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Washable Wednesday: Spotted Skirt Dress

Machine-Washable Work Clothes· Recent Recs

Loft Spotted Skirt Dress | CorporetteLoft has a number of cute things lately, including this spotted skirt dress, which is that rare mix of fun and sophisticated. I like the dark colors, the modest hem and high neckline — I think it would look great with knee-high boots and a chunky cardigan on a casual day, or a blazer and pumps on a more important day. And, of course, it’s washable (70% rayon, 30% tencel), and $69.50 full price, in regular and petite. Loft Spotted Skirt Dress Psst: Here’s a plus-size option.

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Sales of Note…

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

Kid/Family Sales

  • J.Crew – 40% off your purchase
  • Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
  • Hanna Andersson – 100s of new markdowns; up to 30% off Easter
  • Carter’s – Swim 50% off; up to 50% off sandals; up to 50% off spring break deals
  • buybuyBaby – Major clearance markdowns

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Comments

    • AEK says

      I have the maternity version, and I really like it. It’s comfortable and pretty. I don’t think the fabric is dressy enough for a structured blazer (it’s pretty flowy and not very thick) but it’s still great for my office. I wear it with a cardigan. And I think I’ll be able to winterize it too.

      • Anonymous says

        Oh, thanks for mentioning there’s a maternity version! I thought it was cute, but I currently need maternity so I dismissed.

  3. KJ says

    I have been having a really tough time feeding my 6 month old baby for about the last 2 months or so. When I try to nurse her during the day, she will eat for a minute or two, get distracted, and then get upset and cry if I try to encourage her to keep nursing. At bedtime and in the middle of the night we have no problems. I nurse her in her room with the lights low, blinds drawn, door shut to try to minimize distractions. I have also tried letting her hold a toy, with and without the boppy to no avail. I am at my wit’s end here. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Here is more detail, copied from an email to my friend, if that’s helpful.
    Right now I’m pumping 3x a day and she gets that milk at daycare. She gets a formula bottle in the morning, and then nurses before bed and usually once in the middle of the night. I usually try to nurse her in the morning and when we get home from daycare, but she will only eat for a minute or two and then she screams. On the weekends I’m pumping once or twice a day, attempting nurse every hour or so, and giving bottles of pumped milk and formula if it seems like she’s still hungry. She doesn’t seem like she prefers formula. She does fight the bottle for a little while, like she does when I try to nurse, but will eventually settle in with it. They don’t seem to be having any trouble with her at daycare. It’s just so frustrating because none of the “nursing strike” advice I see really applies to our situation. (“Spend all day topless, doing skin-to-skin and feed her with a spoon!” Thanks, La Leche League, that’s super practical!) I had hoped to start ramping down the pumping at 6 months, and instead I’m pumping more.

    • mascot says

      If I am reading this right, most of her trouble occurs on the weekends during the day, right? Attempting to nurse every hour sounds awfully frequent. Is she that hungry? Could she be teething and comfort nursing (a pacifier/teething toy might help?) Or is she just snacking a ton, which would explain her eating for just a minute and then being done with it. Perhaps try feeding her on the daycare bottle schedule/going a bit longer between feedings and see if that helps. Another thought is that is she’s had several bottles, plus any solids, at daycare, then she’s already eaten the vast majority of her calories for the day and really may not be that hungry.

    • (former) preg 3L says

      Honestly, that sounds a lot like what we went through when my LO was 6 months old. Her sleep got all out of whack, she would only take tiny feedings, and she would fight nursing & bottles & solid foods. I was home with her full-time from Aug 1-Sept 1 (so, about her entire 6th month because she was born at the beginning of Feb). She would take normal feedings at night, so I was hardly getting any sleep. We tried sleep-training, to no avail. I guess she just outgrew it around 7 or 7.5 months, because it doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore (and she takes 2-3 bottles of 6+ oz during the day when I’m at work).

      If I had to guess, I would say it’s related to their gross and fine motor development, as well as starting solids. So much is happening at 6 months — now, at nearly 8 months, LO is just starting to crawl (getting on all 4s and rocking, then pulling herself around by her forearms), really getting the hang of navigating food into her mouth (loves playing with her sippy cup), and trying to eat everything that DH & I eat! I’m interested to hear what others have to say too.

    • Carrie M says

      Do you know how they are feeding her at daycare? If they are letting her drink quickly, her frustration when nursing could be a flow issue. Maybe try some bre-st compressions while nursing to see if that helps, and ask daycare if they can do paced bottle feedings using a preemie or level 1 n-pple. You could also try pumping for a few minutes (or hand expressing) before offering the bre-st, so that she can skip the foremilk and the flow is already going a bit when she latches.

      That said, since it’s happening mostly during the day and she’s eating fine at night, it sounds like it’s a function of her age and wanting to discover/explore (or just not being hungry)….not a preference for the bottle or formula. I would try offering to nurse on the weekends in line with her schedule at daycare instead of hourly, so that she can spend more time playing/being active (and to reduce your frustration!).

      I don’t have any great tips to minimize distractions besides feeding in a dark room. It’s also worked for us to try feeding her after she’s been very active (which mostly consists of her rolling around, pushing up on her arms, etc – not crawling yet) – so she’s tired, but not so tired that she doesn’t want to eat.

  5. Anon says

    Posted this yesterday and got some help but could use more.

    I live in the middle of nowhere and am short. Basically all my clothing needs altering and to account for shipping time. Going to be trying to breast feed when baby shows up. Would like to get a head start on nursing clothing because of both shipping and altering time. Could anyone suggest some nursing clothing that is not horribly frumpy but still appropriate for work and casual things in public? Looking for stuff that is machine washable. Would like to order a box of stuff from one brand if possible. Not a fan of sleeves on dresses or tops (short T. rex arms). Thanks!

    If it helps my maternity clothing was new look and top shop. Sadly top shop only has nursing bras and new look has little for nursing.

    • KJ says

      I’m short, and all the nursing tops I tried were too low cut for me to wear out of the house. I just wear regular tops and pull them up to nurse. At work I take my top off entirely to pump. When I was home on maternity leave I wore a lot of zip-up tops with nursing camis.

    • Watermelon says

      Nordstrom has some wrap-type Karen Kane dresses that work well (featured on Kat’s anniversary sale roundup)

    • Meg Murry says

      I never bought any clothing sold specifically as “nursing” clothing other than nursing tanks and bras. For casual, I wore a nursing tank under shirts that I could just pull up or under zip up hoodies or cardigans. I also sometimes used cheap stretchy camisoles + nursing bra as a bottom layer instead of a nursing tank. Layering a black top over a black tank means showing minimal skin and is less obvious that you are pulling up your top shirt. Cardigans and zip-up shirts give good side coverage for nursing, and keep your arms and torso warm if you take off or pull up your shirt to pump. I also was able to nurse in shirts with low v’s or a faux wrap style if it wasn’t sewed down or a shirt with buttons down the front like a henley, but there was less extra fabric to camouflage the top half of my b00b when I did that. I was also able to nurse in dresses that had a low v with camisoles that I cut off to just under my bra – camisole up, pop b00b out of the v – but that didn’t work for pumping since you have to pull out both sides at once to pump.

    • Nonny says

      It sounds like you ordered from UK brands previously. If it is easier for you to order from UK brands, I had good experiences ordering from both Seraphine and Mothercare. Seraphine has nice, soft bamboo nursing tops, and Mothercare has good nursing br&s and camisoles.

      FWIW, I found that most days when I was on maternity leave I would just throw on a nursing camisole (sans br&) and a shirt (I lived in flannel shirts for a while – my baby was born in the middle of winter). So most days I wore a nursing camisole but not a nursing-specific top. That way I could stay warm and covered but had easy access for nursing.

  6. Famouscait says

    Looking for some guidance on how to balance/plan for baby purchases. I’m 34 weeks, and having my baby shower in 2.5 more weeks down the road. There’s still baby gear we need, but I’ve only attended one baby shower (as an adult) and I don’t really recall what kind of gifts people gave. Practical stuff from the registry? Cute snuggly stuff that’s nice but not essential? There’s a pretty good (from what I hear) used-baby-gear-sale happening this weekend in my town, but I don’t know if I should go ahead and buy some things there, or wait to see what we get at the shower… and then possibly have to purchase remaining necessities at greater cost. Thoughts? Budget is a little bit tight for us, so I’m trying to figure out how to be most cost-effective.

    • Pogo says

      I would wait to see what you get – people can be surprisingly generous when it’s a first baby in the family.

      I’ve seen people get plenty of useful stuff (I personally try to give useful, non-cute-snuggly stuff from the registry, like pumping supplies, baby nail clippers, etc), so if your registry wasn’t ridiculously overloaded with cute snuggly stuff, you might end up getting a lot of what you need.

    • Spirograph says

      What do you still need? I am a minimalist when it comes to baby stuff, so I basically got a crib, a car seat, a rocking chair, a trash can with a lid, and a dresser that doubled as changing table once there was a pad on top of it and called it good. I got huge box of nb-1year clothes from a friend, as well as a hand-me-down swing and baby bjorn, but neither of those were used right away.

      At my showers, I found that friends without kids mostly stuck to the registry items, friends with kids were more likely to get XYZ thing that they couldn’t have lived without when they had their kids. Apparently no one can resist buying adorable baby clothes/blankets/bibs, but usually a person would give 1 functional + 1 cute thing. Family chipped in for bigger-ticket items like crib mattress or an extra car seat base. Do you have a registry online? We were able to see, for example, that someone had purchased the changing pad and monitor for us, so we knew we didn’t need to get them.

      All that to say, I would hold off on shopping. Everything except the car seat can be purchased later, and there will be other sales when you have a better idea of what your gaps are. Babies really don’t need much the first couple months, you’re mostly buying yourself time between loads of laundry. My MIL says my husband slept in her dresser drawer until he was a couple months old, so even a crib/bassinet is negotiable! The hospital will probably send you home with essentials like a thermometer, nail clippers, diapers and wipes, a couple swaddle blankets and onesies, a little head scrubber brush, and baby soap.

    • Meg Murry says

      Do you have an online registry? Its kind of rude, but you could look to see if any of your big items have been purchased yet, and if not, look for them at the used gear sale (and then remove the items from the registry). Just go to the sales with prices in mind, so you don’t wind up paying almost retail for items.

      As for what kind of gifts you will get, it all depends on your family/crowd. My family will often get together and do a group gift of one of the bigger registry items like a stroller or pack and play, whereas other family members always crochet a blanket or buy cute clothes. And it also depends on whether your family is the type to purchase on registry and/or give gift receipts – if so, you will be able to return duplicates. My side of the family is very much a on-registry, gift receipt type of family, my husbands side is very much not.

    • Anonymous says

      Don’t forget to register on stores that will give you discounts once your baby is born or 30 days before birth. Amazon and baby’s r us do this.

      I got tons of clothing. Some people asked what to buy and I suggested things i thought were reasonable and told them to to ahead and buy them used. No one has followed up on that yet hut baby hasn’t arrived. It is really inconvenient since if they don’t buy them we will have to get them last minute and wont have time or energy to shop around.

      Don’t discount things people buy but don’t give you, mother in law got a playpen for her house and some other things for our kid to use when he visits. Also don’t discount cost of people visiting you and baby or helping out once baby is born. A relative is doing a week of child care for us that will save us over 1000 in child care since we would otherwise have to pay for the month- amazing gift.

      I kimda expect you will get cash and gift cards. Someone may even give money for a savings or education plan for baby. Those were the big things we got.

    • Lyssa says

      People were really, really generous with my first and mostly practical, even people that I never would have expected anything from. For example, one boss bought us a high chair and the other a nice swing (both over $100 gifts) just because, and family went all out. Plus, let it be known that you’re interested in hand-me-downs, too. A lot of people just really want to get rid of them. We wound up having to buy almost nothing.

      If the used sale you’re referring to is Duck, Duck, Goose, I wouldn’t bother (unless you just want to go look to get into the baby spirit, which I totally support). The selection is not great, the good stuff gets bought up right away so if you’re not first at the door, it’s mostly an expo of junk, the lines are crazy long, and, at least in my area, it’s become such an “event” that the prices aren’t really all that good. (Most of what I’ve seen there could be gotten at similar prices if you just catch the sales.)

      My overall recommendation is to wait until as long as possible before getting anything, and look for deals. All you absolutely need is a car seat and a place for baby to sleep, and even those can always be picked up by a family member while you’re in the hospital (the hospital will load you up with diapers, wipes, formula if you want it, and adorable tiny little shirts and hats). Basically everything else can be picked up as needed.

      Good luck with the rest of pregnancy!

    • Msj says

      If you have registered at a store with a generous return policy, I would suggest picking up some essentials second hand from the sale and if you get a duplicate new item you can always return it for cash or credit.
      That being said, as others had mentioned, friends were very generous. I’d also stick to pure practical items on the registry as people will find the cute items on their own. If you are still looking for inspiration, there are plenty of lists online. I liked Lucys List in particular

    • Anonyc says

      If you don’t have a registry, I’d wait until after shower and possibly until after baby is born for most of the non-essentials (in my mind, those essentials would mostly be infant carseat, somewhere for baby to sleep, nursing pillow if that’s the way you’re going, couple of outfits, diapers/wipes/etc. …maybe also burping cloths or equivalent and a bouncey seat?).

      Once you are a little into new baby time you might start to get a sense of what you’d like to have that you don’t own already and that will help you and your baby in your specific situation. I feel like a family’s need and want of exersaucers, babycarriers, toys, highchairs, and so forth are highly individual for their particular situation. For instance, needs of a suburban parent are often quite different than those of a more urban one; likewise your baby care situation (at home versus out of home care) might dictate what things you’ll want. And of course so much stuff can be gotten via yard sales, craigslist, hand-me-downs that it seems a bit crazy at times to load up on everything new if you’re someone who is minding a budget (as I was).

      We lucked out and inherited a ton of stuff from co-workers, some of which (Ergo, Bjorn) is still going strong three kids later. We’ve gone through more than one set of hand-me-down playmats, bouncey seats, jumperoos (on our third!), bathtubs; after thinking we were done with no. 2 we gave away everything that was still working. Fastforward a year and I couldn’t bear to spend money on that kind of gear when we decided to go for three kids (they use so much of that stuff for a few months and then never again), and totally lucked out by finding really nice stuff out on the street–yay for free! I’d way rather put my money into childcare, which is where the real costs lie (IME).

    • Meg Murry says

      Don’t forget that you also may get showered with items at Christmas as well – we had a November baby, and got lots of clothes, blankets, etc at Christmas.
      Also, if its the Big Red Wagon sale or similar giant consignment sale that has central registers – take a friend and take turns standing in line and shopping – the line to checkout can be 2+ hours long.

    • (former) preg 3L says

      Realistically, all you need is a place for the baby to sleep, a diaper station, clothes, bottles/pump/whatever feeding route you choose, a newborn lounger (we loved the monkey bouncer and it was NOT expensive the way infant swings are), carseat, and stroller. Everything else (infant swing, high chair, pack n play, bumbo, play gym, toys) you can purchase post-holiday season, at post-holiday prices or on Craigslist. Don’t feel rushed to get anything. People will be really generous. (But I also would suggest checking what has been purchased from your registry, just in case you can snag a great stroller for a low price at this sale you mentioned.)

      • Carrie M says

        I agree you don’t need much initially. But if you live in a 2+ story house, I’d recommend having a spot to put the baby on each level (e.g., we kept the mamaroo downstairs and had the bassinet upstairs). I also set up a diaper station on each level (her dresser with a changing pad on top of it upstairs and a towel and travel diaper caddy thing downstairs).

    • hoola hoopa says

      Shower gifts vary widely, but I agree that most guests as showers I’ve attended give practical or practical+cute. I’d think back to your bridal shower, if many of the guests are the same.

      I’d wait until after the shower, even if it means skipping the sale. If you want to do the sale, though, you could go and skip items on your registry or plan to return shower gifts that repeat with a deal you got at the sale (which won’t always be possible if people buy same item from a different store and don’t include receipt).

      Remember that you’ll get a registry discount near your due date and huge ditto to Lyssa’s point that you don’t need everything at the time baby is born. So long as you have the few items that a newborn needs (which is fairly little), you’ll have time to bargain hunt and budget for the rest of the gear.

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