Happy Friday: Recycling Baby Sleepers

By Bryn | Operations Manager

Jun 24, 2016 @ 6:30 PM MDT

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Recycled baby sleeper

Sent from reader, Karen:

I would like to share my tip for saving on baby clothes. I have a 10 month old baby . He grows up super fast and we have been buying lots of baby clothes since his birth. Having a baby is not cheap these days and it can be wasteful with all the baby clothes piling up. So I thought of a way to recycle sleepers by cutting out the feet portion. My baby is really tall and usually the body part still fits while the feet portion is tight so I sew the hem of the cut out area and now they are good to wear for another month (hopefully)! This is a great way to recycle baby sleepers!

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onlinements 35

$avvy $am June 24, 2016 at 6:37 pm MST

I feel like this is such a genius idea. Why didn’t I think of this?! I have so many sleepers that my little one has grown out of. Great idea, thanks!

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chely June 24, 2016 at 6:39 pm MST

Genius!!!!

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Jamie June 24, 2016 at 6:48 pm MST

I do this because my little one has chubby ankles. I worry they will get too tight thru out the night. Great way to keep clothes longer!

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Queenmum June 24, 2016 at 6:52 pm MST

Awesome!!!!

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melissa June 24, 2016 at 6:54 pm MST

Great tip! I didn’t do this with my older kids bc I needed to hand them down to my younger. But with my twins being the youngest I did this to a lot of their sleepers and it definitely helped save some money!

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Wvwfufan June 24, 2016 at 6:55 pm MST

I did this with my girls!

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Ann June 24, 2016 at 6:59 pm MST

I try to buy ones that don’t have feet for this reason. It takes longer for the baby to grow out of them.

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Janna June 24, 2016 at 7:15 pm MST

I did that for my girls as well! I also turn their leggings into capri when they get too short..

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NanaMom June 24, 2016 at 7:25 pm MST

Awesome Idea! I wish I had thought to do that with my 3 children…. I have 2 granddaughters now tho & will most likely have more grandkids in future so you can believe I’ll be using this idea 4 sure!! Thank You for Sharing:-)

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CJ June 24, 2016 at 7:32 pm MST

Here’s a tip for when you first get them and they’re too big (because you wanted to get the most use out of them 😀). Put a pair of socks (one size bigger than hey take) over top of the footies so they they stay on…usually they are bigger than their foot and their foot slips out and ends up bunched up in the sleeper by the morning…this saves them from that!

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Heather C. June 24, 2016 at 8:08 pm MST

Omg! Genius! I wish I would have thought of that!

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Cinamom June 24, 2016 at 8:15 pm MST

I used hair scrunchies around the ankles of the footies to keep their little feet in them. They are tight enough to stay in place & loose enough so as not to cut off the circulation to their foot.

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Heather C. June 24, 2016 at 9:07 pm MST

Also a great idea!

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Kathy June 24, 2016 at 8:59 pm MST

Brilliant!

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sue June 24, 2016 at 7:40 pm MST

ok. I have thought about doing this before. but the part that always gets small is from the diaper to the shoulders. I am always swimming in baby clothes. getting sleepers at children’s place for $2. Does not make it worth it for me. I have 4 kids 7,5,3,8 mo. Time to clean and mow is soooo important. I miss sewing, crocheting, reading books (other then kid books). where does time fly. its funny how your life is altered by these little guys and you don’t even realize it. I remember when going to the amusement park was fun, now its fun just going to the store if a kid doesn’t have a melt down. I’m glad this idea to cut and hem works for so many. good luck.

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Maiamon June 25, 2016 at 5:33 am MST

Agreed Sue!! I just want to sleep in and my 6 & 1.5 yr old wakes up super early especially on the weekends 🙁

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saverjes June 27, 2016 at 11:02 pm MST

Agreed. They aren’t usually very expensive and once you cut them they are kinda ruined. Especially if they are zip up. I like to be able to pass them down to anyone that can use them (before I ruin them to get one more wear)

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Happymama June 24, 2016 at 7:52 pm MST

I never did this but as my son got older, I quit buying pajamas and would designate ripped/torn clothes as sleepwear. He was so hard on clothes and still is. I don’t think I bought pajamas since he was a toddler and he’s now a teen, LOL.

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Erin June 24, 2016 at 8:33 pm MST

I do this with my kids’ excess tees. Thanks to other family members’ vacations/trips, my kids have quite a collection of souvenir tees from (sometimes strange) places they’ve never been!

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Jen June 24, 2016 at 8:10 pm MST

I have 4 kids and all of them, in under a month somehow get holes in the feet and knees. I am not sure if it is the quality with Gymboree and Children’s Place the past few years, but I have to cut mine just to get any use out of them:(

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Jen June 24, 2016 at 8:14 pm MST

I totally don’t sew mine. I barely have time to breathe anymore. Lol

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Erin June 24, 2016 at 8:30 pm MST

I guess maybe my feet were big as a child, because my mom used to split open the toes on my footie pjs when I was a kid.

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Steph June 24, 2016 at 8:45 pm MST

I make my two year old wear clothes when they are too big, till the fit him, and when they are a little too small. He may look a little homeless at times but he grows too fast! Haha!

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tipaye June 24, 2016 at 8:56 pm MST

We do this w/ my son who just turned 4. He always gets holes in the feet so we just cut them off. 🙂

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tipaye June 24, 2016 at 8:59 pm MST

I don’t sew the hem, I just cut right beneath the elastic. 🙂

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Erin June 24, 2016 at 9:05 pm MST

My four year old wears her baby dresses (12-18mo) as little shirts now, and they’re really cute! She is skinny like her daddy so things that are too short now still fit around her chest.

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Lisa June 24, 2016 at 9:30 pm MST

Great idea! I love the sleeper pjs. Only one of my kids wore them. I always look forward to Friday night for the happy Friday posts, thanks Collin!

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Kristen June 24, 2016 at 10:08 pm MST

We recycled our baby boy clothes by having 2 more baby boys. Your idea sounds way easier. 😜 haha

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Stacey June 25, 2016 at 9:54 am MST

Haha me too

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Laura August 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm MST

Lol- Doing the same thing, having a 3rd boy! Glad I didn’t do this with the sleepers, actually. Oldest had really long arms and outgrew that part first. Second one is chubby, they get too tight all over. Wonder what it’ll be with this guy!

With both boys now though, we use too-big t-shirts as jammies. So much easier during and after potty training!

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Momof4 June 24, 2016 at 11:38 pm MST

This is what my mom used to do when I was a baby! ☺️

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megan June 25, 2016 at 1:31 am MST

My baby is skinny and tall so she outgrows length wayyy before size. She is in 12 month length but 3/6 month sizes fit. This is such a great idea.

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charliesandwallysmommy June 27, 2016 at 5:40 am MST

This is what I do for my clubfoot baby. With his boots he can’t wear footed pjs and I didn’t want them going to waste from my other son.

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Jenna June 27, 2016 at 8:27 am MST

Parents did this for my brothers and I back in the ’70s and ’80s. So I carried on the tradition with my kids.

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T June 27, 2016 at 9:24 am MST

I added a piece of fleece to the bottom of ours after I cut the feet off and got another year of use out of them.

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