Odd kids clothing sizes - or just my child's strange shape?

[gourd]

Don't know where else to put this, style didn't seem the right place..
Anyone else find toddler clothes sizes are odd? Ours (2 years old two weeks ago) takes age 3-4 in most tops, due to chest/back girth, arm length and huge pumpkin-like head, but still in 18-24 months in all trouser bottoms (unless we buy leggings, which tend to be slightly shorter than trousers or tights in the first place, stay up when rolled up, or are cropped anyway, so age 2-3 leggings fit OK. Age 3-4 bottoms are too wide around the waist area for her (worn under tummy bulge/navel) anyway. On the other hand, she is growing out of age 2-3 tops, as her chest/back and arms are too wide for them and we often find we cant get them over her head without squashed nose distress! This is one to two sizes difference between bottom half and top half. Is this normal? She seems to have very short legs. I have long body and short legs too, so possibly it?s genetic. It makes dresses difficult, as they are often too long, well below the knee, yet buying a smaller size than age 3-4 will be too tight to get on/fasten around round her chest/back.. and two-piece outfits are completely useless?

Ds wore Next age 5 for about 3 years. Every year they would make them slightly larger, so it took years for him to grow into the right age group. They are all odd sizes, it depends on where you're buying them.

yeah sizes are random.

I've onw who has pretty much always taken her age size but now she is almost 4 and slimming down I can only buy adjustable waist stuff otherwise it falls down. Her big brother though is short of leg and large of head so would grow out of tops fast as you couldn't get them over his head and the sleeves and length would be too short but for trousers I had to buy roll ups or 3/4 length or even long shorts but a size up. He was in cloth nappies too so hard going a size up for cloth space but not beiong too long in the length! He is skinny too so only ever adjustable waist from the moment he came out of nappies.

Thing is age size is just a guide. Adult sizes go by your measurements and you have to check that for children too.

Thnaks both. The measurements aren?t correct either though. LO has stuff claiming it will fit 98 cm and it fits her, yet other stuff claiming it?s the same size, doesn't fit. Seems to be a massive range of girths in tops too. Some are way too tight on the arms and body/chest yet others the exact same length are baggy. It?s not that, it's the size difference between the upper and lower body I was wondering about, but I guess that?s normal too... LO doesn't look weirdly proportioned to the eye, or anything, it?s just the clothes sizes that had me wondering if her legs were bizarrely short or something. She?s still taller than nearly all the kids we?ve seen her age, despite having little-piggly-wiggly legs..

Yes gourd, I was going to post something similar.
My DS is nearly 2 and is wearing normal age 2 or 3 tops. I found some of his jeans and trousers which are 12 months and stil fit him! He also wears 12 to 18 months trousers.
I recently bought 18 to 23 month trousers and jeans but they are too long and falling off his bum. These are from Next and H & M. Tried rolling up but not much I can do about the waist. (Braces?!) Whats going on?
He doesn't seem short at all, about average I'd say.
I did look at the age 2 to 3 trousers in the shop but they seem absolutely massive!

Yep, here too.

DS (2.1) wears 2-3 trousers and 4-5 tops .

He is 100cm tall but most of it is back not legs. His ribcage in 60cm in circ which in most 'size guides' makes his 5yrs or even sometimes 6yrs.

I have the England rugby spotters camping outside my house.

My ds always had short legs and long body. He is almost 5 and age 4-5 is now apretty good fit all round now he has levelled out. Dd is 2.5 and has a whole range of sizes in her wardrobe from 12mths to 2-3yrs. We got her a new coat yesterday in age 2-3 and its huge, she looks hilarious, and a dress, both debenhams. She is only about 85cm so short I suppose but 2-3 from sainsburys fits fine!

Ds is nearly 3 and wears 12-18 bottoms and just starting to fit 18-24 (as long as they have adjustable waists, anything without just falls off. He is just moving into 2-3 tops though so his legs are a size behind his top half!

Thank god
I was beginning to think DS age 2.3 was an alien as I can't find clothes to fit him.
Just like the other boys described here. Long body and seemingly short legs. But I think I have been duped into thinking this because of the damn clothes.

He is out of nappies and I just can't find trousers to fit. I bought him some H&M baby 12m trousers in despair but they still fall down. They are long enough to put him in twice over.
Clothes are huge. T shirts are all too short (but too wide) and squash his nose everyday. Not noticed a sleeve length problem interestingly.

Dd (5) only wears dresses, point blank refuses trousers but I have massive problems with tights. They are huge around the waist but too short in the leg length.

I HATE CHILDREN'S CLOTHES. Where in earth do they find children to measure?
Ok, tomorrow I am going to actually measure my children and post the results on a new thread. might not actually be tomorrow but soon

Shattered - get trousers with adjustable waists, they are a godsend!

No good
He is so skinny and has no bum. Trousers of the right age have far too much material around the bum and are also far too long.
They seriously are like harem pants.

He needs to be able to pull up and down himself for the potty/ toilet. If I put him in adjustable waist trousers, I have to pull them in so tight it looks ridiculous and he can't get out of them.

I know he's on the early side of being nappy free but there should be some trousers out there that just fit.....

Curious. How many button holes on the adjustable waist do you pull in? I have to do the whole lot, at least 8 holes.

I swear he isn't skinny. He is normal.

My boys are all fairly big for their age and have always worn trousers at least one size too small. Finding trousers to stay on their skinny hips now they're out of nappies is a nightmare! If I had girls they would be in leggings and tights so no problem.

Somebody somewhere please sort boys clothes out!!!!

Ds is exceptionally skinny but adjustable works fine for him even if they do have to be on the tightest setting and 2 sizes smaller than his age suggests he should be in!

That's where I a, going wrong. He is 2 so don't buy clothes for a 2 yr old.

We need a MN campaign like the "You're shit and you know it M&S" thread

I once read, pretty sure it was on here, someone saying her child was a fitting model for Next - child was something like 18mo, but very small and was a fitting model for 6-9mo. On reading this I had an epiphany - of COURSE kids' clothes don't fit properly if they're designed to fit very tiny children who are older than the clothes are designed for. A tiny 18mo is going to be shaped like a tiny toddler, not a baby. Children's proportions change as they grow - look at your toddlers, with some exceptions they DO have short legs and long bodies. But lay out an age 2 outfit and you'll notice that the proportions look more like a much older child, or even an adult.

It is rather annoying ... it has got better with DD as she's got older, although now that she is 8.6 a lot of clothes come in dual sizes, which is a challenge in itself. She's too big for 7-8 (height 128cm) even in trousers (see, she does NOT have stumpy legs, well, not very), but often too small for 9-10 trousers (height 140cm, she is about 131cm). Tops are okay, and dresses always very forgiving - hence her current school pinafores looking like a whole extra child could fit in them.

My DS2 has had tiny tiny legs, well out of proportion to the rest of him for YEARS. He is currently almost 9yo, though quite tall for his age. He is in age 8-9 trousers in most places (correct for his age), but age 10-11 tops, and in some places age 11-12 tops. He needs them for the length of his body. Oddly though, he doesn't look at all out of proportion.

I think that shops make t-shirts quite short in the body, as I have this issue to some degree with all 4 of my DC's, them being in roughly the correct age trousers for their chronological age, but in t-shirts a couple of sizes too big, just to fit their body length.

I have 14yo DD, who is in age 14-15 trousers and adult size 8 t-shirts.

I have 10yo DS1, who is in age 11-12 trousers and age 13-14/14-15 (shop dependant) t-shirts.

I have nearly 9yo DS2 in age 8-9 trousers and age 10-11/11-12 (shop dependant) t-shirts.

And I have 20mo DS3 in age 18-24 months trousers (though they are a bit long, the size below are too short) and age 2-3 tops.

My guess is they can charge VAT earlier if you have to buy larger sizes...

And yy to how FAT do they think children ARE?!

Glad I'm not alone. Must point out or LO is female but think that may be irrelevant anyway - looks like lots of kids need tops in size larger for a longer torso and are a smaller size in trousers. I know it's difficult for my sister to get clothes that fit her 7 year old too. 7 year old wears age 10-12 (is very tall, father is over 6 ft and mum is 5 ft 8) but of course she is shaped like a 7 year old (tall and thin but with a young child's tummy shape) but older girls clothes tend to be cut for an older, girls pubescent shape (less tummy) and just don't fit very well. They often have teenage style designs and slogans on too which are a bit rubbish for a 7 year old to wear. I suspect my niece would like tops with animals and possibly even teddies on but 10-12 year olds don't want pictures of animals and teddies so she gets weird Warhol style or Manga style drawings of young women in fashion clothes or horrible slogans written in 'text-speak' instead...

Just to add my DD as an opposite!

She's 22 months and the next 12-18 tops still fit her, the sleeves are getting a little short but I like them long. She has to wear 3-4 in their tights and 2-3 in trousers but only skinny ones with adjustable waist and even then they are so baggy round the bum.
She isn't skinny, still has her chubby sausage arms and a double chin!

DS wore his 'correct' age size until about 18 months and then everything seemed huge. I was worried that he had just stopped growing. He is 2 next week and only just growing out of 12-18 month trousers, he still has some 9-12 month t-shirts that fit, as well as some handed-down 3-4 year t-shirts that already fit.

I keep buying age 2-3 clothes for him but end up taking them back for the next size down.

It all seems a bit random. I like the summer when they can wear shorts and then the length doesn't matter

Hi, I always have trouble with my 2 dd's sizing as my little one is chubby and tall; but the 4 year old is tall and skinny. I buy size 2 - 3 for the little one although she only turned 1 this year, and size 4 - 5 is still a bit big on the 4 year old. I found something online that might help though. www.alvakids.com
it's an iphone app where you can enter your child's height and weight and it will recommend a size in any brand. i tried it for my dd baby and it worked quite well. With the 4 year old it just gives me 4 -5 but since she is so skinny, if she wears 3 - 4 she can get away with it. But at least it has some sort of indication about whether or not i should buy something.