It has come to my attention, through many failed spending sprees, that there’s often a lot of – what shall we call this? – flexibility when it comes to baby clothing sizes. Babygrows that come up tiny in one high street brand but, if you pop over the road to another, are so big in comparison that they’d probably last an extra year. Pretty sleepsuits from bijoux companies that are so short in the legs you need to buy two sizes up, basic leggings from supermarkets that are so lengthy they would most likely fit Gisele…

Last week I came back from town with a few things from Baby GAP and H&M and the knitted leggings I have from H&M are almost twice as long in the leg as the GAP ones! Same size! Same baby!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’ve decided to start a little directory. I’m a little late to the party with Angelica, hence starting at 12-18 months, but when New Baby* arrives (*forever to be known as) I will start again from “Newborn”, “0-3 Months” and so on. Basically I’ve measured the sleepsuits and babygrows from popular baby brands and recorded my findings in The Baby Clothing Size Directory. So if you’re online and in any doubt as to whether your extra-tall-and-lean or gorgeously-plumptious-and-short baby will fit into something, you can double-check the pages in the directory!

It’s actually just a good excuse to look at a load of pretty sleepsuits, but hey. Please note that I couldn’t do every single brand out there, I only have one body and brain, and that length measurements are from the back of the neck down to the ankle, to take into account that some of the suits have feet attached and some don’t. Width is from under armpit to under armpit and tends to be quite standard.

Something interesting that I discovered, as well, which may seem blindingly obvious to you but wasn’t to me: comparing lengths of sleepsuits that had been worn and washed numerous times and then brand new sleepsuits from the same place showed massive differences in size. I mean huge. So I wonder whether some brands make the sleepsuits extra long to allow for shrinkage during repeated washes? I shall endeavour to find out.

All of the Baby Clothing Size posts will be here and I’ll add a category to the top menu bar on the website too.