One(sie) Size does not fit all
Unfortunately we ladies are aware that a size 8 (or, ahem, solid 10-12 if you’re a tall drink of water like yours truly) is not universally a size, well, 8. We traipse from store to store and may be able to squeeze into more vanity sizing at NY & Co (small?! I’ll take it!) and struggle to shimmy into an XL if we dare darken the door of perpetually perfumed abercrombie.
and men wonder why we need hours and hours plus the support of other women while we shop…
Well, take this new mama’s – it starts young. Younger than you may think.
Bizarre sizing conventions start before your infant can even dare develop her fashion sense.
Unless you count Baby M being able to vomit all over the first Super Girl shirt I chose for her the other day I am the one left not only with the joy of picking what my little gal will wear everyday, but also the
frustration of combing through various sizes for her average month old build to see what fits.
Most parents accumulate baby clothes in a variety of ways, not unlike myself. I have blessed hand-me-downs, great thrift finds and beautiful new clothing from showers and splurges. Its not too surprising, but still an added annoyance, of size discrepancies from brand to brand, but
even sizes within the same brand vary by a marked difference.
My first personal example pits a Just One Year by Carters layette against the same size (0-3 months) layette from Circo. Without my trusty Home Depot yardstick you can see the yellow pajama’s on top fit my 10(ish) pound daughter just fine, so when I pulled out the cute striped number below I was dismayed to find it engulfed her.
Neither in the onesie realm, nor as we grow larger, do things get better or standardize; in my Garanimals versus Old Navy size 3-6 month onesies
both width and length fail to measure up.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not so dense to believe my daughter will look the same for 3 months. I’m a bit glad for the variety as she grows, but among the many things first time parents have to worry about, we also have to superficially wonder if our kid is a fatty or we are underfeeding them based on super weird baby clothing sizing.
I’ve saved the best example for last with two brand spankin’ new Carter’s short sleeved onesies, sized 3 months. Although closer in proportions the two onesies vary by an inch each way according to the super scientific yardstick method I used.
Is it because Chinese people are larger than Cambodians?
Maybe since the Chinese animal print onesie was ‘made with love’ they gave it an extra inch?
The world may never know, but it will keep mildly irritating me either way…
Don’t even get me started on the clothing marked 0-6 months. 0-6 months!? C’mon! Do those manufacturers realized babies double their size in 6 months? If the baby clothing industry needs input or baby models, you know who to call.
