How Many Clothes Do You Need for a Baby?

Many pregnant women find it hard not to add a million baby clothes to their shopping cart. (Little shoes! Top knots, please! Soft sleepers! (Do you get it?) 

On the one hand, messes happen a lot, so having clothes you can change into quickly can be helpful. On the other hand, babies grow quickly, so your child won’t stay the same size for long. So, how many clothes does your baby really need? Five or fifty bodysuits? Here’s how to figure out how many baby clothes you should buy.

How to Put Together Your Baby’s Closet

There are a few things to consider when determining how many baby clothes you’ll need to add to your shopping cart, such as the number of baby girl clothes in The Trendy Toddlers shopping cart.

1. Consider the Laundry

How many baby clothes you need to have depends a lot on how easy it is to do laundry and how often you do it. Our list of must-haves for a new baby is based on the idea that you do a few loads of laundry a week. If this isn’t the case, though, you may need more or fewer clothes. Here’s how to make changes:

• If you only want to do laundry once a week, you should double the numbers below.
• If you are going to do laundry every day, cut in half the numbers below.

2. What about the Sizes of Baby Clothes?

Sizes and how many of each size to add to your shopping cart can be hard to figure out because you don’t know how big your baby will be when they are born or how fast they will grow. Remember these things:

• Think big. Most newborn sizes go up to about 8 pounds, so if your baby is bigger than that, they may need to start out in 0-3 month sizes. (And if they’re on the smaller side, chances are they’ll only fit into newborn sizes for a few weeks anyway.) Choose a few things for newborns and then focus on 0–3 month clothes, which will fit babies up to about 12–13 pounds.
• Mix it up. When it comes to sizes, each baby brand is different. Some brands have more room and are better for babies who are bigger, while others have less room and work better for babies who are long and thin. Since you won’t know your baby’s body type until after he or she is born, try to mix clothes from different brands so you have a few options for how they fit.

3. Stay Organized

Small clothes for babies are cute, but they are also easy to lose track of. Organizing your baby’s clothes by size is the best way to find out what fits now and what you have in the next size up for when the time comes.

Drawer dividers are a great investment if you keep most of your baby’s clothes in a dresser. They keep everything in one place, even tiny baby socks, and can be set up by type of clothing, size, or any other way you want.

Check out closet dividers if you use a closet to store your child’s clothes. These small, sturdy hanging signs divide clothes by size (this set goes from newborn to 2T), so you can easily see what you have and are less likely to forget about clothes before they are too small.

Another way to stay organized is to get rid of clothes as soon as your baby grows out of them. Keeping up with this hard job will help you a lot when it comes to taking care of your baby’s clothes. Keep a storage bin (or two) on hand, so you always have a place to put them. Then you can decide if you want to keep them for the future or give them to someone else.

So, How Many Items of Clothing Do You Need?

Basics of baby clothes:

• 7 rompers or bodysuits;
• 3–5 pants;
• 2 hats;
• 5 sets of socks;
• 2–3 swaddles;
• 4 sleepers or gowns.

In the winter, add:

• 2 sweatshirts/pullovers;
• 1 pair of hand warmers;
• 1 coat or sack for bunting;
• 2 slippers or booties;
• Two more sets of socks.

For summer add:

• 2 lightweight blankets;
• 1 summer hat.

For fun add:

• An outfit for a special occasion;
• The rest of what you love.

You can always make the list of clothes more suitable for you and your baby.