After Learning the Hard Way, Mom Reveals Everything You Need to Know About Baby Shopping

Before enduring the struggle that is giving birth, expecting moms will do as much as possible to prepare for the arrival of their new tot, but many will agree that no matter how much you try to prepare and shop, there's just so much confusion and many unanswered questions. After personally struggling with the insanity that is shopping for baby clothes, one mom just created the ultimate guide, so no one is driven "absolutely crazy" like she was.

"What did I need? How many? How do I sort it? How many layers should baby wear at any given time?" Reddit user longobong0 wrote in a post. "There are 'guides' but I never felt my questions were truly answered. My little man is 7 weeks and I've learned a lot about baby clothes."

Read on for all the incredibly helpful tips for shopping for baby clothes.

"The tags are bullsh*t," she wrote. "If you've begun sorting baby clothes this is the first thing you noticed. Some 0-3 are longer and thinner, some wider and shorter . . . So how do you sort your huge collection of baby clothes? Don't bother. Maybe keep it sorted by the tag but when baby is a week or two old you're going to go through everything up to 6 months and organize it into piles, 'fits right now,' 'will fit soon,' 'gonna be a while.'"

"Pro-tip: measure onesies against one that fits well when you're doing this sorting. Also Gerber onesies run exceptionally small. If you've got a preemie on your hands, Gerber newborn size will probably fit (and be easier to find than preemie size). My guy is a chunk but he's in 3-6 Gerber onesies — newborn or 0-3 in everything else."

"I know all the guides say that you should dress baby one layer more than how you would dress yourself," the new mom recalled. "This is a good rule of thumb, but if you're home and you're controlling your temperature, try not to worry. I was always worried he was too cold or would get chilly. Baby will let you know if they're too cold. Keep in mind that overheating is also a SIDS risk. 'Cold babies cry, hot babies die.'"

"I read in a guide while I was pregnant that newborns will have 6 outfit changes a day — spit up and other messes. OMG I thought, we need ALL THE CLOTHES! My boy spits up a lot so I undress him to feed and burp, problem solved. If I happen to not undress him and he spits up on himself then I remove said onesie, put it in the hamper and leave him in his diaper until clothes are necessary again. We spend a lot of time at home, though and I control my own temperature. I've never gone through even close to 6 outfits in a day. Honestly, receiving blankets make up most of my baby-related laundry."

"Many people prefer zippers for obvious reasons," she explained. "When it was cooler at night and my baby was still new, he wore a sleeper every night and was also swaddled. Now, I just swaddle him in his diaper. I preferred snaps because they often snapped in between and up each pant leg. It made middle of the night diaper changes a bit easier because I left his arms and chest covered which kept him warmer and sleepier. Unzipping him from the top and then trying to get each leg out without undressing him entirely was a bit difficult."

"Babies seem to hate diaper changes and hate being dressed/undressed. When baby was new and crying a lot, I tried to avoid things that I knew would make him cry. When I dress him, I bunch up the onesie so that I can get the neck hole over his head without covering his face at all. He seems to be okay with this. Also! Onesies have these little folds on the shoulders so that you can pull them down over the shoulders to take them off in the event of diaper blow-outs. These are also handy to undress your fussy baby when you don't want to make him fussier by pulling the onesie up over his head."

She continued, "Scratch mitts are useless, they don't stay on. Newborn socks work much better."

The mom added that it is definitely a trial and error process when deciding between onesies, sleepers, and bodysuits, "but you'll figure out your baby's comfort level quickly."

Because baby clothes were "the bane of her existence," this helpful mom added some reassuring advice to worried moms.

"You'll have your mommy instincts to guide you," she wrote. " If you're warm, baby probably is too. If he's fussy and you can't figure out why, toss a blanket on him. If he calms down he's probably a bit chilly. The guides online make it seem like there's a right and wrong — there isn't. Your baby is going to be their own unique little person with preferences. You just have to get to know them. You're well prepared for all possibilities and that's all that matters :) It'll be much easier than it seems right now."