Should You Hang Baby Clothes or Fold Them? (With LOTS of Tips!)

One of the first things the expectant parents start imaging after seeing the positive pregnancy test is usually their baby’s nursery. They start planning on how to decorate it how cute the little clothes will be, but soon you have to tackle specifics like which clothes should hang in the closet and which should be folded.

If you have the closet space, hang as many of your baby’s clothes as possible. This will go a long way toward making it easier to find specific outfits, plus it’ll be easier to maintain the clothes storage system. It may look very cute to have all of your baby’s outfits lined up in a drawer, but it will be almost impossible to keep that way.

Read on to find tips on which clothing you should hang or fold, as well as tips on how to fold certain pieces of clothing.

Which baby clothes should you hang?

Most of your baby’s clothing can be hung up in the closet, making the search process simpler for you as well as your child as they get older. Not all clothing needs to be hung, but many types of clothing are easy to hang.

Clothes that are best hung up include:

• Shirts – Having your child’s shirts (both t-shirts and button-downs) hanging in the closet will keep them wrinkle-free and it is easy to flip through to find the correct shirt. You are also able to pull a shirt or two out to let an opinionated toddler choose what they want to wear then easily put the rejected shirt back without having anything to refold.
• Bodysuits – Searching for a specific onesie in a hurry while holding a screaming or wiggling baby can be challenging and often can lead to a disorganized drawer. Hanging onesies in the closet makes it significantly easier to juggle the baby while finding the one you are looking for.
• Dresses and rompers – This will reduce wrinkles and make it easy to pull the outfit out of the closet quickly. Both of these can be a pain to fold and you may also need to iron them (or possibly stick them in the dryer as I like to do) before your baby can wear them.
• Jackets, sweaters, and sweatshirts – Each of these takes up much more drawer space than the same number of lighter-weight tops so hanging them up doubles as a major space saver.

Other clothes, such as pajamas, pants, and even plain white bodysuits are probably better off being folded and stored in a drawer.

How to hang baby outfits

When hanging baby clothes, you should start by using the baby hangers.

There is no need to get the fancier hangers as the plastic ones work just as well and you can continue to use these hangers until your child starts wearing a size 8 in kids clothing. 

Once your clothing is dried, pull the clothes out of the dryer while warm then separate the clothing you want to hang by laying them out, right side out on a flat surface to help reduce wrinkles.

You can also sort them out by family members to keep the clothes in an organized manner.

Once everything else is folded, go back to the clothes you are choosing to hang and start putting hangers on them. While you are doing that, you can also sort them by type to put them into the closet quickly and organized manner.

Hang them in the closet and you are done!

Tips for hanging baby outfits

Hanging clothes is my favorite way to organize clothing because it’s easier to pick out an outfit. Even better, hanging clothes is much faster and easy for me than folding all those little shirts!

Here are some tips for how to hang your baby’s clothes:

• Sort the clothes – Lay them out as soon as possible after pulling them from the dryer just like with adult clothing. They will be warm and it’ll be easier to avoid wrinkles and creases. Timing is everything for both folding and hanging laundry!
• Organize by size – You will most likely have a variety of sizes at the beginning. There are cute hanging dividers that you can use to separate your newborn sizes from your 3-month ones and so on.
• Keep all the sizes of clothes in the closet – If you have the space, hanging all your clothes together from the beginning will make it easier to transition into the larger sizes when the time comes. If you have less space, keep the larger sizes in a labeled bin until you are ready to pull them out for use.
• Arrange your baby clothes by type, – Organize the closet with similar items together. For example, all the t-shirts would hang together, all the dresses, together, and so forth. Keeping them together will make it easier to search for the clothing you are looking for as well as put them back into a closet.

Which baby clothes should you fold?

While hanging is best for many outfits, not all clothes need to be hung up. There are some that it is easier to have folded in a drawer. These will help take up less space if you have limited closet space.

These clothes are better to fold than to hang:

• Pajamas – These can be folded and put into drawers since it is not a huge deal for them to become wrinkled in the drawer. Since you’ll probably have fewer pajamas than other types of clothing, reorganizing them will take less time compared to other pieces of clothing.
• Pants and shorts – Bottoms quick and easy to fold, making the drawer a good choice. If you have enough space, I recommend keeping these two separate so that it’ll be easier to find the exact pair of shorts or pants you are looking for.
• Onesies – These can also be folded and placed into drawers. By folding them into a small rectangle you can have your onesies fit neatly into the drawer. This way you can see the pattern and lessen the need to shift clothing around to find what you are looking for.

How to fold baby outfits

How you fold baby clothes depends on the type of clothing it is. Some pieces are easier and quicker to fold than others.

Here is how you fold your little one’s clothing into as small of a profile as possible.

Onesies

To fold a short- or long-sleeved onesie:

• Place the onesie on a flat surface, front face down
• Fold the onesie in half vertically (longways)
• Fold the arms in so that you create nice, straight lines on both sides of the onesie.
• Going from the bottom first, fold it up about ⅓ of the way
• Fold the top over about the same distance

Footed pajamas or sleepers

To fold your baby’s one-piece pajamas, sleepers, or similar:

• Button or zip the pajamas to ensure it doesn’t separate while you’re folding it
• Fold the pajamas in half vertically
• Fold the arms inwards
• Folding the feet up, as close together as possible, about ⅓ of the way
• Fold upwards from the bottom, bringing it about ⅓ of the way
• Folding the top down about the same distance.

Pants

To fold long pants:

• Lay the pants down on a flat surface
• Fold directly in half vertically
• Push the crotch area into the fold to create a nice, straight line
• Fold the pants in half
• After they are halved, fold the bottom up to about ⅓ of the way before folding it up again another third of the way

You can also fold the pants directly in half and call it a day if that works better for you.

For shorts, simply fold them directly in half vertically. When they are smaller, there is really no need for an extra fold since these are so tiny. This will change as your baby’s clothes bigger and you may need to fold in half to get that small profile look

Tips for folding baby outfits

Folding laundry for a baby can be tedious since there are numerous, tiny pieces.

Here are some tips to make the process go more smoothly:

• Organize the clothing by type – Pants, pajamas, and shorts can all be separated to help make it easier to find specific clothing without searching through each drawer. If you have to store two types of clothing together, get a drawer divider to help keep them separated.
• Keep 2-piece outfits together – Keep outfits that are matched together by folding them together. For two-piece pajamas that are folded, I usually fold the pants in with the shirt. It makes it easier for me (and eventually the kids!) to choose their pajamas without having to unfold everything or search for missing pieces.
• Have adequate storage – If your baby will be sharing a room with another child, make sure you get a dresser that is large enough to house all the clothing you want to store.

However you choose to store your baby’s clothing, organization is the key to keeping track of everyone’s clothing. Keep it simple for yourself and in a way that feels natural to you.