22 Month Old Won't Keep Clothes On!

How about getting extra pairs of footie PJs and cutting off the legs and arms to keep her cool, but the zipper is still in the back?

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Have you tried having her tested for touch sensitivity? Some people are born with an extra sensitivity to anything binding, or pushing against their skin. I think my older son has a touch of this since he's always thrown a fit if his clothes aren't laying perfectly smooth against his skin and loose and comfy. That could be part of her problem. Maybe try the softest diapers you can find and go up one size so they're not tight anywhere (yeah she'll probably leak, but at least most of it will get caught), and then try letting her sleep in just the diaper but have a waterproof pad underneath and an extra crib sheet on standby.

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It comes from anxiety and attention getting and she will grow out of it. It is an age where they are starting to assert themselves, so don't show her that it is worrying you or that it matters. She will have you going like a yo-yo otherwise. Just let her go around without clothes and explain to her she can do that if she wants to, but everyone has to wear clothes when going out shopping, etc......

And why should she :-)

Sorry, I realize you are frustrated...

Consider making up her bed with a beach towel or two until this is sorted out...she will stop doing it. My daughter did this for a while, but she is a deep sleeper and once she was really snoozing I could put the pull up back on.

I'm with the "butcher the footies" crowd.

Hi Jen-

I too suggest looking into your daughter's sensitivity to the cloths, also look at the laundry products you're using.

Kids do take their clothes off at this age, but I think this is a little extreem.

R. Magby

She will grow out of it soon :) In the meantime, you could check out Carter's - if I remember they had the lightweight pj's that zipped so you could still turn them around.

I remember those days so fondly now :)

One good thing about warm weather is there won't be so much bedding in the bed to get wet. Put down a crib water proof mattress pad on top of the sheet. If she doesn't go from the top to the bottom of the bed you could cut them in half and use just one half at a time.

Or you could buy up a weeks worth of crib sheets at thrift stores. Put the waterproof mattress protector under them and wash sheets with the regular laundry once a week.

We've used the water proof draw sheets that nursing homes use in the same way. They're usually $3-5 at thrift stores.

The sort of waterproof crib mattress protectors feel like cloth on both sides and are absorbent. I would not use the plastic ones. They are hot, do not absorb well which causes the urine to run to other places.

This may sound crazy but try potty training her. My daughter turned 2 in Feb and the first week in march kept strippinf down naked so on days when we were not going anywhere I just left her like that b/c it wasn't worth the fighting. 2 weeks later she was potty trained. She did it basaiclly all by her self. This is a girl that couldn't be bothered with walking until 15 months and still barely speaks but she has "peepee" down pat. I know with my other daughter when she potty trained she always wanted to be naked too. Maybe just buy a potty and leave it where she can get to it and see what happens. I could be way off but good for you if it works!

carters has some summer weight footie PJ's (and i the children's place, as well). i bought them b/c my son will not sleep with a blanket on (only his woobie blanket) so i got them for him to keep warm at night. but they could work for you. you could atleast cut off the arms to make it short sleeve if needed.

does she strip down any other time or just nap time? If it is all the time she may have touch sensitivity, if it is nap time only she may or may not have touch sensitivity

just a thought - can you adapt the "footie" PJs (she very likely won't fit in them next winter anyway). depending on how you are as a sewer can you cut the sleeves to make them short (then hem them) and cut the legs to make them short (hemming them and fixing the zipper)

good luck!

You can still use footies, just cut the feet off...or get the onesie outfits that are like shorts with shortsleeves when the weather is too warm. I've also read about people using duct tape on the diaper....at least it works! Good luck!

my friends twins did this! She used Duct tape.
good luck!

How frustrating...yet how funny, you will look back at this and laugh at some point.

I have not yet had to deal with this with my 19 month old, but a friend of my struggled with her child....what finally worked was Duct Tape...after she put the diaper on she would wrap the tape around the waist of the diaper twice to secure it well (then just cut if off with safety scissors when it was time to change). As an added measure she also put on the clothes backwards to try and deter this behavior...sometimes it worked, others times it didn't but in time it did pass. Hang in there and Best of Luck to you!!!

First off, that is pretty funny - aren't kids the darnest? I'm guessing she is old enough to appreciate a treat (perhaps a sparkly sticker) and maybe you can bargain with her to at least keep her diaper on.

There are a lot of kids that go through this phase...so hang in there is will pass:) What about buying the light cotton version of the footie pj's and cutting of the feet and putting on backwards? These should not be too hot....you can also cut them up higher as well-more like shorts (there are also short sleeve ones but they are harder to find) but you could cut the sleeves off if needed to.

Good luck!

Don't we all wish we could run around our house naked? I have a hard time keeping clothes on my kids at our house. My son has to wear pants over his diapers because he will not keep a diaper on.....sometimes he uses his potty, sometimes he doesn't. At least he doesn't take his pants or onsies off. It seems like one of the Parenting or Parents issues a month or two ago had a section on parents that created something and one was pajamas that zip in the back.

Good luck!