26/09/2026
Nobody really warns you about the strange grief of packing away baby clothes…..you start sorting through a drawer because half of it doesn't fit anymore. Then you find the tiny sleepsuit they wore constantly as a newborn, the outfit they came home from hospital in, or that ridiculously small vest you remember thinking looked huge on them.
Suddenly, what should be a simple job of sorting clothes into piles feels surprisingly emotional. Keep, donate, sell, pass on. But sometimes you're just not quite ready to put something in any of those piles.
I think there's something about baby clothes that makes you realise just how quickly everything is changing. When you're living through the sleepless nights, endless feeds and nappies, people constantly tell you how quickly it goes. At the time, it doesn't always feel quick.
Then one day you're holding a newborn sleepsuit that doesn't come close to fitting them anymore.
There can be a strange sort of grief in that. Not because you aren't excited about the child they're becoming, but because you're quietly saying goodbye to a version of them you'll never meet again.
And it can bring up all sorts of other feelings too. Maybe this is your last baby. Maybe you're unsure whether you'll have another. Maybe the newborn stage was incredibly difficult and those tiny clothes bring back memories you weren't expecting. Or maybe you simply can't believe the little person in front of you was ever small enough to fit inside them.
So if you've got a bag of baby clothes sitting somewhere because you can't quite bring yourself to sort through it yet, I completely understand. Sometimes parenting is being incredibly proud of who they're becoming while simultaneously missing who they were.
Anyone else find sorting out the baby clothes far more emotional than they expected? Shout out to my groups who will be inundated with baby clothes and tears on Monday :)
