Baby blankets/bedding question

[mitzy81]

Thanks girls, that is a great help.
I don't have any 0000 clothes as of yet, but plenty of 000. I will get a few NB size but won't be going overboard. I like the idea of sleeping bags, they sound ideal. Bunny rugs, I didn't think of that, I am not due til 21 Jan, but am finishing up work on Christmas Eve, and I really don't want to be out in the after Christmas sales looking for baby gear. Time is flying, it only seems like yesterday I found out I was pregnant!

[Janie]

Definitely be organised before Christmas!!! You could have your baby by then, or not long after . Some babies just don't like to wait, so be organised and beat him/her to it .

[tenar]

I wouldn't go nuts with very small clothing unless you know your baby will be small. We started with a bunch of 000s (my Mum's advice), and DD wore those for a few weeks before growing out of most of them and going into 00s. Now (5 months) she's into a mix of 00s and 0s and some 1s (sizes vary considerably between different brands). Since the hospital shop will probably stock a few sets of small clothes, and assuming there is someone you could send to target to grab a couple of things if you really needed it, why spend money for things that you might not use ever. There is enough to buy as it is.

Granted, if your baby is very small you'll need to buy some smaller clothes for them, but newborn clothing is so simple (all-in-ones will do fine for ages), it's not hard to stock up on the tiny sizes if you need it.

Also, people will probably give you clothing.

We had about 8 or 10 changes of clothes in total at the start. Washing every day (cloth nappies plus she was and is still a spewy baby, so lots of mess), I never ran out. In jan you won't have long drying times so it'll be even easier.

We used a sleeping bag from about 1 month. It depends a lot on whether your baby likes being swaddled or not. They will teach you how to swaddle in the hospital, and many babies sleep a lot better swaddled because they can't throw their arms about when they startle, and wake themselves up that way. Ours hated the swaddling and could get out of it easily within about 3 weeks, so we gave up on that and put her into a sleeping bag. If you are looking at sleeping bags, grobags are great!

[Fleur]

I was given sleeping bags, but have never used them,. We had a short winter this year & I found that wrapping her in a muslin wrap, with another blanket over the top has been plenty. She is 8 weeks now & I still wrap her to go to sleep, (although she generally pulls her arms out now) and I put another light bunny rug over her & tuck it in quite tightly at the sides & bottom. We sleep with the ceiling fan on & it's not too warm yet for two light wraps.

Clothing... I agree with Tenar... I think it's better to have mostly mid-size clothing such as 000 - if you have a small baby they will grow into it, but they don't shrink if you buy too small clothing!
I also waited until she was born to take the tags off everything we had bought & been given, DH had instructions on how to wash everything while we were in hospital.
Keep in mind too your baby is due in summer, he or she probably won't want much more than a singlet & nappy a lot of the time.

HTH

[Snacks]

Where do you live? If the weather's anything like Sydney, I suggest that if bubs is going to be born in January you'll not need to buy any blankets. Or maybe just one in case you get a freak cold night. (Depending on where you are, of course...) For the cooler summer evenings a flannelette wrap does just fine over a muslin one. Then, once the weather starts to cool down you'll know what you need (i.e. you'll know if you're going to transition to a sleeping bag or if you are still wrapping then you'll know you want a couple of blankets then).
And 20-30 growsuits?!? Only if you're planning to wash once every 3 weeks, LOL! Phoebe isn't a chucky baby, so we got by on about 5. And my DD who was born in December didn't wear a growsuit til she was about 6 months old. Singlets are definitely the go for summer babies IMO (They're cheap too, so that's a big plus!)