Baby gear: What do you really need?

I did 10 per size in an apartment using a combo of handwashing and laundromat.

You can also price out a laundry service or make that a visitor’s job.

I needed 2 pairs of pants before kids. Now I own infinity (7?10?).

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I did not buy any clothing until the baby was born and the gift dust settled. People REALLY like to gift clothing.

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As someone who likes to gift onesies and a book or toy, I’ve always figured it reduces laundry pressure. And it’s fun to pick out.

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And pretty inexpensive! I didn’t need to buy any newborn clothing and only a few items to supplement 0-3 (mostly cold weather items). YMMV depending on how gifty your friends and family are!

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I guess I would say, keep your receipts!

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At 2 and 3 years old I can count every clothing item I’ve bought for them. You basically never have to buy clothes for children.

ETA: this is of course hand me downs. We don’t have family and friends gifting us new clothing!

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We have had to get a lot more for #2 because of seasonal mismatch.

I didn’t get so many gifts and hand me downs that I could avoid shopping, but I try and hit the second hand stores.

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I’ve been very lucky with buy nothing. B outgrew our direct hand me downs source by 18 months old (the other child is 10 months older but B is much bigger). Thankfully anytime I put out the request on buy nothing for her next size up we get a big bag with more than we need! I’m about to request 5T because we had a few in the closet but she’s fully in 5T now for long sleeved shirts and dresses and the 4T stuff is getting comical on her.

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I’ve found this true for the bulk of like, basic onesies then leggings and shirts, but specific things- outdoor gear, fleece lined pants for winter, PJs that aren’t in really bad shape- buy nothing hasn’t been as forthcoming. But most of that was once she was older- younger the only real issue was when she was long and dropping weight so there were only a couple brands of sleepers we could buy that were long enough and she didn’t slip out the neck holes :scream: obviously that’s very kid dependent though- there was lots of sleepers in her drawer at that time just nothing fit right!

And I’ll admit I mainly got useless clothes gifted and I returned them (thanks ShopSavvy) for in store credit for stuff we did need. I am not the sort of person who puts a 4 piece outfit with matching headband on my newborn. :grimacing: nor do I like restricting baby movement with denim, massive bows and ruffles, etc. So I’d say the majority of what I was given for clothes at my shower I didn’t even keep, not gonna lie.

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It seems to be true that kid clothing will tend to just appear. I haven’t even had a baby shower yet and and somehow I have 5 pants, 8 bodysuits, and 4 zipper sleepers, from 3 people. Excluding what I impulse bought from a Carter’s sale and might return but haven’t decided because for the most part, I bought it because it was cheaper per item than the secondhand shop.

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Also I was not ready for the fact that clothing will ROT. EW. GOOD TO KNOW BUT EW.

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I am so sorry to be the bearer of this news. I will say, both the baby and I were on the higher… moisture end of the spectrum. My home. Did not smell good.

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Greyweld’s climate is also less rot-promoting!

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This is a very good point as well!

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Yes. But, um, will still rot, just a lot slower. My climate is also dry. I had to do laundry every 3 days, but I am a truly terrible housekeeper and was also physically incapable of laundry so had to rely on others. But yeah, daily is best, and get clothes for yourself, and absolutely no longer than 3 days between washes for the first … Uh, whenever they stop smushing bodily fluids and food into all the fabric around them. YMMV on when that age is.

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Many baby blankets layered on our couch and always a blanket on our shoulders was so critical here. We only had to wash spit up off our couch twice I think? Considering the 47 spit ups per day (esp any tummy time) I was very proud of that record. It was so nice to just whip the top layer off my couch blanket lasagna and toss it into the washer.

Assuming Luna sticks around, Having a two story, and much larger house, this time will have some downsides. Laundry being a key one. I mean, hopefully the trade off is we can cook without waking up the baby even over white noise. :crossed_fingers:

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2 story house is much harder. Much. But we just have laundry baskets on each floor and a laundry mountain.

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Our laundry is upstairs which I can’t decide is better or worse. At least it’s not in a basement or a garage, so it’s cozy indoors space. But definitely not as easy as directly next to our bedroom door and kitchen and just smack dab middle of the apartment.

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I’m a filthy person so we only changed newborn outfits when they weren’t fresh anymore. Sometimes it was 2 outfits a day, other times he could go 2 days in the same clothes. Having a dozen burp cloths also helped to keep both parent and baby clothes cleaner.

In hindsight I would start with fewer clothes, and more swaddles/sleep sacks, than I’d have guessed (3 was a good number for us + 1 to send to daycare once that started). For newborns, we liked gowns (open or snap bottom) - they get swaddled or bundled up anyway, and less to mess with for those very frequent diaper changes. We also did footie pjs instead of baby socks until he started walking - just fewer tiny things to mess with.

Keeping things minimal (ish) meant everything fit in a tiny dresser and was easier to keep organized. Also, to save time, we don’t fold baby clothes or burp cloths. They get sorted by tops/bottoms and go right into the dresser, which keeps laundry time down. Damp stuff gets draped on the edge of the laundry basket to air out instead of getting tossed in immediately (but I’m in a moderate climate, neither rainforest nor desert).

Between months 6-15, he was really messy from learning to eat and both baby and I needed a lot more changes of clothing. Then he got skillzzzz and it’s better now.

Buy Nothing definitely varies by neighborhood, but absolutely worth trying first. Mine is chock full of little kids so we could get almost everything for first 2 years (onesies, swaddles, winter suits, shoes - if there was a lot of interest I didn’t always put my hand up) from there. I’ve even seen cribs and older but very decent strollers posted. I think after age 2, they outgrow things more slowly or often wear them out, so I see a little less volume but it’s still there. It’s a huge money saver and I’ve also met some really nice people, including 2 families that have become friends.

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Idk if the post-partum sweats hit me particularly hard or if that was average. But I was sweaty and bleeding for basically 2.5 months straight. So laundry is gonna happen!!

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