The Baby Clothing Essentials You Actually Need

People go crazy with baby clothes. I mean, legit crazy. We know that they will wear the little things only a handful of times and we know we will reuse our favorite simple outfits rather than putting on the fluffy dress or the uncomfortable looking suit that cost a fortune. But we can’t help ourselves. The little things are adorable and, especially with our first, we go overboard.

I did.

But with my first I had that luxury. My mom kept all my niece’s clothes and so I had so many hand me downs, my grandma is an excellent bargain shopper, and I had a baby shower. So the things I bought we’re the over the top outfits that I could afford because I literally bought nothing else.

And the same thing happened with my second, having all the hand me downs from older sister.

With this one, I don’t have that luxury.

I got rid of a lot of stuff that I’ve had to rebuy and I don’t have anyone to inherit clothes from and no baby shower (This is not entirely true, I’ve had a few baby showers but I don’t live in the states and the customs are much different here, no one gives you things they do a “cuota” but with my first I had a baby shower in the states where I go maaaaany clothes for my little one)

So this time around, I didn’t get to pick out the cute, uncomfortable, only wear once for a second to take a picture items. Probably for the best anyway.

And it forced me to come up with a list of what I honestly needed. Literally the clothing I thought I couldn’t live without. And I bought each of these things in each size from 0-3 months and up.  I got less in newborn because while my girls were tiny little things and lived in newborn until 3 months, I don’t think my little boy will be quite so little for so long.

Hopefully I won’t regret this.

Also I live in Ecuador and while some things are cheaper, baby clothes is not one of those things. $30 for a set of bodysuits that my grandma can find for less than $5. It’s ridiculous.

So what to do? I looked up thousands of baby essential clothing lists. Trust me, there is no shortage of these on the internet (and look at me, making one more) but I found that half the stuff I knew I wouldn’t use and needing to buy all the way up to 1 year at one time, I only wanted what was absolutely necessary.

So this is what I came up with. And honestly it’s surprisingly reasonable. This is the basics of basics. And only clothes, if you are looking for everything else you need for baby check out my What You Really Need for Baby post.

Newborn Clothing Essentials

1 Coming Home outfit: Full disclosure, I got two. One in newborn and the other in 0-3 months, just in case. Boys are big.

4-7 Bodysuits (aka oncies): These are pretty inexpensive so if your baby doesn’t end up even using newborn clothes, you won’t be out a whole lot. And while you can go ahead and just use the 0-3 month size, I’d rather the clothing fit snuggly. Poor little thing just came into the world where he’s uncomfortable 90% of the time. At least get the clothing to fit right. Or that’s how I rationalized it.

1-2 pants: I only got one. The coming home outfit came with a pair and I got a second on its own. I don’t normally put pants on. I mean, on the baby…

2 Pajamas/Sleepers: This was a tough decision for me. Babies, or at least my babies, spend day in night in these things and two could mean having to do the laundry every single day but I also didn’t want to get so many for just a couple of weeks. If I have to use some 0-3M, so be it.

2-3 Hats: Gotta keep those little newborn heads warm

Pack of Socks: I got one pack of 4 socks for the newborn stage. I don’t buy gloves and will use the socks for this purpose too if needed.

And that’s literally all I got in the newborn size. We’ll see in a few weeks if it will be enough for my little one. For the rest of the sizes I got basically the same items (I added just a few) but more quantity because normally they will spend more time in the bigger sizes.

0-3 Months & Up Essentials

 7-10 Bodysuits: My babies have lived in these. Honestly I don’t think you can ever have too many. I used at least two a day, most days more. And they aren’t expensive so I didn’t have a problem getting the higher end of the recommended amount. I also don’t want to live doing laundry, so there’s that.

2-3 Pants: Most days I didn’t bother with pants, only on days when I was leaving the house

1 Sweater/Jacket: For babies under 6 months I like sweaters because they don’t have hoods and I feel like laying on the hood for a baby is super uncomfortable. After 6M I like the jackets because they are cuter but still the sweaters work better in a car seat also because of said hood. –

4-7 Pajamas/Sleepers: I suggest getting as many of these as you can afford to. They are comfortable and can be either lightweight cotton or warm fleece depending on the weather in your area. They are perfect for laying in the crib, crawling around, in the car seat. Seriously, these are the best. Some people love the snap ones because they say you don’t have to undo the whole thing for a diaper change but I 100% prefer the zip up. I always messed up the snaps and had to go back and find where and resnap. It was annoying. Go for the zip up. I got 4 but I had to buy four different sizes at once so that was limiting. Ideally I’d like 7.

Special Buys

Most of these I haven’t bought because I either don’t need it or want to wait.

Winter Coat/Bunting: We don’t have winter so I didn’t worry about this but I know that’s not the case for most people.

Swim Wear: I know we are going to the beach when he is 5 months old but my mom is coming for a visit then so by that time I’ll know what size he’ll need. Right now I have no clue.

Hats: Either a beanie for winter or a sun hat for the cold. I’ll buy this here eventually but for now the little newborn hats will work just fine.

Socks: I bought a set of 6-12 months.

Shoes: I haven’t bought any because I don’t put shoes on babies until they are learning to walk. And I’m not sure what size his feet will be at that time so this is another wait and see item.

What I’m not buying

I found some things on several websites that I feel the need to put out there because it was on so many of the other websites but I am not fond/don’t think they are necessary

Gowns: Some people swear by them for sleeping because you supposedly just lift up the gown and change the diaper but I used one with Emily a few times and it was always getting bunched up and it just seemed super uncomfortable so I never even tried it with Ellie.

Baby Mittens: These always fell off. ALWAYS. I used socks and they worked much better.

And that’s it my friends. Is there anything I’m missing? (Oh, God, I hope not. It’s a little late if there is!) What would add/take off? Leave it for me in the comments.