Oh, Baby! : Though they could pay more, parents are shopping sales, catalogues and discount stores for kids’ clothes.

There are parents who spend more than their monthly mortgage payments to send their preschool-age children to day-care centers, play groups and a steady round of birthday parties for their peers.

But ask them to name their favorite children’s wear stores and inevitably they mention Target, K mart and the catalogue houses After the Stork and Brights Creek. Even super-mom Mia Farrow shops the children’s catalogues for her nine kids.

It’s not that these parents are cheapskates; they’re just disenchanted. Having spent $45 to $60 for each of their first infant’s adorable little jumpsuits and dresses, they proceed to watch the baby shoot through six sizes in the first year. Once they realize the life expectancy of a baby garment can be measured in weeks, even some of the most affluent parents say their spending habits change dramatically.

When Sue Woodyard of North Hollywood was preparing a nursery for her first child, she thought nothing of paying $500 for bedding and $100 for a decorative stuffed kangaroo. The first outfits she bought for her new daughter were likely to cost more than $50.

“It didn’t take me long before I began to be sickened by all the beautiful clothes that were worn once and then given away,” she says. Four and a half years later, her price ceiling is $20.

Before Elizabeth Wheeler’s first child was born, she found herself paying $23 for Guess baby T-shirts and $28 for little Reebok tennis shoes designed for non-walking infants.

That was two years ago. Her next baby, due this week, will be treated to a different wardrobe. Now the Burbank playwright shops at K mart and Pic ‘n’ Save for her children’s clothes.

There is some stigma attached to shopping the discount stores. And it can even begin at home.

Wheeler says her husband, David, a principal in Purchase Planners (engineers for office systems), cringes when he hears her tell people she buys son Jake’s clothes at Pic ‘n’ Save.

“He doesn’t like me to mention it because we could afford to shop at expensive stores. But why bother?” she asks. “It’s a matter of principle with me. I’m proud of my finds.” She staunchly defends her favorite haunt and its outfits that are sometimes priced at less than $6. Health-Tex, known for sturdy basics, is among her favorite labels in the under-$6-on-sale range.

Like other inveterate sale shoppers, Wheeler is only too happy to brag about her great buys. She gloats over a quilted sweat shirt in a bold geometric print with the blue corduroy pants she found for $6 at Pic ‘n’ Save, and the black baby Beatle boots priced under $5 that she discovered at K mart.

“I usually buy his shoes at Stride Rite, but these little boots were so funny,” Wheeler says. “Besides, when they’re 2 years old they don’t know they are wearing a fashion risk.”

Hancock Park songwriter Shirley Hanna-King believes in spending money only for children’s wear that packs a wallop of style. She’ll spend top dollar on flamboyant suspenders and caps, not on clothing with designer labels. She says she gets great mileage out of the accessories, which, even when they come from the most expensive stores, still cost less than $20 and can be worn by any of her four children with their standard uniform of inexpensive jeans and T-shirts.

Her youngest is now 5, but Hanna-King recalls that when she and her husband, William King of the rhythm and blues group the Commodores, would receive baby shower presents from Fred Segal, she would always exchange them for more practical clothes and whimsical accessories.

“I don’t spend a lot of money,” she said. “I use a lot of imagination.”

Some mothers can’t bring themselves to shop drugstores or bargain basements because they can’t give up the status of designer labels, so they simply adapt the same techniques they use for themselves--they shop the sales.

Brentwood mother Mary Beth Broussard waits for her favorite Santa Monica store, Malina, to have its twice-a-year sale before she spends any money on daughter Lily’s clothes. Her red-circled sale days come in January and June. When Malina marks down its jumpsuits 50%, to $22, Broussard is there.

“They have drop-dead wonderful clothes in baby shapes made in adult fabrics. They’re horribly expensive so I always wait for the sales,” she says.

Malina’s bold prints and sophisticated color combinations for children appeal to Broussard.

“They are outfits I’d wear, but in miniature,” she says of the brown bloomer jumpsuit with beige polka dots and the black and white gingham check shirt and black jeans she has bought for her 11-month-old daughter.

Malina Gerber, who designs the Malina line and sells it through her two Santa Monica stores as well as Bullock’s, Henri Bendels in New York and Saks Fifth Avenue, says there are about 300 mothers like Broussard who wait for her semiannual sales.

There has been no formal study of how low the high rollers will go to find inexpensive baby clothes, but indications are that their ranks are growing every year.

Stephen Enroth, the general manager of Brights Creek, the children’s catalogue company in Hampton, Va., cites the 4 million babies born in 1989 (a number that hasn’t been reached since the baby boom of the 1950s) and the 1 million customers on his mailing list, many of whom top the national average income by 10% to 15%, as willing participants in the kiddie-cheap-chic trend.

Brights Creek has some of the least expensive children’s wear of the mail order catalogues. It does not emphasize natural fibers, as many other children’s wear catalogues do, so prices are frequently lower. Shorts in the Brights Creek spring catalogue sell for $5 to $16, and the company is running a seasonal special on canvas sneakers--two pairs for $13.49.

The catalogue business is one of the fastest growing markets in children’s wear. It appeals to the working parent who has little time to shop, and to parents who would rather take a herd of chimps shopping than face a mall with a 2-year-old.

Deborah Schiller, an actress who lives in Sherman Oaks, shops the After the Stork catalogue for her children, 2-year-old Andy and 2-week-old Madalyn. Deborah’s husband, Robert, directs the television soap opera “Santa Barbara.”

She is hesitant to mention his occupation. “When people read that, they’ll think we can shop anywhere. But there is so much more you can do for your kids if you’re buying $12.95 clothes rather then $125.”

Alan Stopper, the founder of After the Stork, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based catalogue company, says the company mailing list includes many high-profile customers.

“Tatum O’Neil and Mia Farrow are customers, and obviously they can afford to buy clothes anywhere,” he says. But they buy from Stopper’s mail order catalogue that specializes in natural-fiber children’s clothing.

After the Stork mails more than 9 million catalogues annually to a growing audience. Cotton knit leggings are $6, elastic-waist cotton corduroy pants are $7.50 and denim blue jeans sell for $6.25.

“We try and make them to last, but we don’t expect them to last generations,” says Stopper.

The window of opportunity for buying children’s clothing at the lowest prices is a small one. It begins at birth and extends only until children fall victim to label consciousness, which can happen as early as age 3.

By the time most girls are in the 4-to-7 size range, they are actively involved in the buying decisions. With boys it can take a little longer, Enroth says.

For a few brief years, children will wear just about anything you put them in, no matter what the price. Then they will insist on wearing only dresses with “twirly” skirts and red patent leather party shoes or Reebok tennis shoes and Batman T-shirts with blue jeans.

Unfortunately, the age of fashion innocence is brief. But while it lasts, it knows no price tag.

Budget Buys Moms Recommend

CATALOGUES:

* After the Stork. Inexpensive natural-fiber infant’s and children’s clothing. 1501 12th St., NW Albuquerque, N.M. 87104. (505) 243-9100.

* Brights Creek. Very inexpensive infant’s and children’s clothing. Bay Point Place, Hampton, Va. 23653. (800) 622-9202.

* Hanna Anderson. Moderately priced 100% cotton infant’s and children’s clothing. 1010 NW Flanders St., Portland, Ore. 97209. (800)222-0544.

* Mothercare. European infant’s and children’s clothes, furnishings and equipment at moderate prices. Mothercare UK Ltd., P.O. Box 138, Northhampton NN3 1WB, England. 011-44-923-33577.

DISCOUNT, DEPARTMENT STORES:

* K mart, Mervyns, Target, May Co. and the sale racks at Robinson’s and Nordstrom.