by: Kirsten Hawkins

When buying baby clothes parents are suddenly inundated with multiple choices that can become quite confusing. How many cute and adorable outfits does little Bill or Hillary need? How many "Onesie" body suits are enough? For little people that grow so quickly there are certainly a wide variety of clothing options, how does a new parent know what to get?

To help settle the dilemma and answer these questions, parents need to keep in mind a simple "rule of three." Babies need three kinds of clothes. Clothes are needed for daytime wear, for going out, and for sleeping. The baby sleepwear will likely outnumber the other varieties since sleeping is what babies spend most of their time doing, but the numbers of each outfit will vary in direct relation to the number of times the parents are willing to do laundry.

Baby Daywear

The clothes you have for your baby to "hang around" in should be comfortable, easy to access for diaper changes, and simple. These are the articles that your baby will spend most of her time in and they're bound to get dirty. When the baby spits up, spews strained beets all over the place, crawls around on the floor, or does any of the other relatively messy and somewhat disgusting things that babies do, these clothes are going to bear the brunt of the abuse. As such, you probably don't want these things to happen while baby is wearing the beautiful Baby Dior outfit that Aunt Edna gave as a shower gift. The best clothes for these day to day needs are simple body suits with snaps at the crotch. Onesies are a brand name of these items, but the term has pretty much entered the language to mean any such article designed this way. You'll probably want anywhere between five and ten of these on hand.

Baby Sleepwear

Clothing for sleeping should meet some of the same specifications as the baby daywear in terms of comfort and accessibility. Obviously if you live in a colder region or it is the middle of December you'll want heavier articles than if you live in Phoenix and its July. Babies can still be messy when they sleep, but are usually nowhere near as messy as when they're up and around. In warm enough climates the same style of Onesies that are used for baby's daytime activities can double as sleepwear, but if the temperature is cooler you'll want heavier knit PJs or similar sleepwear.

Dressing up Baby

The outdoor baby wear is where the parents really get to shine. Here is where you can utilize the cute and adorable stuff that was given as shower gifts or that you just couldn't resist picking up during a routine trip to Wal-Mart. These items should still be examined for practicality, making sure that straps, snaps, bows and such do not interfere with diaper changing or cause discomfort to the infant, but you're a little freer to show off. After all, everyone wants to coo over an adorable baby. When the adorable baby is adorably dressed, the cooing is that much sweeter.