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Here is the first part of our baby registry checklist guide, baby clothing essentials.
If you found this page and want to see the other parts, here are links to each:
- Comprehensive Baby Registry Checklist (this is long, the broken down “parts” are below if that is easier to read)
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 2: Feeding
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 3: Bathtime
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 4: Diapering
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 5: Health and Safety
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 6: Bedding
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 7: Baby Gear and Travel
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 8: Nursery and Toys
Supplemental Posts:
- Create Your Own First Aid Kit and Baby Medicine Stash
- Save Money on Your Remaining Baby Registry Items
- Postpartum Care Essentials For Mom
Baby Clothing Essentials
Let’s start with the fun part. Baby clothing essentials or must-haves for dressing your sweet baby!
First of all, people are going to order things for your baby that you don’t register for. So if you had this specific idea of how you wanted your baby to be dressed be aware that you may end up with things that don’t fit that script. People just get so excited buying little clothes and buy what they think is cute.
I also wouldn’t go too crazy registering for baby clothes. You may end up with some people buying you clothes as your baby grows as well. So if you buy the recommended number of things for each size range until your baby is a year old before they are born you are going to end up with way to many clothes! This is going to be more of a list of things for you to try to have on hand for when the baby is here.
You Get What You Pay For
Yes, there are some more inexpensive brands that are better than others, but if you want nicer materials or organic baby clothes you are going to have to pay more.
Well, except if you buy Burt’s Bees. Their organic baby clothes is less expensive than a lot of other organic cotton brands. I am sure there are others, but this is the brand we use and love.
But, if you get a few different brand to see what you, and your baby, like, you will notice that they aren’t all created equal. We have a few different brands of baby clothes and while some are pretty similar, other’s are lacking and feel cheap in comparison.
Also, different brands fit differently. For example, our Burt’s Bee’s loose fit pajamas fit our baby until she was three months old whereas the rest of her newborn size clothes was retired by around eight weeks.
Organic?
We opted to buy organic baby clothes. Obviously we were gifted some non-organic, and while we appreciated the gifts, we do have a preference towards organic baby clothes.
Why?
There is a lot of information out there on this, but essentially because it was gentler on our baby’s skin. We also aimed for GOTS certified organic baby clothes when we could.
GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) has guidelines for what can be called GOTS certified. They have these standards in line for the entire process of making the item. So that means not only for the organic fabric content and absence of chemicals in the creation process, but also ecological standards and fair treatment of workers.
There is also Oeko-tex Standard 100. With this the materials used to make the item are tested for 100 chemicals to make sure the items are free of those chemicals and safe for humans.
So whats the difference? Oeko-Tex doesn’t mean that the item is organic, but it has been tested to make sure there aren’t some nasty chemicals on your baby’s clothes. GOTS goes the extra step. GOTS is like Oeko-Tex for organic clothes but makes sure that the environment and the workers are treated well while holding the highest standard for your baby’s clothes.
Yes, these options will likely cost more. Do you need to buy them? No. It doesn’t make you any less of a great parent, it is up to you how you choose to dress your baby!
How Do I Figure Out How Many Of Each Of The Baby Clothing Essentials I Need?
When I was setting up our baby registry I obsessed over how many of each baby clothing items I needed. Like seriously obsessed. It was like I thought I couldn’t buy things after our baby was here. It was ridiculous.
Read that again: You can buy more after your baby is here.
We ended up with way too many clothes for our baby. She just doesn’t go through it all and I find myself just dressing her in the same things every week.
We also do laundry every day, not all of it because I am not a laundry goddess, but a load or two. So, if you want to do laundry once a week, you will need enough clothes for your baby to wear for a full week without laundry plus a few for the messes that are bound to happen.
I’ll give you examples below and give you an idea of how many we bought of each type.
How Far Ahead Should I Go?
Curious about if you should register for clothes your baby is going to wear in six months? No, I wouldn’t do it.
We registered for some, but really just focused on basics that far out. While it is great that we have some for like three to six months from now, its totally not necessary. Why? Because you may decide you no longer like it x months down the road, or maybe that brand isn’t your favorite, or you find somethings that you like more when your baby gets closer to the age they can wear those items. You know, like when that seasons items are probably coming out.
If I did it over again I would only register for Newborn and 0-3 month items… and maybe a few 3-6 but probably not.
A Note on Newborn Size Clothing
Don’t get too many Newborn size things.
Why? Some babies don’t wear that size for very long, and different brands may be on the smaller side! Our baby wore some brand Newborn clothes until 3 months, while others only lasted her first month.
You won’t know if your baby will skip newborn size clothing entirely or if they will wear them for 3 months until your baby is here. You do need to get some, but if both you and your significant other were larger babies then your baby may be outgrowing this size sooner rather than later.
Also, the first few sizes will be when you figure out how many clothes your baby actually goes through in a day. Well, you know, until your baby starts eating food then things will get messy.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Short Sleeve and Long Sleeve Onesies
1. Colored Organics Long Sleeve 2. Burt’s Bees Long Sleeve 3. Kyte Baby Bamboo Short Sleeve 4. Burt’s Bees White Short Sleeve 5. Burt’s Bees Tank
Onesies are the layering basic.
They come in different sleeve lengths: short sleeve, long sleeve and tank top styles. Depending on where you live and when your baby was born you will need some combination of these.
Your baby will more than likely wear at least one a day. They can wear them under their pajamas (but they don’t have to depending on the temperature of your house), with pants as an outfit, etc.
For reference: In the newborn stage our baby wore one a day most days, but depending on how messy she was sometimes two or three. Yay laundry! Then after a bath we would put her in a clean onesie and get her ready for bed.
Once our baby hit the 0-3 month stage our baby was wearing one long sleeve to sleep and one short sleeve during the day. She really isn’t a spitty baby though, so if your baby is an expert mess-maker than you will go through more than we did.
How Many?
I would try to have a pack of four long sleeve and four short sleeve onesies in the newborn size. Well, depending on the time of year and where you live. If you live somewhere very hot and you are due in the middle of the summer, maybe skip the long sleeve onesies and opt for a few more short sleeve onesies. Or, they do make “tank top” style onesies too!
For 0-3 months I would try to have 5-6 short sleeve and 4 long sleeve, if you need long sleeve ones. You will probably need more for 0-3 months depending on how often you do laundry. But, wait to see what your needs are before buying too many.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Kimono Style Tops
- L’ovedbaby Long Sleeve 2. Makemake Organics Long Sleeve 3. L’ovedbaby Short Sleeve 4. Tie Kimono Short Sleeve
These are nice to have before the umbilical cord falls off, but another option is to use baby gowns. It is up to you if you get any, we didn’t and just made sure our baby didn’t have anything too tight on that would rub her umbilical cord.
Another plus of these style tops is they don’t have to go over the baby’s head. So if your baby doesn’t like having onesies pulled over their head you could try these tops instead of regular onesies.
How Many?
These are optional or could replace the similar sleeve length onesies if you want. If you want to get some to try while still getting regular onesies get 1 or 2 of these in the newborn size.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Stretchy Pants
- Honest Co. Leggings 2. O2 Footed Leggings 3. Luvable Friends Pants 4. Rylee and Cru Bloomers 5. Rylee and Cru Eyelet Bloomer
We bought a combination of leggings and jogger style pants for our little girl. These are something I wouldn’t go too crazy buying a bunch of until you see how you and your significant other end up dressing your baby most.
I would also get neutral colored bottoms instead of getting loud patterned ones. This way you have pants that will go with different outfits. Also, there are shorts too!
How Many?
Newborn: 2 is probably all you will need, unless you are going to dress your baby in pants every day instead of sleep and plays.
0-3 months: I would just get 4 if you plan on having your baby wear pants instead of pajamas. Otherwise, 2-3 is fine until you see how often you have your baby wear pants.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Baby Pajamas or Sleep and Plays
Our baby pretty much lives in these. Seriously, she probably wears a short sleeve onesie and sleep and play 85% of the time she is awake.
Tips for buying sleep and plays:
- Look for ones that have 2-way inverted zippers, they make diaper changes a little easier. Unfortunately, the Burt’s Bees ones (our favorites) have a one-way zipper. We never tried the magnetic ones, but I am sure those are nice for diaper changes too!
- Order different brands, we have some that were four favorites for different seasons! Like I said above, we love the Burt’s Bees brand sleep and plays, but right now with warmer weather we have found ourselves leaning toward Milkbarn ones! They just feel a little thinner and come in so many cute patterns! Another super popular brand with what seems like a cult following is KYTE Baby.
- The ones with snaps are annoying when you are trying to dress your baby in a dim room at night. I always mess up and have the snaps not lined up properly. It’s great.
- Find some with mitten cuffs, especially for newborn sizes and 0-3 months. Babies are super uncoordinated and can claw their face.
- Lanky baby? The one’s with foot cuffs like Parade Organics help your baby get more wear out of them before having to go up a size. When they outgrow the pajamas with the foot cuffs on you can still use them as footless pajamas.
How Many
Newborn size: 2-3 to start with.
0-3 month: 4-5 depending on how often you dress your baby in them and how often you do laundry.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Gowns
- Leopard Set 2. Beige Set 3. Milkbarn Bunny Gown 4. Grey Cozy Set 5. Dark Tie Dye
These are nice for all of the diaper changes you will be doing, plus the knotted downs are just so cute!
There are knotted ones (our favorite and the ones you will see pictures of all over) and ones with elastic at the bottom that don’t tie.
But, even though they are cute for pictures, we honestly hardly used the ones we had.
If you want to get 1 or 2 to try them out, go for it! Maybe you will love them and use them more than we did.
How Many?
I would just get 1-2 newborn size ones to see how you like them.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Baby Sleep Swaddles and Sacks
- Love To Dream 2. Amazing Baby 3. Halo Sleepsack 4. KYTE Baby 5. Aden + Anais Set
Our baby slept in these from the beginning instead of swaddle blankets because well, I was not a swaddling master let’s put it that way. We used swaddle sacks in the beginning, then moved onto just using the strap for our monitor and pajamas after a few months. This was primarily because our baby LOVED to slam her feet down at night over and over. So one night we tried having her sleep in just pajamas and her Nanit strap and she didn’t slam her legs all night. Yay!
here are so many sleep sacks and swaddles out there. We had a lot of success with the kinds that swaddle their arms up, but we also had a few of the ones that swaddled their arms down. Our favorite by far was the Love to Dream Swaddle UP. Another good one that we had success with was the Amazing Baby Omni Swaddle. The Omni has different arm positions you can put your baby’s arms in so it is really nice if you are trying to figure out how they like to sleep! This one also has fold over mittens. If you don’t like Amazing Baby’s colors but like the idea, here is a very similar one.
The Halo Sleepsack is what our hospital used while we were there. Our baby seemed to like it, and we ended up buying one when we got home after awhile. This one was a little warmer, so we made sure to have our baby in just a diaper underneath.
Other popular ones are KYTE Baby, which has a cult following, Burt’s Bees, a great organic inexpensive option, and Nested Bean, which has a little weight to it to soothe your baby.
Whatever type you get make sure that they are hip healthy!
What the Heck is a TOG?
TOG (Thermal Overall Grade) is a rating that gives you an idea for what temperature that sack is good for. Be sure to look at each company’s TOG rating scale as they are not all the same!
A higher TOG rating means that it will retain more warmth. Therefore a higher TOG will be what you want if your baby’s room is colder. For example, something meant for say 60 degrees would be a 2.5 TOG while something meant for upper 70’s would be a 0.5 TOG.
Make sure you buy an appropriate TOG to make sure your baby isn’t getting too hot or too cold at night!
To decide what TOG rating to get pick the TOG that corresponds with the temperature of the room the baby will sleep in.
How Many?
In the beginning I would get two different styles and see how you like each type. In the beginning we had the Love to Dream Swaddle UP in 0-3 months, the Amazing baby Omni in 0-3 months. and a set of swaddle wraps for the same size. We had our baby sleep in the swaddle wraps until she fit into the other two then pretty much alternated between those. It’s up to you, but if I were to re-do it I would get the Omni and the Love to Dream and skip the swaddle wraps. You can have your baby’s arms swaddled down if that is how they prefer it with the omni or try up with the Love to Dream.
Once you figure out how your baby likes to sleep you will probably want one or two more. Well, depending on how often you do laundry. And yes, once your baby begins to roll or show signs then you should use one where they have more use of their hands. Like this style.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Sweaters, Sweatshirts or Coats
Don’t worry about this for newborns, just get one or two in 0-3 months if needed for your area/time of year baby will be born. Even if your baby is born in the summer you may want some of these for summer nights or cooler days.
Baby Clothing Essentials: One-Piece Outfits
These are the rompers, jumpsuits, coveralls, dresses, etc. Get a style that is appropriate for the time of year. These can be replaced by pants and onesie outfits, but you should have some outfit where your baby isn’t wearing something on their feet. This way they can experience the world with their feet as well, instead of just having fabric between then and the world.
I would get 4-5 of these in 0-3 months, don’t worry about them for newborn sizes.
Other– Dresses, Special Occasion, Etc.
These are the extras, the fun outfits and the “coming home outfit”.
If an event is more than a month out from when the baby is born I would wait on buying them an outfit for it. Especially since you may not know what size your baby will actually wear.
Baby Clothing Essentials: Accessories
Hats
I would get one set of knotted hats, they usually fit them for awhile. You will also want seasonal hats, so one for winter and one for the summer. But depending on when your baby is born you can wait on these.
Mittens
Get yourself a set of three no-scratch mittens. They are handy while your baby is little since they always seem to try to scratch themselves.
You can also use onesies with mitten cuffs or sleep and plays with mitten cuffs instead.
If your baby is born in the winter or fall you may want some warmer mittens as well.
Socks
Order a set of 3-6, 0-6, or 3-12 month socks. If they fit big it isn’t going to be a big deal, but you want to get a set that will stay on as well. We love the Burt’s Bee ones here.
We are honestly always looking for a pair of socks for her when she isn’t wearing footed sleep and plays. Get one set of 4 or 6 to start with, but you might find yourself needing another set. Especially when one sock goes missing..
Tights
Obviously these are optional, but if you are planning on having your baby wear dresses you may want tights for when it isn’t quite warm enough for bare baby legs!
Booties
You do not need shoes for babies, although they are cute they can harm the way their foot grows. Instead, get soft booties like these that are a little bigger. These are another pair we have, and here is another option that is less expensive and very popular.
On the hunt for those super popular baby moccasins?
Bows
Optional: Order some different types and colors. We have a few different sizes and styles and the ones we ended up liking the most for our baby are not the ones I originally thought I would like most.
There you have it. Our baby registry checklist guide for baby clothing essentials. We know that buying clothes for your baby can be tough as a first time parent. You want to make sure you are fully prepared, but you also should make sure you don’t go overboard.
And believe me, it is easy to have too many clothes.
Just think of how often you do laundry, and realize you are about to start doing it more often. Start out thinking you will need two outfits per day, plus something clean to sleep in. Knowing how many onesies you have gives you an idea of how many outfits you have, if you plan on your baby wearing a onesie as a base layer. So, if you have 8 total onesies, you have 8 outfits, or 3-4 days before you are out of clothes.
And again, it is going to be a learning period for you. You won’t know if you have an expert mess maker or a baby that hardly even makes a mess.
But seriously, you can always buy more clothes if you need more.
Want to go to the next part? Here is part two of our baby registry checklist,