Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

He fights me tooth and nail to change his clothing and diaper...it takes a good half of an hour chasing him around to get him dressed...any wonderful ideas? I have tried distracting him in every way possible...

Message edited 9/11/2009 12:40:50 PM.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Nope, we pretty much can all commiserate I'd say...it does become an acrobatic event...we pretty much have to pin DD down, even at 2 years old, for a diaper change.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

nope. I stand there with his keys in my mouth trying to distract him. He is like this wild wiggle worm who trys to grab his junk and roll over OFF the table. I got nothing.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

DS did that for a while too but luckily it was just a phase (well, the getting dressed part, he still fights the diaper changes).

I think it passed in about 2 months. He now lifts his arms for his shirt when I get him dressed.

Hopefully it's a phase for you too!

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

I Put them in the scissor hold. Hold them in between my legs and put my leg sorta indian style ober their legs to put their shirts on. Then to do pants-I lay them down and do the same thing with my leg across their belly. They get pizzed but it works

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Nina did this from about 9 months to 16 months. Finally she allows us to change both clothes and diapers now without any problems! But it really was quite stressful for a while there. DH and I used to argue over who had to change her next.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

He went through a phase around 12 months. A worm on a changing table. But it was OK again after a couple months.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

I had to start doing it with one of his shows on....still do at 26 months otherwise he's a nightmare!

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

it's a phase that comes and goes. I've sometimes had to straddle the poor kid just to change a diaper. It should qualify as an olympic event in my opinion.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

OMG, I am sorry, but your post made me out loud... mostly because this is exactly what we are dealing with at our house.

DS just turned 2 and for the last couple of weeks changing him or getting him dressed has become more and more challenging, exhausting, frustrating and athletic!

I think every day I am trying something new and NOTHING seems to be working!

Although the possibility of getting cookies after letting me change/dress him seems to be slightly working!

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

I wrote a post about this just a few weeks ago.

We used to change ds on the floor and now we've learned to do it on the changing pad instead. When he's on level ground, there is more room to move around, turn, twist, etc etc.

The few times we now change his diaper on the floor, we give him something to hold he's normally not allowed to hold... the remote, the phone, our cell phone, etc etc. This will buy us a minute.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

I feel your pain. Yesterday I decided to take Ryan's PJs off while he was still in his crib since he was still playing around in there. I wanted to do the diaper last on the table, but figured I'd strip him while he was contained.

Once down to the diaper, I said, "Ok, come to momma so we can change pee pee and get clothes on for school."

He scurried into the corner of the crib and pointed to himself and repeated several times, "No, naked. No! NAKED!" So I eventually had to reach in and pull him out which is no fun 8 months pregnant when he's backed into the corner.

Message edited 9/11/2009 2:23:47 PM.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

I wish I had advice- same issue here with a 19 month old DS.

I have to allow lots of time to get ready. Putting on his favorite show in the background helps though.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

i told FH last night i've come to hate changing diapers and clothes. it's the only time i get really frsutrated. especially putting pants on her.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Ugh I feel your pain. Nikolas does the alligator death roll on the changing table. I give him his comb to chew on and he stops.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Yup we are going through the same exact thing. We try to get Kaydyn to help us (I give her a shirt to try to put on while we put on the pants). We try singing to her and distracting her, but it's just trying to get it done as quick as possible.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

ugg I feel your pain. Its not a quick job anymore. Its a battle!

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Posted by Stefanie

Ugh I feel your pain. Nikolas does the alligator death roll on the changing table. I give him his comb to chew on and he stops.

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

It's a constant battle over here, too. My DS is 2 and whew!

I put the changing pad on the floor now, right next to his dresser where the bottom drawer holds his diapers and such. Sometimes he get distracted by reaching in the drawer and I have a quick minute to change him without a struggle. Or like OP said, I give him something that he doesn't usually hold, like my cell phone. As a last resort, I put him back in his crib - for some reason he hates to be changed in there and usually willingly goes back to the changing pad.

I have totally pinned him down as well. Or just let him wear his PJ top to day care - hey if it's that important to him and not hurting anyone...

Good luck!

Re: Dressing my son has become and anxiety producing nightmare!!!!

Omg I remember that stage well. Holding his tushie cream tube was the answer.... Or anything he had rare access to!