My fiancee's brother's wife purchases a lot of clothes for her baby (and she supposedly did the same thing for her other kid when he was a baby). We often discuss as to why a family would purchase tons of clothes for a baby, especially considering how it's a waste since the kid will grow out of it and the baby won't even appreciate it. What's your opinion on this?
Well I think you don't really have a choice. Babies grow extremely fast, especially in the first year. I remember having to buy new clothes for my kids every 3 months or so, plus you have to buy change of season clothes as well. They are also soooo messy, you have to have plenty of onesies and extra clothes unless you want to be doing laundry every single day, if you even have time for laundry. Clothes are less expensive when they are babies, the older they get the pricier the clothes get. If it's a money thing then you can always try exchanging clothes with family members or using sites like Thread Up.
I don't see the point in buying tons of baby clothes or fancy stuff for babies. I had a dresser drawer full of onesies, stretchy pants, sleepers, sleeping gown or baby sacks (whater they are called). My kids lived in those kinds of clothes until they were about 9-10 months then I started buying outfit types of clothes for them.
I agree! Babies grow so fast and some baby clothes are so expensive! We all save baby clothes and hand the good ones down to family members. It's just much more cost effective. I buy some on ebay too! You can also swap with other mommys!
It depends on whose money is being spent. If it's their money, there's nothing much to do about it. If it's my money, then I would just buy enough to get by. Babies do not grow any faster if we give them a lot of clothes. In fact, in the hot climate where I live, babies grow up better with very little clothes.
When my daughter was expecting her first born, I introduced her to the Goodwill store where she found all kinds of clothes at very affordable prices. Some of the baby clothes still had the price tag on them. Babies grow so fast that you don't get to wear a lot of the items. For the first 2 years I don't recommend new clothes for kids. They just grow to fast.
I agree but it may be the case that people are some time willing to have new clothes for their child every time they go new places. It shows love and sometimes people enjoy having kids shopping.
I am for reduce reuse recycle! You could save a lot of money when you just reuse what your older kids had used before of coarse if they have the same gender. But if you they are nit then you have no choice but to buy new ones. Just make sure that you just buy what your baby will need.
There are a number of reasons why one would buy a number of items of clothing. It is good to have a number of alternatives to change them into after they have dirtied the other items. Babies puke, poop and all other kinds of thins...gorgeous beautiful being that they are! Plus it is awesome to spoil them, have them looking sparkly and clean...and then once they outgrow it you can pass on the clothes to a shrift store. Seems like a win win to me. Also, you can do less rounds of laundry!
The point? There isn't one. The reason it happens? Because some people really like to shop. Or they get drawn in by cute baby clothes. They want those things, but don't need them obviously.
I think it is wise to have at least 10 outfits of each size for the baby when they are an infant, but more then that is too much. I say 10 outfits because there are days of runny poops and spit up that may soil 3 outfits in a day and this way you are not washing the laundry all day long. But I don't see any reason to buying more then that. People love buying for babies, let's face it their clothes are adorable
It is easy to get carried away buying baby clothes. Then what you do not use you can always give to others. It is just fun and easy for mothers to get carried away while shopping. Plus I could buy five baby outfits for what I would spend one one outfit for my five year old. It is easy to purchase massive amounts of baby clothes for reasonable amounts of money. Which is part of what sucks us in I think.
Buying/getting lots of baby clothes can actually be a really great thing.. Although I didn't actually really buy many clothes for my baby. Most of it was given to me from friends or family who had babies that outgrew the clothes or I received them as gifts for baby showers. I was totally overwhelmed at first after having boxes of clothes ranging from newborn-6 months. However, once the baby came, I realized how wonderful it was to have so many. Your baby will probably end up dirtying at least 2-3 different outfits throughout the day, especially newborns. This ranges from spit-ups to peeing through their clothes or even poo poo. I have had to throw outfits out because of this lol. Oh and no mom wants to do laundry when she is exhausted and trying to use the little time she has when baby sleeps to actually nap herself.. so not having to do laundry every day is another plus to having lots of baby clothes! Also, you always want to bring at least one outfit along with you when you are leaving the house. The one impractical thing would be to actually go out and buy a ton of brand new clothes if they are more then 4 dollars per outfit. Used is good as long as you wash it of course, also hand me downs are great. I know some moms love to shop a lot for new clothes for their little ones but they do go through the outfits sooo quick that your baby may not even fit in some of the clothes depending on how fast he/she grows.
Having three kids, two of mine were able to take advantage of hand me downs. My first though I had to buy everything. It seems like a lot, but he actually wore everything that I bought for him. I did though, make most of my purchases from Walmart's Garanimals line since it's so inexpensive.
The point is that it is that baby clothes are cheap. You can get ten onesies for like seven dollars. You can buy namebrand clothes from Burleton Coat Factory for like pennies on the dollar.
There are stuff that a mom really need to have a lot of, like onesies, frogsuits, and bibs. Babies are little people but they can get really messy most of the time. My baby ends up having to change at least 5 times a day. So having a lot of the things I've mentioned earlier is very helpful or else I'll end up having to do laundry twice a day. Things that a baby won't be able to use much are attires for going out. Although babies may be cute looking like small adults, it's really not practical and besides they look cute whatever they wear so it really doesn't matter most of the time. As for me, yes, I do buy a lot clothes for my baby. But I usually buy them on discount racks and I try to buy bigger sizes so it'll have room to grow for my baby.
My daughter spit up 20+ times a day from the ages of 1 month to 5 months. She still spits up a lot at 6 months actually. Between months 1 and 5 we were going through about 6 outfits a day, even though we used a bib at all times. Frankly, I was not about to do laundry everyday, so we had to buy a lot of clothes. The clothes we bought did tend to be basic onesies, pants, and one piece bubbles, but if you looked in her closet you would've thought I was crazy. Maybe your SIL is buying the clothes used, for a fraction of what they would cost new. Maybe her kids go through a lot of clothes. Maybe she just likes to shop. Regardless, as long as the clothes are getting used, it shouldn't matter.
I have wondered the same thing! Babies grow so fast. I learned my lesson after my first child. I had 3 more children and didn't make the same mistakes. Although some people may not like it, but I find thrift and consignment stores are great for this. Of course I did have some new clothes, but it makes no sense to spend tons of money on new clothes that may only be worn once or twice.
Our family was blessed with very generous relatives and friends. The only outfit that I have purchased for my 18 month old daughter thus far has been her Christmas dress. We were gifted lots of clothes and plenty of the outfits still look brand new because we never got the chance to put her in them. So to answer your question, I do not think it is necessary to buy heaps of clothes for a baby. In those early days when I was transitioning into this new mother role, I did not have the time to make sure that she wore every outfit at least once. I found myself rotating through the same simple onesies for the first month or two. I fully intend on using a minimal stash with my next child as well.
