The decision to find out the baby's gender is a big one. If the decision is yes, a sonogram between 17 and 20 weeks does the trick. A sonogram technician checks out the baby's nether regions and determines whether there's a third leg (ahem) or not. In fact, nowadays, sonogram machines are so high tech (especially those 3-D ones) that you can see all the parts, whether boy or girl. Still, I've heard that prudish little ones who keep their legs firmly closed can make it difficult to predict gender with certainty. But, that's the exception. More often than not, a woman's uterus is like Bourbon Street - baby feels free to show off the goods.
Based on the pregnant ladies and moms I know (good friends, coworkers, acquaintances, friends of friends, etc.), the current and clear trend is to take advantage of modern technology and learn the baby's gender. But, of course, some do opt for the surprise. There's no wrong choice, but there are pros, cons and general considerations. I've previously written about this big decision (here) and while I won't rehash that entire post, below is a list I came up of some of the important considerations:
Siblings
Baby Shower Gifts
Mistaken Predictions
Names
Nursery Decor
Curiosity
Today I'm going to focus on item number two. Specifically, how gender affects the gifting of baby clothes. When gender is known, people tend to gift the mom-to-be with baby clothes. It can't be helped given all the adorable baby girl and baby boy clothing out there - pink tutus, navy overalls, princess onesies and sailor hats. When gender is a surprise, people tend not to gift the mom-to-be with baby clothes. It's avoided because gender neutral clothes are not all that adorable. Right? This is the assumption of most. This is (was) my assumption. With this in mind, I made it my mission to find adorable, gender neutral baby clothes.
Let's start with a little quiz that I myself faced early in the search. Below are two adorable babies. Who is a boy, who is a girl? Are they both boys/girls?
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| Monkey Organic Jumper by My Little Pakora ($28) |
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| Towelling All-in-on by Mini Boden ($36) |
If you guessed that they were both BOYS, you're probably right. I have no way of knowing for sure (I don't know these babies personally), but both of these outfits are the boy version. I'll prove it to you with the girl version below.
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| by My Little Pakora |
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| by Mini Boden |
This first little experiment made me feel like gender neutral clothes were either going to be boy clothes that girls could get away with or vica versa. That discouraged me. I wanted to find true gender neutral clothes, not makeshift gender neutral clothes. My search continued and I think I found some winners. Below are the results. Let me know what you think.
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| Clockwise from the top left: Striped Duck Creeper by Carter's ($5.99) Seahorse Footie Onesie by Kate Quinn Organics ($38) Little Bundles 3-Pack Bodysuit by Old Navy ($15) Ocean Amigos Romper by Kissy Kissy ($34) |
Where have you have found adorable gender neutral clothes? What brands?
