This is a question we’ve seen many times on British baby forums like mumsnet and netmums, and it’s a topic we feel frustrated about too. In fact it wants to make us wail like a teething 8 month old baby. Why can’t there be a standardised baby clothing system in the UK?! Why make it at all complicated?!
We don’t know the reason for this but unfortunately baby clothing sizing varies from one manufacturer to another in the UK: NICU baby, Premature Baby, Tiny Baby, Early Baby… and although the sizing is fairly similar between the manufacturers and retailers it’s not entirely consistent and many terms are interchangeable.
In continental Europe a baby clothing sizing system does exist that uses numbers, and it’s quite straightforward, but it’s not mandatory and typically used by central European countries but not others.
So what size are ‘Tiny Baby’ clothes?
The phrase ‘tiny baby clothes’ received hundreds of searches on Google per day and we suspect that many of these people are actually looking for clothing smaller than the typical high street ‘premature baby clothes’ size. I mean ‘Tiny’ means really really small right! But not in the world of premature baby clothing. Tiny Baby Clothes usually actually means babies born a little early or small; babies weighing roughly 4-7lbs.
This is true of our very own Tiny Baby Clothing collection, and we try and make that as clear as possible by adding (4lb-7.5lb) after the Tiny Baby wording, and within each Tiny Baby product we reiterate the size of baby it’s suitable for.
We're not big fans of Tiny Baby as a description for this category, but by following what most manufacturers do we try to make it less complicated.
So is the Premature Baby Clothing size different to Tiny Baby Clothing size?
Often not! Many brands use the term Premature Baby Clothes when producing or listing baby clothes that are suitable for 4lb-7b babies, and often they don’t make the sizing as clear as it could be.
Our Premature Baby clothing size is for babies 1.5lb-4lb, with each product page showing the sizing information. It’s true to say that many babies in the 4lb-7b size range will be premature babies, as the definition of a premature baby is one born before 37 weeks, but we decided to dedicate our premature baby clothing collection for babies born very early and small.
Summary
If you’re looking for clothes for a baby that is 4lb-7.5lb you need our Tiny Baby Clothes collection.
If you're looking for clothes for a baby that is 1.5lb-4lb you need our Premature Baby Clothes collection.
