Baby's Apparel

Hannah received considerable amount of clothes as newborn gifts from our parents, relatives, friends and colleagues. And I noticed that many of them were designed to be worn for outings. Hannah seldom got to step out of the house in her early months and hence some of the nice dress clothes were not worn at all. And now she has outgrown them – what a great pity! (Don’t worry Ann, Hannah will get to wear your cute pink dress :P)

On the contrary, those who bought daily wear such as rompers had their gifts well utilised. They were the comfy type of home clothes which I would put on Hannah. Since newborn babies spend a lot of time in bed, the clothes they wear should be soft with minimal buttons and frills. I usually frown when I see buttons on the back of baby’s clothes because it will make the baby uncomfortable when she’s lying down on her back. IMO, buttons should only be sewn on the back when the baby can sit up well and walk. I was so bothered by one shirt which had buttons with rough edges that I replaced them with those having smooth edges.

There’s one type of baby apparel which would make a very good gift but might not appear as cute or pretty at first sight to those shopping for baby presents. It is pajamas. When picking up pajamas for Hannah, I usually get long-sleeved shirts and long pants that wrap up the feet. The onesies are cute too! Seeing a kicking Hannah all wrapped up in her jammies is happiness! :D

When it comes to colours for babies, you see the typical stereotyping in the merchandise. Pink is for girls and boys can have the rest. Okay lah, I think the unisex colours are usually white, yellow, orange and green. Purple for boys? Nah, ‘straight’ parents may want to avoid other kids calling their boy gay.

I’m not a big fan of pink. And from my own baby photos, my mother dressed me in red mostly. Perhaps that was the ‘in’ colour for baby girls of my time then. Since my teenage days, I prefer shades of green, white, purple and blue. But since having Hannah, I got fascinated by her pinkish clothes. There are so many pleasing shades of pink and not just that awful, plasticky, luminous pink that shouts ‘ME!’ – hee hee, can’t resist the urge to quote.

One of the fun things I believe mothers of baby girls would enjoy is dolling up their daughters. I do. But at the moment, there’s nothing much to play around except with her clothes. Hannah is still shedding her hair so no pretty hair accessories yet. She’s not walking yet and so no shoes too. Oh ya ah, I forgot to mention bags. Hee hee. :P