Should I encourage this behaviour?

[niccig]

DS is 18 months and he can undress himself as he's proven a few times now in the crib. Thankfully, only once did he make a mess. So, tonight I tell him it's time for a shower and he starts to undress himself. I didn't help, he took off his t-shirt, shorts, cover and fitted diaper all by himself. I can get him to undress everytime now, but do I really want to encourage this. I'm thinking I may need to find a roll of duct tape to put on the diaper. How do you stop a kiddo from undressing when they can, or is this something we just have to live through?

Nicci

[mudder17]

Hee, hee, welcome to the wonderful world of toddlerhood! Yeah, Kaya was around that age when she was undressing herself (earlier when she was taking off socks and shoes). Of course, then she learned how to button buttons and she's been changing outfits several times a day since! :P

I would go ahead and encourage it since he likes to do it. It's actually not a bad skill to have and sooner or later you're going to have to deal with it. However, the undressing while in the crib with a dirty diaper is something you DON'T want to happen. I would say that maybe if you put him to bed you can try the backwards sleepsack so that he can't undo it? Kaya has only done so once so far. In fact, I watched her do it on the monitor, and she somehow managed to contort her body so that she could reach the zipper at the bottom, get it up part way, then got her feet out, then she managed to contort herself some more, then she reached at the top and somehow managed to finish unzipping it. I was cracking up the whole time and DH was wondering what the heck I was laughing at (we were both going to take a nap and he was already settled). Anyway, she has also wiggled out of the neckhole when the sleep sack was a tad on the big side. Generally speaking, though, it at least delays things and now that she's on the larger side of the size range, she's not able to wiggle out at least. So she has to take the "hard" way.

She takes such pleasure out of undressing and dressing herself and I think it's kind of neat that she's found something she can do that makes her take pride in her abilities, KWIM? Just make it hard for him to access his diaper during sleeptimes, when you can't monitor him as easily, and let him undress (or eventually, dress) as much as he wants. :)

Just my 2 cents, FWIW.

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[niccig]

He stripped again tonight and peed in the crib. Currently he's sleeping in a pair of jeans shorts - he can't undo the button and zip yet. Not the most comfortable of pjs, but we were desperate. I'll look into the sleep sacks, but he hated them when he was little. Wonder if they make pjs with little tiny padlocks on them. We'll figure something out.

Nicci

[mudder17]

Out of curiosity, what about diaper covers/wraps put on backwards. Can he get those undone?

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[niccig]

That's a good idea. He might be able to undo it, but it should definitely slow him down, maybe enough to get bored and fall asleep. I'm hoping the novelty will wear off sometime soon!

Nicci

[niccig]

Eileen, I think the backwards diaper will work. I put him in a huggies overnight on backwards and let hime run around for about an hour before bed. He tried and tried to get it off and seemed surprised that there weren't any tabs. I'm not sure how it will fit him, he does pee a lot at night, but I'll play around with these and covers until I find something that is bullett proof and difficult to take off. Great idea of yours!

Nicci

[mudder17]

All right! I can just see his expression at not finding any tabs. :) Maybe if you put a cloth doubler inside his huggies overnight it'll make up for the diaper being on backwards?

Good luck!

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[niccig]

Ahh, it worked last night, but not tonight. He can't take it off, but he can push the diaper down far enough until his penis pops out, and then he can pee all over the crib. I obviously didn't have it on tight enough!. He now has a doubler and a CD cover on backwards as well. If that doesn't work, I might need a lock and key to keep the diaper on, an infant chastity belt anyone!! ;-)

Nicci