Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to make DD (4) wear shorts under her nightdress?

126 replies

StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 14:57

So DD has just discovered it is possible to sleep in a dress (a birthday gift) and is now point blank refusing to wear her usual pjs (shorts and t-shirt). Not a problem, she needed new nightwear so i'm buying her a couple more.

However I was planning on getting some cycling short/cut off leggings for her to wear underneath. DH doesnt understand why and thinks its a waste of money and not needed. My thoughts are that she is only 4, so she comes downstairs in the morning and is turning cartwheels etc and generally mucking about with her brothers and i dont think its necessary to have bare bottoms waving about, or sat on my sofa.

Whilst i'm not a prude, i am conscious that she has an older brother and i think its important to set some ground rules for acceptable nudity - getting changed for bed etc is one thing but surely its not right for her privates to be on display while she's playing?

So what are your thoughts - shorts underneath? or perhaps just a pair of pants? to be worn all night or should i get her to put her pants on when she gets up? (also thinking of 'breathability' as it were if she's in something close fitting all night?)

(if its relevant i also generally encourage her to wear short leggings under her skirts and dresses, again due to age and her love of being upside down and climbing things - seems more practical than bare legs climbing a gate/on a slide etc)

OP posts:
nomoreheroes · 02/06/2016 15:09

Have to agree with previous posters...put normal pants on! I know some people don't put pants on in bed but I always have both as a child and as an adult (unless I'm sleeping naked which I rarely do any more). And as for legginga under dresses/skirts - why? She's a child, they all fling themselves about like loons IME and you are making an unnecessary issue of this - is it really that you're worried about scrapes etc or merely prudishness? Relax!

Original poster
StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 15:09

She will only wear skirts and dresses, point blank refuses trousers but is quite happy with leggings underneath. didnt expect that to be such an issue, i only mentioned it in case it was colouring my thinking on the nightwear thing. which it evidently is!

OP posts:
Jodie1982 · 02/06/2016 15:10

My girls wear knickers underneath. And I tell them to sit nicely.

AuditAngel · 02/06/2016 15:11

I'm thrilled 5yo DD2 has started wearing knickers in the house. Previously she stripped everything off the minute she walked through the door.

whois · 02/06/2016 15:11

With everyone else - good to sleep with a bit of an 'airing' but tell her to put on pants when she gets up.

lavenderdoilly · 02/06/2016 15:11

Now you mention it,op, I've struggled to find 100 per cent cotton nighties for my dd. Usually have some sort of poly something in them. I generally put her in big tshirts or pjs. Where can I get a cotton nightie from?

Original poster
StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 15:12

well i dont think its prudishness - she doesnt wear them if the dress is below the knee but in her mini-dresses just bending over shows her knickers.

maybe i'm more prudish than i realised! i never think twice at little girls who have bare legs, just for some reason automatically put legging/cycling shorts on DD.

OP posts:
coco1810 · 02/06/2016 15:13

Just tell her to put some pants on under her nightie when she gets up in the morning. If you yourself do not like pants at night, how is DD going to be comfy in shorts? YABU!

Floggingmolly · 02/06/2016 15:15

You'd consider making her wear shorts or cut off leggings to sleep in rather than telling her to wear pants? How very, very odd Hmm

Noisylion · 02/06/2016 15:15

I'd just get her, and everyone else to put some pants on when they get up in the morning.

I wouldn't start making an issue out of it by making her wear shorts.

Ds comes down in this dressing gown starts jumping around and I send him up to pop some boxers on.

Original poster
StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 15:15

lavender i'm struggling too, the ones i've found are poly ones but thats what DD really wants (design wise)

OP posts:
Aeroflotgirl · 02/06/2016 15:15

Dd 9 wears underwear under her nightdress.

PrincessHairyMclary · 02/06/2016 15:16

Just get dressed in the morning, lay her clothes out the night before and its one less job to do. if you go for pants id go for a hygiene, warmth angle than it being an issue with nudity angle.

i prefer leggings over tights so putt DD in the same most of the time, tights always have the tendency yo roll down a bit. but onlyfor protecting skin or because its cold, not for 'decency'.

gabsdot · 02/06/2016 15:16

In our house we wear the underwear we've had on all day to bed ( unless we a shower before bed) and put in clean in the morning. Doesn't everyone do that same.
My DD wears what I call modesty shorts under dresses, short leggings. They keep her bum warm and mean she doesn't flash her knickers when she's hanging upside down from the climbing frame.

Original poster
StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 15:17

Point made! Pants on when she gets up.

Funny how because i cant stand wearing them the solution seems to not be as obvious to me!

issue solved!

OP posts:
Noisylion · 02/06/2016 15:17

Agee pants are as much hygiene as anything else.

OohMavis · 02/06/2016 15:18

Whilst i'm not a prude, i am conscious that she has an older brother

she is only 4

Hmm
PrincessHairyMclary · 02/06/2016 15:18

But knickers / boxers are for covering your bum, why do the coverings need coverings???

Original poster
StarlingBirdsong · 02/06/2016 15:18

gabsdot thank god, i was beginning to think i was the only one to put shorts on under dresses and skirts!!

OP posts:
Noisylion · 02/06/2016 15:19

She doesn't have to sleep in them, I find pants uncomfortable in bed. But they can be put on in the morning.

Sorry for repeating what everyone else has said!

lavenderdoilly · 02/06/2016 15:19

Gabs - DD has fresh knickers on every night and fresh in the morning.

MadameDePomPom · 02/06/2016 15:23

In our house we wear the underwear we've had on all day to bed ( unless we a shower before bed) and put in clean in the morning. Doesn't everyone do that same.

Nope! I've read many a 'knickers in bed, yay or nay?' style thread on MN. It's a divisive subject.

WriteforFun1 · 02/06/2016 15:23

I completely understand you don't want a bare bum on your sofa
it reminds me of that episode of Sex and the City!!!

but just tell her she has to put knickers on when she gets up, for that reason. Cos she can't watch that show till much later in life Grin

MadameDePomPom · 02/06/2016 15:24

But knickers / boxers are for covering your bum, why do the coverings need coverings???

Exactly!

The idea of 'modesty shorts' (!) is SO weird to me.

anyfuckingnicknamewilldo · 02/06/2016 15:24

Starlingbird Song

Pants under nght dress.

Gymnastic or dace shorts are great under dresses and skirts. Im with you on this. My (now 15) being a dancer and gymnast spent most of her childhood on a trampoline or flipping down the green . or handstands up the wall. Teaching her modesty and that people don't need to see her underwear as she gets older is not a bad thing. My 15 year old still wears gym short under skater skirts. She still flips down the green. Defiantly more practical if she likes skirts but loves to climb. The combined short suits are good. Just awkward when your dying for the loo.

Swipe left for the next trending thread