[stephdpenn]

I know that I am getting ahead of myself even thinking about buying clothes for our baby girl, but I can't help myself. Since we were DTC Friday and my agency is seeing referrals come in after 8 months it is my guess that we should get ours around Oct. We requested an infant ages 6-12 months. I know most Chinese babies are on the small side so what size clothing should I buy when I can't resist For those of you that have your children home what size did you mostly purchase? Or those with a shopping problem such as myself, what size are you buying?

Stephanie

[jekrasa]

I hear you! We were DTC on 1/4 and although I haven't bought any clothing yet, I am dying to shop. I was thinking of buying 12 month, figuring that would probably either fit or be a bit large (and better too big than too small). I'm interested in hearing what others are doing!!

[Momof2boysinOH]

Oh you girls have more self-restraint than me! I've been shopping for months! I could NOT resist all the Christmas sales and then the post-holiday sales. LOL.

We're requesting a baby girl 6-10 months old at referral. I've been buying 9, 12, and 18 month clothing...dresses, shirt/pant outfits, pajamas. I guess you could classify the clothes as fall-like because they're mostly long-sleeve but not very heavy. I have a few short-sleeve clothes. I have an entire closet full of baby girl clothes...somebody stop me!

[foxl]

I have a TON, already from older sister ... but I will tell you one thing -- you might all be ahead of me here, but what I did for T (of course it is easy to look back and laugh) who came home at 12 mos., 19" and 13 lb, was this: I bought 3 - 6, 6 - 9 and 9 -12 mos clothes! I left the too-smalls (which were few) at the orphanage. They probably were taken and sold, but that was okay -- I did not want to carry them back.

But that is not the dumb part, this is: I bought them all at a BABY store. That does not sound so bad, but when I got her home, she was a LITTLE delayed in the gross motor dept., but not much. SO, within a month, she needed TODDLER clothing!

She was tearing around, playing outside on a baby playground, climbing racing, and eating and fingerpainting with her hands, in this lovely baby clothing (mostly soft cotton knits, which seemed so practical at the time!) RIPPING AND STAINING the baby pastels. I needed more durable, colorful (ie stain-hiding) stuff, and more CHANGES of it, far sooner than I expected. Jeans (or double-kneed pants), tee shirts, turtlenecks. Wild prints a big plus!

So keep in mind, all those "dainties" for babies are lovely, but keep your baby's functional age, not just her size, in mind! You will need more practical clothes, and more changes, much sooner than if you were getting an infant! I keep editing this ... sometimes those "practical clothes" are hard to find in small-enough sizes, too!

HTH,

[CoatAnnHat]

I started shopping the day i sent our application in to the agency. The nursery is just about done and I have a dresser full of clothes. I have bought mainly 12 months with a few 6-9. OMG the sales!!These I bought long sleeve/winter clothes.I bought summer clearance items in a size 18 months since we are DTC 1/20 and expecting an October refferal also.

[Momof2boysinOH]

Originally Posted by foxl

So keep in mind, all those "dainties" for babies are lovely, but you will need more practical clothes, and more changes, much sooner than if you were getting a baby!

HTH,

Linda,

I agree. My boys live in either pajamas or sweats. Very rarely do they wear more formal clothes. I've just been waiting YEARS to have a little girl to put a dress on, but I would say half the closet has activewear and the other half is dressy.

I also know now as an experienced mom to toddlers that I HATE anything with buttons in the crotch. I also don't like jeans on babies because they are stiff and uncomfortable...you wouldn't believe how many outfits come with jeans. Finally, I stay away from overalls because they get unhooked constantly.

I'm sure other moms here have different preferences and the new moms will find out for themselves "on the job".

[foxl]

Mary, jeans were the only things that LASTED on T -- they were a lighter-weight denim, but still! I would never have believed a GIRL was this tough on clothes! I also bought some broken-in ones for her.

But I also received SIX beautifully smocked, seersucker outfits, which were beautifully-preserved hand-me downs. Some even had the tags on them, still ... NOW I know WHY!

I did okay with snaps, but NEVER buttons or velcro; OVERALLS? Forget it! Not jsut as they come unhooked, but, blowouts are a mess, and they are soooo quickly outgrown, while sometimes, with a skinny girl, long pants can become capris ... LOL! I found many lovely used overalls (and not just denim) at a shop ... and now after having bought a few, I also know WHY!

[thundrrds]

It's really hard to not buy ahead of time but in hindsight I wish I had the 1st time round. Mira was 18 months at time of adoption and weighed under 18 lbs. She will be 4 in April and she has yet to tip the scale at 30lbs.
Many clothes I prebought were never used. By the time she could wear the 24 month outfits with the snap crotches I was having to find leggings and other clothes that she couldn't 'whip off' in a heart beat and that included PJ's!!!!

Like some other mom's have explained toddlers often do a great great job of undoing any snaps on pants or overalls and if they're real active climbers/walkers it takes some figuring out as to what clothes 'work'.

And I too hate all those little buttons and snaps on outfits and trying to do them while Shona, our second daughter, is squirming all over the place (Shona is now 16 months old and nearly 22 lbs!!!) is challenging.

Also... if you live where there are big seasonal changes you may be 'off the mark' with guesstimates on what's going to work down the road.

That all said... I'd suggest talking with friends and getting stuff their kids have outgrown. Buying things like little onesies to wear under an outfit (for winter time), socks, PJ's will usually wind up being used. Leggings and tights will be used, as will sweaters or sweatshirts.

For our adoption trips I brought alot of hand me downs and then just left the clothes. It was nice to then shop once our daughters were with us and we truly knew their personalities, sizes, and what they (and we) would like them to wear!!! And by not overbuying in advance I was also able to determine what brands of clothes worked best for the girls.

If I wear to do it again, I'd prebuy less clothing and go for books, dvd's that are educational, and learning about different types of toys and getting ones that are multi functional and will have lots of life in them!

SOrry to sound so practical!!!! It's hard to not buy buy buy. But once you have your referral and actually have your child with you you're going to really want to buy things that go with her 'body type, looks and her personality!!

Joanne

[Lissa]

We got a lot of clothes on clearance and at second hand places for our trip to China. Once I knew her weight I knew she was going to wear about a 9 month size. Prior to that...I bought exclusively clothes that were 18 months as I felt that was fairly safe.

[stephdpenn]

I have bought some clothes already but very little and they have been so cheap that I knew if she didn't get to wear it then I could get my money back in a yard sale. I was mostly needing to know about sleepers and onesies. The sleepers are usually sized 3-6m, 9-12m and so on but I really didn't have a clue which size to buy. I also plan on buying her shoes while in China but would at least like to take one pair of shoes like Robeez (soft slip on type). Again should I buy 6-9m or 9-12m in the shoes.
I know how fast kids can grow. I just dug out some jeans that my oldest had worn, thinking that they would fit my youngest and they were already to small.
I wish I had someone to give me some hand me downs to start off with but my family has all boys. There is not a girl nowhere! That is one reason why it is so hard not to shop.
I don't have a clue as what size a baby girl on the small side would wear. I have always had chunky boys to buy for. In my agencies last batch of referrals there was one baby that was 7months old and only weighed 11 pounds. Heck my oldest weighed almost 9 pounds when he was born! I am so clueless.

Stephanie

[mom3boys]

I'm a little bit superstitious about buying clothing yet, but we had a weird experience the other day. My husband was shopping at target and when he came back there was a little pair of pink shoes in the bag. He swears that he didn't put them in the cart and really isn't sure how they got there! I wonder if this is some sort of sign, or maybe Mom had something to do with it. What is probably most likely is that our youngest (16 months) grabbed them as my husband was looking at shoes for himself. Maybe he is also excited about his sister!
I have to admit that I've been looking at the girl clothes, but am afraid to buy anything yet!
Marjorie

[venam71]

Congrats on being DTC. I hope that you have a quick LID!!!

[scottnmarsha]

Hi ladies,
My dh was told by my mother not to let me buy anything for the baby because they are going to throw me a baby shower, So of coarse dh has to listen to the mother and not let me get anything. Well I finally got him to let me buy a few outfits (size 12months). Our LID is May 20, 2006, We ended up finding our beautiful daughter on the November WC List, she is 22 months old and weighs a whopping 28 lbs. from what the papers said. We got the call yesterday for our TA and will be leaving at the end of February beging of March for China. We now have nothing for her except her bedroom furinture and crib sheets. The outfits I bought for her now is to small to fit her so they will be going to China to the orphanage. So what I must say to all you so you don't make the same mistake we did, shop until you drop and have a ball doing it. LOL Sorry story so long but I had to share it with you all.
Marsha

[mkinzie]

I'm going to a 1st birthday party for a little girl today and I bought her a very cute outfit for her birthday. I had a very hard time restraining myself from buying the same outfit for our daughter. My DH talked me out of it. I haven't bought any clothes at all. Mainly because we have all four seasons in OH. We were LID in Oct. but with the delay who knows when we will get a referral. I'm afraid to buy any clothes until I know her size. Then I'm going to go crazy! I LOVE SHOPPING! Melissa

[morsedonna]

I have bought a few outfits in 12 and 18 months. I must admit so far I had not thought of what Joanne had to say (good points) and I bought cute outfits that I dream of a girl wearing. I do have one very big plus, we live in Phx so she can wear summer outfits at least 8 months out of the year!! Hopefully she will get some use out of them.I also only buy on sale. Now I am getting a little more pratical and I have been buying PJ's in sizes 18 mo and up, fuguring she can always use them. I have also started buying more things like sippy cups, bottles, feeding dishes etc.