Bunny Victorious!

One of the weirdest things you’ll find as you start to buy baby things is that the size on the tag means absolutely nothing.

To wit: The Gerber’s newborn is the size of a postage stamp. The Carter’s newborn is a Gerber 3mos. The Carter’s 3-6mos is an Old Navy/GAP 0-3, and so on. Don’t even get me started on how Betti Terrill’s 3mos is essentially a Carriage Boutiques 9 mos… that one is just too much for me to handle. (I’ll post a helpful size decoder here later this week.)

Moral of the story: Baby sizes mean nothing.

Baby brands, however, and much to my chagrin, do. At least when it comes to the quality of the cotton material. We have a ton of cute little things in the thinnest cottons, and that’s absolutely fine for us since it’s like three thousand and four degrees all summer long where we live and the power is known for going out with a major summer beach storm. Kiddo will need thin cotton then. But for winters? In New England? The thinnest stuff may be worth avoiding entirely. 

Gerber and Carter’s are the super thinnest, no matter which way you cut it. This is depressing, because they’re the most cost effective. But maybe that’s why. Great for summer, so we’ll call it a win. I really like the Carter’s brand for Target, too, although I’m not totally in love with Gerber by any stretch - I’ve had a few Gerber things come apart in the wash pre-baby. That being said, they manufacture the absolute tiniest baby clothes I’ve ever seen, so I can see how for multiples and low birth weights, this is still the most awesome brand around. The Babies R Us store brand makes some cute onesies and the seams seem to be pretty good, so for the cost effective and diaper budgeting shoppers in us, that’s a win.

Thanks to my awesome friend Amy, I gave Old Navy a shot even though my dad’s wife totally panned it for being cheap quality and coming apart. Amy’s theory: if it does all come undone, the kid’s probably outgrown it by then anyway! This is good news, because Jess suggested Gymboree and I can’t help the fact that their outfits look completely ridiculous to me.

Yeah… no. I think we can all agree that I’m the least likely person to put my newborn in newborn-sized jeans.

And a flannel.

And are those dog socks? And a denim bucket hat? 

Guys, I don’t want my kid to kill me in my sleep.

But Old Navy makes some super cute comfy baby wear for around the house.

Their cotton is very, very soft, and very thick. It also came out from the washer and dryer super comfy feeling… like a tee-shirt we’d want to put on our whole body. Win-win for the kid who has to.

GAP is also - much to my wallet’s sadness - really high quality. In good news, though, it’s also really cute! They have the cutest onesies around.

Iz a little french bebe! So cute mais oui?

Hunter has this and a little matching hat and I just die over the cuteness.

I’ve also been really, really happy with Sage Creek Organics. Like Old Navy and GAP, their baby stuff isn’t in a “slim and narrow” cut but a rather roomy cut for a nice little baby belly. 

The seams are stitched very smoothly and the cotton is thick and soft, as are those from Toffee Moon, which runs a bit small. Toffee Moon is an British company, but they ship to the US and occasionally appear on Zulily.  

Hunter has a 3-6 month light blue playsuit from Toffee Moon that is pale blue with little stars all over it and has pretty pintucks over the chest, but when you hang it up next to the Old Navy and GAP stuff you realize it’s the same size as their 0-3. It’s super cute, though, and I’m very pleased with the quality. We’ll see when it actually fits.

I’m also really in love with Sweet Peanut organics, and they’re on Zulily today at half off!

Look at those little Eiffel Towers!

And those stripes! They have a lot of big, bold Merrimekko-like prints in whites, navies, and reds, and a lot in cute, colorful pastels. I like the classic colors, though - there’s nothing as cute as a baby in stripes.

Except a baby in a bubble, which is the cutest thing of all. (More on that tomorrow!)

What baby brands have you found that are soft, sweet, and too cute for words? Any to add?