Rant: sexism on baby products

[Anonymous]

OK, so I went out today to start our wish list for baby #1. DH and I agreed on not knowing the sex of the baby 'till birth.
What a surprise when I started looking for items to scan and realized that I couldn't find ANYTHING that didn't have girlie appeal or the very masculine look to it.
Do they still make stuff that can look cute for both boys and girls?
Where do I find it?
I don't mind waiting till baby comes to buy gender specific clothes/shoes and other little stuff but stuff like stroller, car seat, pack n play we want to be able to use again once we decide it's time to have another kid.
By the way, I went to Babies R Us.
ARGH!

[Anonymous]

Try Buy Buy Baby?

We didn't find out the gender, and usually in the under 12 month sizes, you can find a few things that are gender-neutral. After 12 months, forget it!

Or JCPenney? I found some stuff there.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

You're not finding gender neutral stuff for strollers, car seats, & pack n play? Honestly, did I read that right? If so: Really???

[Anonymous]

There are definitely gender neutral items out there. Try the store web sites if you don't see it in stores. Yes, it can be frustrating. In good news, there isn't much you need before the baby is born - car seat and somewhere to sleep - the rest you can find after the kid arrives. If you want to use it for second child, it can be a struggle to find neutral everything.

[Anonymous]

Definitely agree that finding gender neutral was TOUGH.

Honestly, the best way to do, especially for gear, is online. Go to the store to check out the actual equipment, and then look online to find gender neutral patterns. For instance, we decided to go with the Graco SafeSeat - I looked on Graco's site to find the available patterns, then after selecting one used the option to show me which stores carried that pattern (turned out to be Walmart.) For strollers I thought gender neutral was a bit easier - our jogging stroller is black/tan, and our main stroller is green.

Another good place for gender neutral gear would be Ikea - they do have a few real pink / blue items, but they also have a lot of gender neutral furniture / textiles / etc. - and all at great prices.

For our bedding/window treatments, we actually went PBKids. While most of their stuff is pretty gendered, they do have a few really cute gender neutral patterns - more if you don't consider having any blue to be really gendered.

And good luck. We did find out the gender, but still wanted to go gender neutral, and it was way harder than I expected.

[Anonymous]

We found out the gender but ended up liking a lot of fairly neutral things - we found lots of animal and letter decor things at Buy Buy Baby, BRU, and Burlington. Pack-n-play is green with an animal pattern, and we actually got a navy and light blue stroller and car seat, because that was the only pattern BBB had for the Graco SnugRide 32. I figured I wear blue all the time, so why can't our daughter ride in a blue car seat, plus we can use it for another baby of either gender.

[Anonymous]

I have a well-balanced boy that loves the color red and ballet and space exploration, could I have that on a t-shirt please?

I know, it is scandalously hard in this country, whereas in Europe nearly everything is gender-neutral (for babies, and for older kids, it is not just a sea of pink and sea of blue).

I really cringe when I go into stores - what do these designers think about raising kids, and what are those parents thinking??? I'm actually afraid nobody is thinking.

[Anonymous]

I went for green, yellow, beige and orange baby stuff.

[Anonymous]

Really? I registered at Babies R Us, and while the vast majority of things were vomitously pink and frilly (princesses!! ballerinas!!) or obnoxiously blue and sporty (footballs!! trucks!!), there was a small middle ground of green jungle animals and yellow ducks. We didn't know the gender (and didn't want to super-genderize regardless) and went with the green jungle animals. The line of crib bedding, accessories, etc., we got was Malawi. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HL2G72) We painted the walls yellow and got mostly cream-colored sheets. We got a blue and beige carseat and stroller from Britax (and later a red jogging stroller). Her (it was a girl!) convertible carseat is blue denim (also Britax). Our pack and play is navy blue gingham.

You can also check at Ikea -- their stuff is sometimes pretty gender-neutral.

Clothes are nearly impossible after the newborn stage, but for a while you can find things with ducks and jungle animals and dinosaurs... Once baby was born and she was a she, I also kept an eye out for girl stuff in colors other than pink -- so yeah, it was still a floral onesie, but it was red and blue...

I hear ya, it's an ongoing struggle, and the PINK OR BLUE!! PINK OR BLUE!! vibe is really obnoxious. But keep trying; you can have some success.

[Anonymous]

I didn't find it all that difficult but if you are, how about delaying purchases? When your child is born, all you need is:

An infant car seat-- Graco makes about 100 colors, many of them neutral.
A universal stroller for $60 to put car seat into
A bassinet or arms reach sleeper, which are always white or neutral anyway. Sheets for same. Get hand me downs if you can; you use these things for a short time.
Baby undershirts with the ties at the side to protect the navel as it heals
Diapers, wipes, butt cream
Some kind of bunting to get the baby outside. Lands End sells them in many colors. Red is neutral, so are green, yellow, purple, and white.
A hat. See above.
Diaper bag, which is for you and can be as girly as you like even if you have a boy.

It's amazing how much stuff we all cram to find before the baby comes, but infants need next to none of it.

Good luck and enjoy the new arrival, whatever gender it is.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much guys! I really appreciate the help. You're all so right, I guess I'm a bit overwhelmed... I loved the tip to search for the pattern and look for the store that carries it: I found the whole set - travel system, pack n play, swing and high chair in the same pattern!!! so cool!
Well thanks for the reality check and I'm glad to know that I'm not too crazy... yet

[Anonymous]

I know part of this is my hatred of Babies R Us talking, but for the big items, you might want to try Great Beginnings in Gaithersburg, simply because of their huge selection (particularly car seats and strollers). Also, for accessories, like blankets and clothes like onesies and stuff, I found Target had some cute green and yellow animal ones, or just green and yellow in general.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how this is sexism . . .

[Anonymous]

I don't get this. The only issue we had was bedding.

Do you guys think Red means girls and green means boys? I'm so confused. And yes I only registered at BRU & BBB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a well-balanced boy that loves the color red and ballet and space exploration, could I have that on a t-shirt please?

I know, it is scandalously hard in this country, whereas in Europe nearly everything is gender-neutral (for babies, and for older kids, it is not just a sea of pink and sea of blue).

I really cringe when I go into stores - what do these designers think about raising kids, and what are those parents thinking??? I'm actually afraid nobody is thinking.

I've found H&M has some nice, not too expensive unstereotyped boys clothes.