Top tips for buying baby clothes

Here’s what to look for as you choose clothes for your new baby. Use these guidelines when purchasing baby clothes to avoid being left with expensive garments your little one wore just once.

1. Always choose one size ahead of your baby’s actual age

 Sizes can be on the small side and babies grow quickly. Most 6-month-old babies can wear clothes size 9–12 months, 1-year-olds wear size 2 and so on.

 2. Be selective when buying up-market babywear.

There’s little point in paying top price for vests, plain tops or tights, for example – just mix in cheaper options with some branded or designer items and your baby will be just as smart.

3. If you are tempted buy expensive clothing for your baby, consider whether it is good value for money.

Trousers and practical dresses may be worn enough to justify the outlay, but avoid paying top price for an outfit for special occasions – it might only get one airing. See if you can borrow a special occasion outfit instead

4. Go cotton all the way

A new baby is precious and so is a baby’s skin, so experts recommend that you opt for 100 percent cotton when it comes to purchasing for babies 12 months or younger. You can play around with blends later on, once you know whether your baby has any sensitivity. Check out the wide variety at Babyshop.

5. Think through the on-and-off process

While snaps, buttons, and zippers can be fabulous embellishments, they can also be frustrating when you’re doing a sleep-deprived diaper change or have a wriggly baby on your hands. Look for stretchy neck holes – the ones with envelope-like folds at the neckline are great for sliding over a sensitive newborn’s head. Snaps at the crotch remain a favorite for the simple ease they bring to changing a dirty diaper. Some new brands have magnetic snaps, which eliminate the chance of zipper jams and misaligned buttons on sleeper sets. Steer clear of overalls and similarly complicated items unless they unfasten from the crotch.

6. Opt for pants with elastic waists:

It may be tempting to get your little one a pair of blue jeans just like yours (with a button fly and everything), but it’s not so fun getting him in and out of those teeny denim dungarees. With jeans as with all pants, opt for stretchy elastic rather than buttons or drawstrings.

7. Think creatively about color

Not every little girl needs to be swaddled in pink fairies, nor do little boys need to be covered in blue race cars. Today’s baby clothes offer a huge range of colors and patterns, so you can have fun with the color palette. Consider aqua blue and purple for little boys, and shades of orange, aqua, and purple for girls.

Seek out inventive patterns and prints. Take a stroll through clothes intended for the opposite gender to see if anything there might make the leap. You’d be surprised how many little girls look fabulous in slightly boyish stripes, and how many boys can rock polka dots.

 8.Finally, you can never have enough white one-pieces

When babies are still in diapers and not yet walking, the white snap-crotch t-shirt is an everyday essential nearly everyone can agree on. It’s the perfect underpinning when your baby is all swaddled up, light enough so there’s no overheating and easy to get on and off. So stock up on a range of sizes. Bonus: When they get stained or stretched out, they can become great household rags or burp cloths.