The Magic Of Bamboo Onesies
When we found out we were going to have a SECOND baby girl, my husband and I were thrilled. First, we were excited to continue on as girl parents (boys scared us). Secondly, think of all the money we would save! We already had all of the pink toys, floral sheets, pink sippy cups, and any other girly baby item you can think of, all decked out with rainbows, unicorns, and butterflies. The timing of our daughters’ birthdays was perfect too. Our oldest was an October baby, and our youngest would be born in early November. We already had SLEWS of girl-baby clothes, and the seasons were going to line up perfectly.
We weren’t going to have to spend a dime on baby clothes! Lucky us!
WRONG. Our adorable, squishy second-born daughter grew A LOT faster than our oldest ever did. Within a month, our newborn baby had blown through all of our hand-me-down winter clothes and was needing 6 month-size outfits. All the baby clothes we had left were for spring and summer! We were literally out of clothes and I was panicking. We needed winter clothes, pronto!
For Christmas, the baby received a fresh stash of baby pajamas. We were relieved that our pajama stash was replenished and we wouldn’t need to go shopping again for a while (wrong again).
Our chubby babe enjoyed the cotton pajamas for only a couple of weeks before I had to transfer them to the donate pile.
A couple more months went by, and our growing girl had filled up yet another huge Tupperware container with clothes she had outgrown. (Our pediatrician said maybe my breastmilk was just really thick? We still don’t know.)
Even though the baby was blowing through all of the regular cotton pajamas, she continued to fit into the pairs of silky, soft, pajamas my mom had gotten her for Christmas. I was so confused. One day, I grabbed a pair of the pjs and said out loud, to no one in particular, “What are these made of?!?” I checked the tag.
Viscose bamboo. Hmm.
I googled “viscose bamboo.” Turns out, bamboo fabric is some kind of magical fabric that grows WITH your child. It has a much longer wear life than traditional cotton clothes. Bamboo clothes are usually more expensive, but the cost per wear is extremely reasonable when you consider how much wear each item of clothing gets.
Our daughter did not grow out of those bamboo pajamas she got for Christmas until the following AUGUST. The magical bamboo stretched and stretched with her, and lasted 8 solid months before needing to be retired. I actually stopped buying cotton pajamas for her altogether. I found several viscose bamboo brands, shopped the sales, and found less expensive onesies on Amazon as well. For our rapidly growing girl, bamboo onesies were the only choice that made sense to prevent us from going bankrupt on baby pajamas!
Another perk to bamboo fabric is that it is very light and breathable – perfect for babies in our Louisiana heat. Some styles have no feet or “convertible feet” AKA built-in footies that can be flapped on or off. The lack of feet in the jammies gives the bamboo onesies even more wear.
After the discovery of bamboo fabric, our donate pile got smaller and smaller, and our girl is able to enjoy her comfy jammies for much much longer!
