I am very limited in stores to buy baby clothes. Looking around online I am finding some cute outfits but have no idea how to figure out sizes... Emma is almost 8 mos, 20-21 lbs and 26-27 inches long. However I see sizing charts like this.

12 mos 18.5-20 lbs 28-30.5 inches
18 mos 20.5-24 lbs 31-32.5 inches
24 mos 24.5-27 lbs 33-34.5 inches

So do I go by age? weight? Inches? Or is this all going to vary by the brand?

This is more of a vent but why do they list sizes by something like 6 mos but then size it for 3-6 mos? I did not realize this until she had outgrown most of her 3-6 mos clothing that I had put away because they all said 6 mos. I pulled them out when she was about 5 mos.

I just always had to guess. Or try it on her and if it didn't fit we either returned it or saved it for later. It's kinda a pain. :silly:

For my kids, they are on the long side, so I usually go by the inches measurement. If they were rounder, I would go by the pounds measurement.

I agree that it's a total PITA the way they size baby stuff. It was probably invented by the same people who size women's clothing.

You can't really go by sizing charts, unfortunately. Rebekah is 28 months old and she's 37 lbs and 37 inches tall. At 24 months, all her 24 month clothes were too small. There's no way she would have worn a 24-month size based on the chart you posted. We are only buying 4T stuff now.

I'd just start by getting the next size up. I'd buy Emma 12 months stuff now to last this whole summer. If you start to notice that some brands run large and others brands are sized smaller, then you can buy things based on that.

In my experience - Old Navy stuff is always too small/too short/too tight for Rebekah. Generics/Walmart/Target brands are always on the larger side. TCP and Carter's are in the middle.

I go by length because Katie is so long. Unfortunately this often means that she can't fit into pants because she's too slender for them--I put a pair of elastic waist pants on her the other day and they slid down to her ankles as soon as I had her vertical.

I typically go by length. But I also look at the weight if it looks wide, since all my kids are on the slender side.

I go by length because Katie is so long. Unfortunately this often means that she can't fit into pants because she's too slender for them--I put a pair of elastic waist pants on her the other day and they slid down to her ankles as soon as I had her vertical.
I also go by length, and we have the same problem sarah mentioned. There are some things where length doesn't actually matter though, like shorts, so then I go by weight. Basically though, my daughter wears all dresses (with a few overalls thrown in) and my son wears only those one piece short/shirt rompers and overalls cause my kids are both way longer than they are round.

This is more of a vent but why do they list sizes by something like 6 mos but then size it for 3-6 mos? I did not realize this until she had outgrown most of her 3-6 mos clothing that I had put away because they all said 6 mos. I pulled them out when she was about 5 mos.
6 months means 3-6 months, 12 months means 6-12 months, 18 months is 12-18, 24 months is 18-24, 2t is for a 2 year old, 3t a 3 year old, etc... But it never really works that way... Today both my kids wore 3-6 month gymboree shorts...DD is 22 months old and DS is 3 months old.

I try to go by weight and height.

Thanks to those who replied! That is about what I was expecting to hear. I guess the safe thing with Emma is to go with weight and if nothing else it will run big and I will learn.