Where do you start?

Buying baby clothing can be tricky business, especially for first time mums, there are so many baby dresses and outfits to choose from! I know I had a difficult time and made some blunders with my purchases along the way. Take advice from the guide below there are plenty of tips from mums on ‘how to buy baby clothing’ successfully.

1) What kind of baby clothing will I need?

Buying baby clothing can be a boggling experience, as your bump grows you will probably start to panic – ‘I don’t have any baby clothes!’ You will probably do what I did and start wandering around all the stores that sell baby clothes, baby furniture, baby gifts and so on. The choice is endless, this is where the danger lies in buying too many clothes for baby.

Too many baby clothes means your baby will only wear them once or twice (or sometimes not at all), babies grow very quickly and the next size up in that special outfit is needed before you know it! Leaving you with the cutest outfits ever, but no VALUE FOR MONEY.

The ideal way to buy baby clothing is to make sure you have enough outfits to get you through the week in a couple of different sizes, but not so many that you have overflowing drawers of baby outfits that haven’t even been unwrapped before your baby gets too big to wear them; or duplicate clothing that you didn’t really need.

Well, to be fair, duplicate baby clothing isn’t that big of any issue really, especially in the early days when baby clothes can only be worn once and usually for a couple of hours and all clothing needs to be continually washed and washed! In the early days make sure you have numerous baby dresses, bodysuits, comfortable playgro suits, and sleeping suits, basic tees, comfortable cotton pants, warm cardigans and coats or sunhats, depending on the season.

Before you buy new baby clothes check what time of the year your baby will be born, it could be around sale time, which is the best time to buy bulk lots of newborn baby clothing that you are going to need.

Once all of the confusion has settled you will have an exciting time buying your first newborn baby clothes, it is much more fun than buying clothes for yourself (honestly) – and then in time you will be having more fun when your baby grows out of that first lot of clothes, you will find yourself a more experienced shopper in the baby clothing department.

Sizes of Baby Clothing:

Sizes of baby clothing vary from manufacturer to manufacturer so we haven’t listed a definitive sizing guide here. Newborn sizes generally start from 0000 but this is actually quite a small size and unless you have a smaller than average baby, you might only get a month or two from this size. The best advice is to pre-buy in size 000 and then buy extra supplies in the 0000 size if you need to after the birth. Check labels for weight and height guidelines before you buy (average birth weight is 3.5kg). baby clothing tips

What to look for when Buying Baby Clothes:

wide necks, or easy fastenings to get clothes over baby’s neck easily

fastenings to enable you to remove and change a nappy without completely undressing baby

snaps / press-studs are easy, safer and quicker than buttons

no rough seams or uncomfortable material – natural, cotton, etc, is best

machine washable

check that buttons are sewn on well (baby could choke on little buttons)

no loose threads that little fingers or toes could get caught in

avoid ribbons and strings that babies can wrap around their necks

Hopefully this comprehensive guide to baby your babies first clothes has been helpful to you! Remember, don’t rush in a buy too many clothes before your baby is born, you can always buy more of the garments you need after the arrival of your newborn.

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My O Baby is delivering healthy clothing alternatives for today’s babies. The chemical and pesticide free cotton which comprises our entire line is certified by The Control Union which guarantees that, addition to being free of chemicals and pesticides, the materials across our clothing lines are organically grown. To ensure that My O Baby is creating the safest garments possible, The Control Union has also certified that the snaps are nickel-free, dyes carry a minimum of metal content and that the garments will not cause the rashes and skin irritations which typically result from conventional cotton. The importance of chemical and pesticide free baby clothes has been reinforced by recent statistics on the content of dangerous elements in conventional cotton.    

According to Lotus Organics, “Millions of children in the US receive up to 35% of their estimated lifetime dose of some carcinogenic pesticides by age five through food, contaminated drinking water, household use, and pesticide drift”. The most shocking aspect of this statement is that the children are receiving this exposure when they are the most susceptible to those poisonous elements. This dilemma is described in detail on Johnson and Johnson’s website where they state, “A baby’s skin is thinner, more fragile and less oily than an adult’s. A baby’s skin also produces less melanin, the substance that helps protect against sunburn. It’s less resistant to bacteria and harmful substances in the environment, especially if it’s irritated. Babies also sweat less efficiently than the rest of us, so it’s harder for them to maintain their inner body temperature.” A baby’s skin is also more porous, meaning that impurities can pass into their systems in greater concentrations. When those impurities are carried in clothing that can be in contact with a baby’s skin for hours at a time, the potential for exposure to toxins increases dramatically.  

One of the potential carriers for these toxins is conventional cotton, one of the biggest crops grown for use in clothing production in the world. The industry, by itself, accounts for $2.6 billion in pesticide spending each year. Because cotton is not a food crop, it is not regulated in terms in terms of pesticides, herbicides, or chemicals that come in contact with it. According to the EPA, 7 out of the 15 pesticides that are regularly used on cotton carry labels classifying them as either potential or known carcinogens. The unregulated nature of cotton production explains why despite using only 2.4% of the world’s farmland, 25% of the world’s pesticides and 10% of its insecticides are used on it yearly. That calculates out to one pound of pesticide and one pound of chemical fertilizer for each pair of jeans or t-shirt produced. The conversion of this unregulated cotton into clothing requires additional chemicals that are added at various stages during the process. These chemicals include petroleum scours, softeners, brighteners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia and formaldehyde.

Considering those statistics, it’s not surprising that organic clothing for babies is rapidly gaining in popularity despite being more expensive than regular cotton apparel. In addition to being a much healthier choice, consumers are finding that clothes made of organic cotton last five to ten times longer than chemically treated cotton. The longevity of organic cotton clothes is attributed to the abuse that conventional cotton receives during processing where the breakdown of cotton fiber begins even before being sewn.    

It might be more expensive and more difficult to find at times but organic clothing brings so many healthy benefits it’s worth the money, time, and effort to put your baby into outfits that have not been touched chemicals and pesticides. Indeed, by lasting longer than conventional cotton clothes, they’re sure to make great hand-me-downs as well.

Visit us at http://www.myobaby.com or email us info@myobaby.com
(925) 988- 0169