I'm sure this has probably been done a squillion times before, but could I get some input into baby's wardrobe, please?  I've heard advice like: 

-don't buy outfits, people will buy them for you and they're a pain

-get stuff with poppers down the front, not back or just butt

-avoid buttons

-don't buy too much newborn ahead of time in case you have a monster

But what I'd really like to know is:

-what does a baby wear on a day to day basis, whether dressed in an outfit or not, across the summer/autumn?

-how many bodysuits does baby need?

-how many sleepsuits does baby need?

-how many annoying but adorable pairs of socks does baby need? (I've heard it's impossible to keep them matched, so the plan is to get all white ones!)

-how many pairs of scratch it's should I have if not all the sleepsuits have them incorporated?

-does baby need soft booties?

-how cold is it when baby wears a pram suit?

-how many pram blankets should I have?  and is a large muslin good enough as blanket in summer?  Or is it even necessary?

I've been buying bits here and there in sizes all over the map up to 6-9mo because I have fallen in love with adorable baby clothes.  I don't expect us to get much in terms of clothing as gifts, though we are expecting a load of hand me downs from my niece who was born last October.  While I'm sure bodysuits and sleepsuits and things like that will be fine, she was a winter baby in Canada and I'm not sure what we're getting..

We kept B in sleepsuits until he was about 6 weeks, with hindsight I wish I'd kept him in them longer. When he was small we could easily go through 3/4 body and sleep suits a day so I had quite a few of those. Babies don't need booties and I found they were pain and didn't  stay on very long at all. B wouldn't keep the scratch mitts on, so after I'd bought a pack which had about 5 pairs in I gave up! B never wore a pram suit, I just layered him up and then put blankets on, it made it easier if we're going shopping as some of the shops we're incredibly hot so I could very easily uncover him. Hope that helps a little!

Good questions Wispa, I'll be checking back for advice :)

I've not bought any scratch mitts yet or vests!!

Given we've got the same due date I'm subscribing to this as am so unprepared!

Thanks, noodle, that does help a bit.

But do babies wear just a Sleepsuit?  Or do they have a bodysuit underneath?  But what if it's hot?  Or could they just wear a body suit and leggings?  Or a romper?

Usually the rule of thumb is baby wears one more layer than you. At the moment I would be putting a baby in a bodysuit then a sleepsuit, if it was a bit chilly I'd add a cardigan. In the summer, if it was really hot b Would be in just a romper or a bodysuit.

As for blankets - you can never have too many! I'd say at least 3/4 cellular blankets then you can fold them over depending on the weather.

Sleepsuits are fantastic for the first while, depending on the temperature I'd put a long or short sleeved vest on underneath. A was born this time last year and he was in sleepsuits until well into the summer. Obviously it was a scorcher last summer so some days he'd just have a vest on (when it was 30 degrees +) but usually a sleepsuit with nothing underneath. Make sure you go for cotton, the velour ones are sweaty! I'd say about 6 of each will do, you have to keep up with the washing though! If you have a sicky baby you will probably need more!

Socks, you won't need them if using sleepsuits. We never bothered with scratch mits...pita in my opinion! You probably won't need booties, we never used ours when he was tiny.

We had A in a pramsuit until I felt it was warming up, it was snowing this time last year! You'll just know...trust me! I was clueless before!

Blankets are always useful and can be used when the baby is older too...we had 3 and that was enough.

I'd personally not buy too much in advance...you may have a large /small baby and they may not be in that size in that season! A is diddy and still in some 6-9m stuff at 12m...lord knows when he will wear all his 12-18m stuff! As I said before I knew NOTHING (didn't even know what the difference was between a sleepsuit and vest!) but you learn fast and you know your baby! :-)

We got given millions of 0-3 clothes and had next to nothing that fitted when he was born so had to do a quick newborn shop! We had about 10 nb short sleeved vests and 6 long sleeved used under sleepsuits...of which we had about 10 of too. We've found scratch mits and booties useless and can't recommend the sleep suits with feet and turnover mits enough! I used nothing else. Now at 4 weeks we have him in a semi outfit (vest, joggy bottoms and cardie) during the day and a sleepsuits at night. I've been told gap socks are the only ones that stay on - ours aren't gap and don't stay on! Often there's at least one change during the day. We use 3 blankets regularly but haven't had use for cellular ones. Clothes with poppers down the back or just at the nappy area are a pain! I'll see what else I can think of!

Oh and F is just growing out his newborn stuff at 10lbs.

My eldest was in outfits from the 2nd day as daddy couldn't wait to buy her a pretty dress. My youngest was in sleep suits for months as i simply did not have the time to co-ordinate outfits and she was very sicky. You won't need socks or sleep suits if only wearing sleep suits, but i'd highly recommend sock ons for use with trousers etc. Both of mine were in newborn clothes for months, but i think it's more to do with length than weight, particularly with the sleepsuits. I've not used blankets much as both were in gro bags from birth, so i only used them in the pram or car seat. The bags were def a best buy.

Pram suits can be a pain. They're often too thick to be safe in a car seat and hard work getting them in and out of them for changes etc. C was born in March and we didn't bother with one at all. I love the fleecy sleepsuits instead as they feel like little teddy bears in then and you can then layer as necessary.

Thanks, sweetpea!  The only 'outfits' we have in up to 4 months are long sleeved bodysuit/leggings combos, so hopefully we get some wear out of them.

Just had to google sock ons, thanks for the tip!

We were very lucky that we were lent a lot of things up to 6 months so we were covered on all bases. Isobelle brought her milk up quite frequently so we went through at least 5 or 6 sets of vests/body suits & babygrow/sleepsuits (took me ages to figure out that those pairs of things are the same!!) She was born in February but most days that what she'd wear inside sometimes with a pair of socks underneath (I could never find new born socks that were small enough!!) & a cardigan over the top. Then a pram suit to go out in. I found scratch mitts a nightmare to stay on so we always put her in babygrows with the fold over bits at night, they're great. We didn't have that many blankets but then we didn't really use a pram favouring a sling. Muslins are fab, get lots as you can use them for lots of things. & sizes of clothes are silly, I've now decided that we should adopt the European system of labelling clothing by size rather than age. Isobelle is 26 months (2 years, 2 months) & only just in 12 - 18 months. We've been given clothes for 2 -3 years that she probably won't wear for 2 or 3 years!!

A was born in November but was a seriously toasty newborn so didn't wear vests under his sleepsuits for the first month as it just made him too warm! In summer he will probably just have to be naked ;) He wore sleepsuits for the first 2 months and then outgrew his 0-3 months clothes so we started him in outfits after that. Sleepsuits are so easy though! We had probably around 15-20 as he was very sicky so we could easily get through 4 a day. Get loads as having to keep on top of the washing will be the last thing you want to do in the very early days.

Pram suit - we never used one and that's with a late autumn baby. Instead we have a morrck and a star blanket which means we can layer up or down as we go in or out of places. We used scratch mitts about twice! Socks he never wore with sleepsuits, only with trousers.

E born in january so can't comment on summertime but....

Has never worn a pram suit

Always wears a baby vest and sleep suit (always poppers down the front). Only just bothering with outfits now at 11 weeks

Morrck hoody for out and about. Would kick a blanket off approx every 20 seconds

Never worn scratch mits, buy the sleep suits that have them attached. You can fold them over when you need them.

Socks, wears a pair under a sleep suit, old wives tales suggests it helps with colic, considering buying sock ons now he's in outfits.

Wispa I was bowled over with the amount of gifts and particularly clothes we were given, people were so generous and we were given gifts from people I really really didn't expect. I think people are just full of love and kindness for new babies! You may well be surprised at the amount of clothes.

We must have had easily 20 vests and babygrows if not more when he was in the first size and then the same for 0-3.

O is a sicky baby so despite the fact I've mastered the art of catching it with bibs and Muslins, we still regularly have 2-3 changes during the day and early days it was much worse, between sickness and him peeing the second I took his nappy away and soaking his vest we probably changed him up to 5 or 6 times a day easily.

I've actually just sat folding up O's clothes from the dryer and I have 23 bibs and 18 Muslins and 4 burp clothes in the washing and I think that's only washing for maybe 2 or 3 days.

Socks - O was only ever in babygrows for the first few months and because they have feet we never used socks. Even now at 17 weeks I still put him in some 'nicer' babygrows during the day and plain ones at night. I only really put an outfit on him if we're going somewhere and I only started that when he was about 12 weeks. We've got a lot of rompers though with no feet so those are the day ones with socks on. I don't have any problem with him keeping them on, but can't comment from a newborn stage. Our socks are from boots and I have some from asda, also no issues pairing them either, there is only ever 3 of 4 pairs in the washing at once so I just ball them together when dry and put them away.

Pram suit - O was early December and a teeny bubs so we bought a cosy first size pram suit and once we were actually taking him out and about anywhere he was in it all the time. It was cold and he needed the layers. About a month ago I ordered a stage 2 morrck and we now use this and not pram suits and just put a cardi on him if it's really cold.

Blankets - we have a few but only ever used one at a time on the pram and use them round the house if O falls asleep in his swing for example or to cuddle him up for a sleep if it's a bit cooler. I have a cellular blanket that we used for loose swaddling after he got to the point that he could riggle out of his swaddle blanket.

Scratch mits - most of the babygrows we got as gifts didn't have the fold over mits and O was a real face rubber and therefore scratcher! I struggled to keep the on to begin with but we had to buy tiny baby clothes anyway and these had fold over mits but I used them all the time with his 0-3 month clothes. Again I got a couple of packs of 2 from boots and they stay on fine. I still use them now actually if I'm taking O out as he tends to bring his arms out of the blanket and I don't want his hands getting cold.

One other thing to mention, the sizes vary a lot on the 0-3 months depending where they are from, some of them go up to 12lb and some are 14lb so I was thinking O was outgrowing his 0-3 but actually it was only the smaller stuff, the 14lb clothes still had a good few weeks left of growth space in them! Worth checking as I was about to clear out his wardrobe of all that size!

S wore sleepsuits until about 12 weeks, therefore didn't need socks or booties. Also didn't use scratch mitts or even the integrated mittens.
had about 12 sleepsuits, maybe 10 short sleeve vests and 5 long sleeve.
We used blankets in the pram, but more cellular blankets.Not expensive, we had 4 or 5 as used them at night too before he fit in a sleeping bag.
when autumn hit we used a tuppence and crumble star wrap. Much easier to get a baby into than a pram suit! X

MDD, thank you, that was hugely helpful!

I think the gift thing may be somewhat true, but not of my family.. They've already gotten us gifts, and they were things like baby monitor and money towards pram, car seat, etc.  H's family may well give us clothing, but I honestly don't know.  And I basically have no friends in the UK, and not expecting friends back home to get us anything.

And the sizing thing is so true!  Boots and some other newborn sizes are like Polarn o. Pyret 0-1mo, but H&M 1-2mo.  PO.P 1-2mo is the same as Gap 0-3mo.  Jojo Maman Bebe 0-3mo is a bit bigger and more like PO.P 2-4mo!  And some are wider or narrower than others.  I feel like I need to make a chart!

Hey:)
L and H were both under 7lbs so needed tiny baby to begin with. H is just starting on newborn clothes and he is nearly 4 weeks. The reason for this is length of his legs lol.
Sleepsuit and vest during the day. Cardigan or allin one suit if out. Be not worn any outfits yet just sleepsuits.
Dont use mits either use sleepsuits with foldy bits or the best tip is socks over hands instead of mits the stay on better x

oooh what a great thread - will keep an eye on this - and what is a pram suit?

My baby due august - if it's superhot, is just a vest acceptable?