What size baby grows should I buy for my newborn?
It might seem like an obvious question - but is it better to buy newborn or 0-3 months baby clothes? Mums on MFM share their advice and experiences of how many of each size to buy
At some point in your pregnancy (probably after the 25 week-ish mark if our MFM mums are anything to go by) - you'll be thinking about where to buy baby clothes and cute newborn outfits.
As you'll have a newborn, it makes sense to get the newborn baby grows, right? But it can be more of a dilemma than you might think. On our forum, diggys_mum discovered that there was mixed opinion on what to do.
"This may be a stupid question (although I know there is no such thing!) but what size of baby clothes are you buying for your baby?
"I keep looking at vests and sleep suits and I never buy anything because I can't decide what to get...
"Should I be getting newborn size or 0-3 months? I've been told it's likely I'll be having an 'average' sized baby so that would suggest newborn.
More like this
"But if he's up at 9lbs or so (a lot of that in both sides of our families!) then he'll grow out of them so quickly... But what if he's little and I've got only 0-3 months...?"
Hmmm... ? ?
Of course, if your baby's really early you might find even the newborn stuff too big, if they're late and bigger, you might need to skip straight to 0-3 months. Here's what sizes other mums have bought for their newborns...
"Better too big than too small"
"I have more 3-6 months thing than newborn things. Look at it this way - better to have bigger things than too small things," says tashy1.
"I have a few vests seeing as the baby is due in summer. When she's indoors she will be wearing that mostly. And a few babysuits.
"But all her 3-6 months clothes are nice and warm as it gets later into the year. Don't buy too many newborn things. If you need to get more after the baby is born, then do that."
"Everyone did a quick dash to ASDA for dinky stuff"
Stacey Z had a different dilemma. "I bought newborn and 0-3 clothes and ended up having a 5lb baby so everyone did a quick dash to Asda to get dinky stuff for me."
"You'll be surprised at how big 0-3 months are on a newborn"
"I would definitely buy some essentials in newborn size as you will be surprised how big the 0-3 month clothes are on a newborn," says Yum_Yum.
"My little man was 8lb 6oz at birth and stayed in newborn clothes up to the end of the first month, even though he was 11lbs at that stage."
"I would suggest buying 6 sleep suits, 6 short sleeve bodies, 6 long sleeve bodies and 6 sleeveless vests in newborn as you will definitely use these. Also maybe 3/4 outfits in newborn for going out/visitors etc."
"It's better to buy 0-3 months - but not too much"
"I would rule out newborn clothes apart from 1 or 2 outfits. Seriously, my boy was born@ 7lbs 8oz, and now, ten weeks on, he is 13lbs 2oz. He was in newborn clothes for 2-3 weeks max!" says libbylou85
"He's started to grow out of a few 0-3 months as well and he's only just over 2 months old. My boy literally lived in vest, babygrow/onesie, and snowsuit, blankets etc.
"If going out, trust me, it's better to buy mostly 0-3, but not too much. I've sold most of his baby grows in that range as I had over 20 and I can say now that 12 is more than enough and the same with vests, etc.
"I'll not make the same mistake with the next baby. Although I do advise that you can never have enough bibs if bottle feeding, and you can use them when weaning."
"Buy multipacks from Asda, or Tesco or Sainsbury's"
"The sizes vary so much from different shops. Newborn in Asda for example only go up to 9lb, Mothercare go up to 10 lbs, Next and Pumpkin Patch newborn only go up to 7lb 7oz. Complete waste of money," says westbrom1.
"0-3 months also vary but are MASSIVE on a newborn. My LO was born 8lbs 8oz and dropped to 7lbs 15ozm so was in newborn clothes only for 2 or 3 weeks.
"I got bought some beautiful stuff from Mamas and Papas which she only wore 3 times, but her family got great pleasure out of seeing her in them.
"I bought only 6 vests and 6 sleepsuits in newborn and 0-3 months and we were very lucky as everybody bought everything else.
"But initially those 6 I bought would not have been enough as babies wear a minimum of 2 a day - that's if they are not sick. I was in hospital for 3 days too so my mother-in-law used to take them home every night and wash them.
"Daisy is 11lbs now and still looks tiny in her 0-3 month clothes but she looks great in her Matalan stuff as they have shrunk a bit and fit her perfectly now!
"But I agree it is better to have the clothes a bit big than waste money. I would advise you buy a few multipacks from Asda or Tesco or Sainsbury's. They are very cheap for newborn stuff and then, if you want, you can spend a bit more on 0-3 month stuff."
"We were given too much newborn stuff"
"We bought and were given too much first size and newborn stuff as my second was born 9 lbs 3oz and first size and newborn go up to around 9lbs," says Jasmine B.
"My baby is now 4 weeks old and is only just squeezing into 0-3 stuff as she's such a greedy baby!
"Looks like I have way too much 0-3 too! Hoping some shops will let me go in and swap the stuff that still has tags on but I stupidly loved removing tags and washing all of her clothes because she was overdue and I just love the smell of Fairy non bio."
Where to shop
Our mums shared some of their favourite places to buy newborn clothes - based on price, sizing and choice. Check them out:
Pics: Getty Images
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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