One of the best experiences pre-parenthood is going shopping for newborn clothes that you are sure will help make your daughter adorable or son handsome. I will admit, it truly never gets old. However, an important question parents typically ask is, “how much newborn clothing do I need to buy?”
Before we get to get exciting part of figuring out how much newborn clothing to buy, take a moment to read my article about planning to pay for pregnancy and delivery.
Let me first state for the record that I was prepared to be absolutely bludgeoned by the cost of clothes for my newborn daughter. My parents, other family members, friends who had children, co-workers and even people my wife and I would meet while waiting for doctor appointments would talk about the expense of clothing. And after walking into a Carter’s one day during the early part of pregnancy, I understood quickly what they were talking about.
Before we go any further, you need to understand that these clothes are going to be demolished by bodily fluids. At the time of this article we are a little over 14 weeks since birth and I am still amazed at just how many bodily fluids (including the tears of sobbing parents wanting sleep!) end up on our baby girl’s clothes. You will see more piss, shit, saliva and spitup in your first few weeks of parenthood than the rest of your life!
Dollars and Cents
I am going to conservatively estimate that we’ve spent around $700 on clothes so far on newborn clothes. And, outside of my daughter’s christening gown, an Easter dress and a St. Patrick’s Day outfit, every single item of clothing we’ve purchased has been on sale. We’ve saved a ton of money!
We walked into Carter’s a few months prior to birth and there happened to be a big annual sale. Naturally, our focus was almost exclusively on newborn and three month sizes. That trip alone was $300, but we damn near saved that much off of regular prices.
The bulk of newborn clothes since then have been purchased at JC Penney (your favorite department store likely applies, too). The sales have been exceptional each time we’ve walked in and there is always an abundance of clearance items. I can’t tell you how many onesies, all in different sizes, we paid $2, $3 or $4 for. You can find even better deals online.
I know people talk about secondhand stores, buying clothes from eBay or Facebook marketplace and other similar options, but that was never a route my wife or I were interested exploring. In particular because the prices we were finding for newborn clothes on sale or in clearance were much better than we were anticipating. Plus, I’ve never really been a fan of buying anything secondhand.
Tip: Before going shopping I generally stop by our local grocery store and purchase gift cards to JC Penney. I get 6% back on my American Express card and for every $50 in gift cards we but I get ten cents off a gallon of gas (30 gallon maximum). So before I even buy the clothes, I have saved $6 via credit card rewards and gas perks.
Just Make Sure They’re Clothed
Now you may be wondering if the newborn clothes we purchased are in style or ugly. Before dignifying that thought with an answer, when deciding how much newborn clothing you need to buy toy need to understand that: 1) NOTHING is going to look bad on a newborn. 2) Who cares what other people think. 3) For the first few weeks of life, your newborn will rarely be leaving the house.
Bullet point 3 is arguably the most important point because outside of you and your spouse, baby girl isn’t going to be seen by anyone all that consistently. That means the only people who are going to see the newborn clothing that your baby is wearing is you and your significant other.
As I stated earlier, no matter what you buy your little one he or she will destroy it with their bodily fluids. And you’ll be changing them from wet to dry clothes so often that over time you won’t even recognize what they are wearing.
In fact, while at JC Penney we picked up several $1 onesies that we only got at that price because it was a Thanksgiving, Halloween or Christmas onesie. As I stated earlier, your newborn is going to wreck the shit out of whatever you purchase and you’ll be switching wet onesies for dry versions so often it will make your head spin. Knowing all that, why spend $15 or $20 on that adorable onesie?
That is not to say we haven’t purchased our daughter clothes that make us go “awe”. We bought several of those, but what matters most in the first few weeks is keeping that baby warm, dry and as comfortable as possible.
Onesies, Pajamas and Swaddles
Almost as important than how figuring out how much newborn clothing to buy is determining what kind to buy. The first two months the bulk of our clothing purchases were onesies and full-length pajamas. Regardless of the time of year the baby is born, they will be cold. Makes sense considering where they were for more than nine months! At about the two month mark we noticed that she was getting hot while her arms and legs covered with clothing while in her swaddle, so we started just putting onesies on her with the arms and legs uncovered before swaddling.
That leads me to the swaddles. If we had to do it all over again we would’ve purchased three of them in the newborn size and two of them in the 3-6 size. That is because they: 1) are vital if you want your baby to sleep anywhere besides your arms for the first few weeks/months and 2) are magnets for bodily fluids (notice a theme?). For the first week we only had one. It had to be washed just about everyday before we finally wised up and bought two more.
Tip: For full-length pajamas and swaddles, try to purchase ones that have two zippers. Not only does it make it easier to actually get the clothing on, but it makes changing diapers, particularly at night, significantly easier because you will not need to take them out of the pajama/swaddle. With a single zipper, each diaper change will require removing the baby from the clothing.
You’ll see the value of a swaddle quickly because if we would attempt to put her in her bassinet or crib without a swaddle, even if she was asleep, it would last a few minutes before the Moro reflex got her. For us, that reflex was aggressive until just before the three month mark. From that time on we weened her off of the swaddle and I’m proud to report that she sleeps great with arms and legs uncovered!
Don’t Be A Sucker
Before moving on, let me state unequivocally that purchasing socks and/or shoes before a baby can walk is a complete money burn. We didn’t purchase shoes because we read that she’d never wear them, and the prices were crazy for something that, in all likelihood, would only be worn once. We purchased socks thinking that she’d be wearing pants or little dresses more often and didn’t want her feet to be cold. Turns out, if her feet were cold that usually meant she was cold in general, so we’d get her back into an outfit that covered her legs, arms and feet.
Fortunately, the socks we purchased were a little too big anyway, so by the time she needs them, she’ll be big enough.Honestly, we didn’t even purchase shoes for her baptism. She looked beautiful in her dress and bow. The shoes wouldn’t have added anything.
If you plan on purchasing shoes then figuring out how much newborn clothing you need to buy will probably be simpler because you’ll have less money!
What We Learned
I would say that if we had it to do over again or if/when we have a boy in the future and need to buy a brand new set of clothes, that we would’ve purchased fewer newborn-sized clothes. Our baby was born at just over 6.5 pounds, so she had room to grow into the newborn size. But if we had an eight or nine pound baby, shit, we would’ve wasted a whole bunch of money.
She wore the bulk of her wardrobe more than once, but I don’t know if there was a single outfit or piece of clothing she wore more than twice. Like most new parents, we went a little overboard. Plus, we really cleaned up during the baby shower. That was truly a blessed problem to have.
For the advice I’d give on what to buy, it all starts with how big the baby is. If, like us, you’re going to have a smaller child then I would probably have 20-30 articles of newborn clothing for the baby. That will give you several weeks worth of clothes if you’re anticipating one or two washes. If you’re expecting a baby around eight pounds I’d say you can bop that down to about 15 newborn outfits. If you’re close to nine pounds or greater then, honestly, I would skip the newborn stage altogether and just invest in three month outfits. They’ll be a little big to start, but you’re likely only going to get a week or two out of newborn clothes before they start to tighten.
There are going to be memorable outfits for your kids that you’ll want to keep for the rest of your lives. There are occasions that you’ll always want to remember. Embrace it. Splurge where you need to. But for everyday, normal life, the name of the game is keeping them dry, warm and comfortable.
