Dressing my toddler

By about the age of two your child will be trying to dress herself. Here's some helpful tips to make the most of her growing independence.

• Stop your toddler's overall straps slipping down by crossing them over at the back (and front if necessary).

• When you're teaching your child to handle buttons show him how to button from the bottom upwards.

• Wherever possible use Velcro fastenings, but don't use this near the neck as it may rub and cause sore patches.

• Tiny hands find zip fasteners difficult to manage so put a key ring through the zip fastener for easy handling.

• When your child is learning to use a zip fastener, teach him to pull the zip away from both skin and clothes to prevent the zip fastener catching on his skin.

• Put a badge or clear marking on the front of a garment so that your child can tell front from back.

• Mark the hole in a belt that your child should use with a stick-on gold star or a piece of tape.

• Until your child learns to hold a sweater when he is putting on a coat, sew elastic loops inside the cuffs so that the child can hang onto those and stop the sleeves being dragged up as the coat is being put on.

• If the zipper is sticking, run a soft lead pencil or a bar of soap over the zipper “teeth” to make it run smoothly.

• If your child is unwilling to make a fist when you're putting on a jumper, put a small treat such as a raisin into your child's hand. He will grasp it and make a fist allowing you to push the sleeve on.

• Attach gloves or mittens to a long piece of tape that you can thread through the arms of the coat.

• Wet shoe laces before tying - the bows won't slip and they will stay tied.

• When you first put on your baby's new shoes, cover the slippery soles with a piece of adhesive tape so that he won't slide on a slippery floor; or score the soles with scissors so that they grip.

• If the ends of your child's shoelaces become frayed, coat them with clear nail polish or wrap some sticky tape around them until you can replace them.

• Always buy boots large enough to accommodate an extra pair of socks. Wellingtons aren't very warm so put a pair of thick socks over your child's usual socks to keep his feet warm.

• When your child first starts to use buttons, sew large buttons onto the clothes so that he can handle them more easily and, if you can, sew them on with elastic thread.

• Once practical concerns are taken care of, let your child have a say in what you buy and choose his favourite colours.

Making my toddler's clothes last

• When sleepsuits get too short for comfort cut off the feet for an extra few months' wear.

• Reinforce the knees on the inside of new jeans with the extra fabric you trim from the bottoms of the legs, or use iron-on patches.

• Make summer shorts from long winter trousers that are too short or have become worn at the knees.

• When your child outgrows an expensive jacket, cut out the sleeves and let your child wear it as a waistcoat.

• Run a dark blue crayon, indelible pencil or a fountain pen filled with blue/black ink over the white line when jeans have been let down.

Dr Miriam Stoppard

New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard

Posted 03.11.2010

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