how many 'newborn' size clothes do you really need?

i am trying to stock up while i can, since i know diaper and formula bills will be outrageous when my girls arrive. i've gotten a bit of newborn onesies, but then i started thinking... how many newborn size clothes do you really need? is it better to just go with 0-3 months? are babies unsafe if their clothing is a little big? any ideas would help, thanks.
amy

 

I only had a couple of newborn pieces and handful of 0-3 sleepers, onesies and gowns.

 

I'd probably just go straight to 0-3, and not even buy a ton of those sizes either, since babies grow like weeds! I don't think there's a safety issue, especially because that young you'll probably be swaddling them for sleep anyway (so it's not like they could bury their face in a loose sleeve or something). It's nice to have maybe one or two size NB outfits. And if your babies turn out to be on the small side, you can always pick up a few more. Plus people will be raining gifts down on you too, often in the form of tiny clothes that will fit for approximately 11 days.

QUOTE
diaper and formula bills will be outrageous


Have you thought about cloth diapers? You can CD your babies for a few hundred bucks - and that's for ALL the dipes they'll ever need! It's kind of old-fashioned, but it's a great money saver. (Great thing to think of when you see just the most adorable little outfit or a cool toy - Oh, I'm saving all that $ on diapers, of course we can afford it!)

Also, have you considered BFing? I'm only saying that because some expecting twin mamas assume (or have even been told by healthcare providers) that BFing twins is impossible, and it ain't! TS has a BFing forum, in case you're interested. No prob if you prefer formula, just brought it up as another way to avoid outrageous bills.

 

I figured I would just use the 0-3 month stuff I had, and not worry about the newborn stuff....until the babies came. They were 5.11 and 6.5 but 0-3 month stuff didn't fit them for at least 6 weeks, if not longer. I finally broke down and got a few more things to get us by until they could wear 0-3 month stuff. It totally depends on your kids though. It might be a good idea to have a few things in NB size ready, and then see how it goes once they arrive. Good luck!

Reyna

 

I had to use preemie stuff for about a month. I honestly couldn't use even newborn as it would slip up over thier faces and smother them..they just weren't big enough for that...I tried to use them baggy but it didn't work out. It just depends on how little your babies are. Mine were 4 pounders and pretty short...they were skinny too. At three months they are in age appropriate clothes as they caught up quickly and are big and chunky now.

I had the luxury of buying 99% of the clothes used...I just can't afford new.The used stuff was practically new if not new anyways at a fraction of the cost. The preemis stuff though I got new as I couldn't find much new and didn't know I was having preemie sized baby till they happened and everyone bought clothes and brought them to the hospital. The clothes we were going to put them in to bring them home from the hospital are just now fitting at three months...hope that helps

 

QUOTE(foppa2102 @ Feb 16 2008, 12:50 PM) [snapback]624975[/snapback]
i am trying to stock up while i can, since i know diaper and formula bills will be outrageous when my girls arrive. i've gotten a bit of newborn onesies, but then i started thinking... how many newborn size clothes do you really need? is it better to just go with 0-3 months? are babies unsafe if their clothing is a little big? any ideas would help, thanks.
amy


FORMULA...DO YOU QUALIFY FOR WIC??

 

I used preemie stuff for the first six weeks and my girls who are now 2 months are still just fitting in the newborn sizes. The 0-3 months stuff is still pretty huge on them. They were only just over 4 pounds when born so they are now only 7 pounds and fitting the newborn sizes perfectly.

 

I bought a few for each size. After they were born i bought alot more. Its hard to figure out what will fit them. Mine were in in preemie for almost a month. Ds was 5.14 and dd was 5.8 . newborn clothes for about 6 wks or so. Now my ds kind of flew through 0-3 and 3-6. He's now in 6-9, where as my dd is still in 0-3 for pants and just barely into 3-6 for shirts.

 

From my sig you can see all our sizes at different times.

They wore preemie for more than a month, then newborn for 6 weeks and then 0-3 for about 3 weeks. 3-6 lasted about 3 months and 6-9 has almost been a waste of money. DS basically skipped 0-3 and 6-9.

I think NB stuff is necessary.

 

Like PP say, I think it really depends on how small your babies are when they are born. Both of mine started in preemies and then went to NB. DS is out of his NB now and has been for about a month. However there are still some NB outfits DD still fits in. The frustrating thing is that it depends on the brand, they are all so different. Also the other thing to consider is how often you will be doing laundry. We had just enough preemies outfits to get us through, we just did laundry every day in the beging.

 

thanks to everyone who's replied so far, please keep it coming! it helps SO much to see how much the babies weighed at birth and each month along the way, cuz i feel like i dont have a clue how fast they will grow, so every perspective helps.

coveytwins- i havent checked into it but i seriously doubt i'd qualify for wic. i make decent money but i'm single so it makes things tricky.

fuchsiagroan- thanks for your ideas, but honestly cloth diapering doesnt appeal to me... , and i have considered BF but have pretty much decided to bottle feed. i know, i know, i've gotta take the hard way out for everything... lol.

so if any of you ladies can post your babies' weights and sizes worn along the way (if you remember), i'd really appreciate it! thanks,
amy

 

My boys are now 6 weeks old (1 week adjusted) - they were born at 35w 1d. They weighed 5lbs 11oz and 5lbs 7oz and both were 18.5" long. They were able to wear preemie clothing the first 2 weeks or so (but we only used the preemie clothes that had been handed down to us). They were in the hospital for 1 week and came home weighing just under 5lbs. They've been wearing newborn clothes ever since. Last week they weighed in at 6lbs 11.5oz and 6lbs 7.5oz - they are still wearing newborn sizes - but there are also a few 0-3 sleepers that they are fitting into decently.

Hope that helps! I think it just depends so much on the size of your babies. We only had about 4 newborn sizes and when we came home I asked my mom and mother-in-law to pick up some more outfits for us.


Jori

 

You can see in my sig how big (small?) my girls were when they were born. They were born exactly 34 weeks and wore preemie size for about 6-7 weeks. I think I had 10 preemie onesies and 6 preemie sleepers so that meant laundy every other day (they had reflux and were spitters). At 6 weeks old (0 adjusted) they each weighed 6lbs and finally started to fit into some NB clothes. If I remember correctly they were in NB for awhile-probably another 6 weeks or more. 0-3 month stuff was HUGE on them at this point. When they finally fit into 0-3 month things, I feel like they zipped thru that size and were in 3-6 for a long time and now 6-9 for a long time. They still fit in 6-9 month stuff, but am able to dress them in some 9-12 month stuff if I roll up the sleeves and pants (you can see from my ticker, they are almost 1).

I think its really difficult to estimate how big your babies will be and how fast they'll grow. I kind of knew my kiddos would be small because I'm barely 5'1" and very petite and my Dh is only 5'10". But they grow so fast in those first couple of months its crazy. I had so many cute 0-3 month outfits that they never wore because I didn't anticipate them growing out it so quickly! Plus as a pp said, the same size may be very different between brands (VERY annoying!). We have 0-3 month osh kosh overalls that STILL fit the girls!

If I were you I would get just a couple of things in each size (including preemie) and keep the receipts so if you don't need it you can exchange it. (I taped receipts to the tags to make it easy). GL with the rest of your pg! -Leighann

 

My boys were 5.11 and 5.15 and they didn't even fit in the newborn stuff for a few weeks. They got a lot of use out of their NB size and 0-3 month. It seemed like they were in those sizes forever. They were born in May and spent a lot of time in onsies and swaddled so I bought a few packs of the just born size by Gerber and got quite a bit of use out of those. As far as "outfits" I wouldn't spend a lot of money on actual clothes, I can count on one hand the number of times I put them in something other than a onsie or sleeper those early months. They were cute to have for pictures but I hated puting them in clothes they just seemed so uncomfortable.

 

Mine were big - 7-4 and 6-11 at birth - but even then the newborn stuff was big on them at first. But they grew into it fast and we wore newborn sizes for about 6 - 8 weeks. My advice - just get basic stuff - don't get a bunch of 'cute' outfits - they are a waste on newborns. Just get some basic gowns, pajamas and onesies. All the other stuff was a waste - we would put on a cute outfit for a photo, but otherwise they're really not practical to dress a newborn in. Especially if you're having a girl - little dresses are worthless.

Quantity depends on how often you plan on doing laundry. We had moms here for the first 6 weeks, and they did our laundry every day - so we really didn't need very many pieces. Once they left and laundry didn't get done every day, then we needed more clothes.

 

I agree, buy basics. We didn't have a lot of help in the beginning to get laundry done so we did buy a lot extra so I didn't have to do the laundry so quickly. Mine were 6.8 and 5.4 and they still wore that stuff for about 8 weeks. So definitely buy the basics.

 

You would be amazed how many outfits can fit into one load of laundry. I sure can get a ton in one load. Also I agree when someone else said hold off on all the "cutsie" outfits. They are difficult for diapering, usually uncomfortable for the babies and if they are really tiny you won't be bringing them out much for anyone to see them. Ours live in sleepers, onsies, little sacks and just in a diaper and t-shirt when they get really hot. And shoes for little ones...don't bother with more than a pair each if any at all. Growth wise..mine shocked me and tripled in weight from 4lbs to 13 lbs plus before three months. They were born skinny and wrinkly and now they grew into all thier wrinkles and have big fat chubby rolls everywhere now!!!! It amazed me...some of my friends had 6 and 7 pound babies that are still not much bigger at 2 and three months. They all grow soooo differently. I assumed minw would be tiny for a long time. Dady and I are 5'3 and 5'8 and our babies are already surpassing our expectations.

 

I bought a couple of NB outfits before delivering. When I delivered at 34 weeks, Lizzie was 4-14 and Alex was 6lbs. 0-3 was way too big. Lizzie just now outgrew preemie clothes and Alex is moving into 0-3. We just went out and got the small sizes after they were here.

 

My two were born at 33.4 weeks so they were very small. DD could wear newborn when she got out of the NICU but DS was in premie for the first two months. He is still in newborn clothes at 5 months old and DD is in 6 or 9 month clothes now. I would just wait till they come to get the premie outfits though. I had a lot of people give us premie outfits after they were born b/c they were early and in NICU for a while. My two are 4 pounds apart now and are totally different. DS is 11 lbs and DD is 15 lbs. I know DD went through the NB and 0-3 VERY fast. She was in 6 mo. clothing at 3 mo. old.

 

I think 0-3 is better choice to get. I got newborn clother for mine and it only lasted for 2 weeks. look at the birth weigh on newborn sizes i think they only go to 8 lbs. don't go to crazy with clothes they grow quick. they don't need a whole wardrobe now. at least 0-3 lasted longer.

 

I had a few nb sleepers for each baby and a couple of outfits for each too. This was the same with preemie size clothing. They were in preemie for three weeks, nb for three weeks before going into 0-3 month at six weeks old. At six weeks old I stopped having them in sleepers most of the time and began dressing them in regular clothes each day. I would suggest waiting until after the shower to see what you still really need (if you're having one).

 

My b/g twins were 5lbs 7oz (boy) and 5lbs 2oz (girl). They wore preemie clothes for about a month, and then they both went into newborn at the same time. Then DS grew a ton so he only lasted in newborn for about 2 weeks, and DD still fits into some newborn and now some 0-3 months. I would say buy newborn stuff, because most likely they will not fit into 0-3 and might not even fit into newborn when they are born. BTW, my full term DS was 8lbs 5 oz at birth and he wore newborn stuff for about 2 weeks.....so I don't think it wouldn't be a waste to have newborn clothes.

 

Well mine were small and in preemie clothes for a long time.. Then newborn for a bit then onto 0-3 months... I doubt i can help to be honest... I never thought mine would be in preemies stuff for 4-6 weeks...

 

I had planned on just using 0-3 month clothes, but at the last minute bought a few newborn onesies and footed pj's. Thank god we did -- they were in the NB size for weeks! The babies were born at 38w3d weighing 7lb2oz and 6lb 10oz (so not too tiny), but they lost a good bit of weight initially and it took them a while to catch back up (we are BF). Now they are fitting well into 3-6 month size, right where they should be. But those NB clothes were well used and definitely worth the money!