Guides for parents
Straight answers, no shopping list
Honest guides to the practical bits of dressing small children, written by people who then had to work out what to do with the leftovers.
UK children's clothing sizes by age
What each size actually means in height and weight, how long your child will wear it, and why the label is only ever a starting point.
How many baby clothes do you actually need?
The honest answer is fewer than you think, and the reason is that the early sizes are worn for weeks rather than months.
Clothes for twins: how many, what size, and what nobody tells you
Why you shouldn't buy much before they arrive, why they might need different sizes, and the thing that halves the whole problem.
What clothes to pack in your hospital bag
What they'll actually wear, why the size you've packed might not fit, and the one thing worth doing that no list mentions.
Clothes for a premature baby
What the sizes mean, what works around wires, and why the thing that matters isn't size at all.
What do children's clothes actually cost?
Around £2,500 from birth to starting school, and the reason isn't the price of clothes. It's how briefly each size is worn.
Children's shoes: when they need them, and why secondhand is different
Almost everything a child wears is better bought secondhand. Shoes are the exception, and the reason is wear rather than age.
What size baby clothes to buy as a gift
Why newborn is the wrong answer, why "just go bigger" isn't quite right either, and the little sum that gets it right.
School uniform costs: what schools must do, and how to spend less
The rules schools have to follow, the second-hand provision they're required to offer, and where the money actually goes.
What is a children's clothes swap, and how do you start one?
How swaps work, why they work far better for children's clothes than adults', and everything you need to run one yourself.
Where to buy secondhand children's clothes in the UK
Every option, what each is good for, what to check before you buy, and the three things you shouldn't buy used at all.
How to get baby clothes for free in the UK
Where to look, what you need to do to get help, and the service most parents have never heard of.
What clothes to send to nursery
How many spare sets you actually need, the labelling that survives the wash, and the one rule that will save you a lot of heartache.
What should a baby wear to sleep?
Why the chart you're looking for doesn't officially exist, which one to use instead, and the check that beats all of them.
How to wash baby clothes
What temperature, what detergent, and whether you really need the expensive stuff. You mostly don't.
How to get stains out of baby clothes
There are two sorts of baby stain and they need opposite things. Three rules that beat anything you can buy, and the three that are never coming back.
What clothes are best for a baby with eczema?
The label that isn't what it sounds like, why overheating matters as much as texture, and the cheapest thing you can do tonight.
How to store baby clothes for the next baby
How to pack it so it comes back out usable, and the reason half of it won't be, even if the next baby turns up right on cue.
What do you actually need for a second baby?
Almost nothing, it turns out. Here's the short list, what to check on what you've already got, and the mattress advice everyone repeats slightly wrong.
Dressing a baby for winter: what they actually need
Thin layers rather than thick ones, one safety rule about car seats, and how to tell whether they're actually too cold.
What does a baby wear swimming?
The nappy rule that catches everyone out, whether you really need a wetsuit, and why swimming kit is some of the worst value you'll ever buy.
Children's clothing safety: what to check, especially secondhand
Four things worth thirty seconds, one rule that changed and older clothes don't follow, and why clothes are still the safest thing on the secondhand list.
What to wear for potty training
The clothes that make it possible, the ones that quietly sabotage it, and how many pairs of pants you actually need.
Toddler won't get dressed? It might be the clothes
Half of morning standoffs are about control. The other half are about a label scratching their neck, and that half you can fix today.
Maternity clothes: what you actually need
The four things genuinely worth buying, the ones that are a bit of a con, and how to not spend £700 on clothes you'll wear for seven months.
What to do with outgrown children's clothes
Every option, what each one gets you, and what really happens to the clothes afterwards.
What to do with baby clothes when you've finished having children
It's a completely different job from clearing out one size, and nobody tells you that. Here's how to do it without wishing you hadn't.
Nativity costumes and Christmas jumpers, without buying anything new
The tea towel still works. So does the pillowcase. And the charity behind Christmas Jumper Day would rather you didn't buy one.
Is it worth selling children's clothes on Vinted?
Sometimes. Here's the actual maths, including the bit nobody calculates: what you earn per hour of doing it.
NCT nearly new sales: how they work, and how to do well at one
What actually happens, what you keep when you sell, the trick that gets you both a better rate and first pick, and what to do in the eight months between sales.
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