. Especially newborns are so fidgety and tiny, you wish you were octopus parent with eight hands. Avoid socks and booties altogether by stocking up on clothes with footies. Footed pants are a must until baby walks; they also prevent pants from riding up when baby starts crawling. Bonus, no more keeping track of itty bitty socks in the laundry!
4. No Big Coats
Here in Minnesota, we have these harsh winters that inspire every parent to clothe their little baby in huge puffy coats and one piece snowsuits. These are warm, but can be dangerous when used in a car seat. The less between baby and car seat, the better. Big puffy coats are dangerous for your kid because it is difficult for the straps on your car seat to hold onto their bodies securely underneath the coat. You can put baby in the car seat wearing just their outfit and then cover them in a thick blanket to keep warm.
Just for playing outside, not traveling in the car seat
5. Shoes
There is no need to buy baby shoes until a baby walks. At that point, they are likely in size 3 or 4. Besides special occasion outfits, don’t buy little baby shoes. According to the orthopedic specialist we saw when my daughter broke her leg, the more time a small child is barefoot, the better. The point is that their feet and arch need to develop properly and shoes often disturb that. Because of this, don’t buy shoes with hard bottoms. A good shoe will have support, but you will be able to bend it and twist it. Also, children’s feet grow differently but typically they change sizes every 3 months; therefore you need about 2-3 pairs of shoes in each size.
6. Adjustable Pants
There’s this great addition to little children’s clothing in certain brands that incorporates an elastic band on this inside waist you can adjust to fit your kid’s size. Another addition to look for on pants is a button to secure the bottoms when they roll up. These are brilliant and so useful; you never know if your baby will grow tall or thin or short or wide or whatever. These adjustable pants are a lifesaver when it seems like nothing will fit your baby right.
7. Invest in 2T
For two years it seems like your baby grows and grows and changes clothing size every couple months. Sometime around 18 months there’s usually a plateau period when they just stay the same size for several months (for once!). Often this stage can last a long time, even a year! Invest in 2T clothing, because not only will it last you from age 18 months to 2.5-3 yrs, it will get a lot of use. Toddlers clothing is full of stains, rips, holes, and snags so it is hard to come by at garage sales and it usually is not in good shape secondhand. Buy a lot of this size, but none of the other sizes before it.
Hm, how could I make this meal messier?
8. Love Little Buttons
As your baby gets older, they learn to take off their clothes. Who wants to wear clothes, right? In my experience, the order by which baby figured out how to detach their clothing is such: zippers, snaps, velcro, toggles, buttons, then little buttons. If you don’t want your 18 month old unzipping and removing their dress at your sister’s wedding (been there), put them in clothes they can’t figure out. Zippers are solved around age 1 and the only things my two year old can’t undo are little buttons.
9. Learn the Best (and Worst) Brands
Over time, you start to learn the brands that wash and wear well. I’ve enjoyed Carters brand (including Just One You), Gymboree, Cherokee, and Crazy 8. I don’t like the way Okie Dokie, Circo, and Garanimals brands get short and wide after laundering multiple times.
10. Accommodate Potty Training
Don’t buy clothes that are difficult to potty train with after size 18 mo. I made the mistake of having lots of onesies with the snap bottoms for 18 mo-24 mo sizes. These are useless when your kid is potty trained because they can’t get them off in time. I also avoid putting my daughter in dresses because the length falls into her pee stream (or worse). It’s also helpful to buy pants that are easy for your little child to take off. Skinny jeans are hard for even me to take off. When your kid is really good at making it to the potty in time, you can start to incorporate these things back into the wardrobe.
The dreaded “Mommy!” called from the bathroom.
Keep all these tips in mind when you are shopping for baby clothes. Hopefully purchasing along these guidelines will facilitate clothing your child. Now let’s see if they keep the clothes on…
Remember to pin this criteria to help you find it in the future! If you liked this post, check out the first installment to my preparing for baby series: to buy or not to buy in baby gadgets. Also, I would love to hear your comments on baby clothing you love and find useful in your little one’s wardrobe?
