Buying Tips: Newborn Babies
As the parents of a 4-year-old, and the aunt and uncle of more than 20 nieces and nephews, we’ve had a bit of experience buying baby, toddler and kids’ clothing, for personal use and for gifts.
We’ve put that hard-earned experience to work in choosing the brands that we carry here at Footy Pajamas LLC. In the next few weeks, we’ll tell you about our lessons learned and why we’ve chosen the brands that we have. If you have any buying tips or recommendations for products we should add, just let us know. We’ll post your thoughts in an upcoming blog.
In this first installment, we’ll talk a little about rompers and other products for newborns.
Over the years, we’ve bought lots of gifts for our nieces and nephews. And we’ve watched those same clothes get passed from family to family. Some wore out before the first child had outgrown them. Others are still going strong. Quality and care are what made the difference.
And we’ll admit it, we went overboard when our daughter was first born. We were given a lot of things for older babies, but not much for a newborn. So, we shopped (OK, Kim shopped). We bought way too many onesies and not enough swaddle blankets. We overdid the sleepsacks and bought polyester clothes (and tore off the tags and washed them) before we knew our daughter had eczema. Some of our choices were great, others just OK. We had fun and our daughter looked adorable.
Read on for a few things we’ve learned from experience:
• Some babies like it hot, and some babies like it cool. Figure out your baby’s preference and then dress her accordingly. Figuring this out early may help your baby to sleep. If you’d like to read more about dressing newborns for sleep, here is an article that may help.
• Layers are great. Little sweaters and jackets help ensure that your munchkin is neither too hot nor too cold. And, if the weather changes, you’re ready.
• Hats are a necessity for newborns on cold and even cool days. And, they’re cute.
• One-piece warm suits with hoods and baby bunting are ideal on cold days. Add a turtleneck onesie and cotton pants underneath for a snuggly warm baby.
• For newborns, snaps are better than zippers. With snaps, you can change a diaper without having to undress the baby or twist her in a weird way to get her out of a romper.
• Many babies have sensitive skin, making organic cotton a necessity for them.
• Wash baby clothes in cold water and dry them on a low setting (good idea for all your clothes. Paul taught Kim this). That way, they won’t shrink and they’ll last longer.
For newborns we’ve chosen many of the brands our daughter and nieces are nephews wore:
• Under the Nile: Soft, comfortable cotton clothes that last. Your baby won’t outgrow these overnight. I always felt good putting Katie into her Under the Nile rompers and bunting. My favorite when Katie was a baby was their frog footie, which they don’t carry anymore. It was made of fleecey cotton that made me want to squeeze her every time she wore it.
• Zutano: The products from Zutano are fun! The prints are bright and colorful and the coordinating hats and jackets keep babies warm and cute at the same time. I was sad when Katie outgrew their rompers. My favorite today is Zoo Crew.
• Green Babies: Fun prints and nice stretchy cotton. As newborns become babies, the rompers are wonderful. And, the baby baby baggies are super snuggly warm. Again, I was sad when Katie outgrew their rompers at around 24 months (unlike many products, Green Babies run true to size).
• Sckoon: I didn’t find Sckoon until Katie was a toddler. I wish they’d been around when she was a baby. Their cotton kimonos and body suits are delicate in their design and a soft to the touch. And, the attention to detail in their products is hard to match. Snaps never touch baby skin. The elastic on the booties is just tight enough to keep them on without pinching. Ties on many of the kimonos on are the sides. What more could you ask for?