struggling with dressing baby

[chunkyth1ghs]

Hi, I wondered if anyone could help me, I have just had my 3rd child but I still find dressing a baby a real struggle with their tiny fingers and thumbs, even using the "put your hand through the sleeve and pull" challenging and my husband is bordering on refusing to dress our newborn as he's scared he'll sprain his thumb.

Has anyone else had this problem with sleeves and really small arm holes, cuffs? if so, what are your tips?

Thanks,

StressedOutMummy :-)

Sainsburys long sleaved body suits have wide cuffs and are easier to put on I have found. Next body suits tend to have studs at the neck which can be annoying and asda George suits have really tight cuffs, Ds does have quite big hands with long fingers.
All the other clothes I have are from debenhams, gap and Gymboree. And are short sleeves.
Ds spends a lot of his time in long sleeved body suits or baby grows if in the house and sainsburys are defiantly the easiest.

Thanks so much yellowsnownoteatwillyou :-)

Did you have the same problem before?

God how I hate long sleeves. DD does this thing of spreading her fingers out when I'm trying to pull her hand through so she gets stuck. Try a bit of gentle pressure on the elbow, so you're feeding the sleeve over but if you push their elbow gently they react (well DD does mostly) by moving her arm through the sleeve herself.

Does that make any sense?

Also stretch out the cuff with your hand before you go for it so it's nice and loose.

I'm only on my first kid so I'm still a learner, hated dressing her for the first few months, she hated it too. Luckily now she doesn't care!

Thanks purrtirillpadpadpad :-)

My LO gets so frustrated with me too...I had the same issues with my other two children as well, their fingers are so delicate aren't they.

Im ok dressing him, its DH gets a bit worked up some times. But as Ds is getting bigger (3 months)I've noticed the different sizing in clothes, he's a nightmare to dress as he's really long but not chubby so baby grows are all baggy or are too short. So long sleeved body suits for sleeping in a grow bag, and dungerees or legging type trousers for during the day if going out.
But stay away from asda suits if you have finger bending fear as they are really tight.

I hate dressing babies too. How are they so strong? When they lock their arms and legs into positions, you literally can't move them!

TicTacZebra that made me laugh at my screen! when they lock their chubby legs it's hilarious.....

I stretch the cuffs, and grab his hand and pull it thru. I do tend to talk all the time and say what I'm doing so he is concentrating on me talking, it seems to make a difference.

Oh yes, provide a distraction, we only just figured this one out. Someone gave us this nauseating toy bear thing that trills, 'ooh come and hug me!' In a clown from a horror movie kind of way and sometimes when you think it's turned itself off, it pipes up 'I LOVE you!' Dear god alive. DD loves it, or finds it appetising, not sure but she always gives it a good chew whilst I'm dressing her.

Maybe she's trying to kill it? Good DD!

I will definitely try the distraction technique :-) thanks

Ah, Alfie bear. Ours accidentally made its way to creche one day and never came home

I'm a friendly light up bear
I'll teach you one-two-three
A something something something bear
Hey come and hug me or I'll come and get you when you least expect it

Put your hand up the sleeve, close your hand over the baby's hand and pull it down the sleeve. Don't try to push their hand through the sleeve.

CatLady that's it! There's more than one? It's proof of how traumatic it is that you still remember!

Also:

If you press 2: I'm a HAPPY bear! Or 3: hmmmmm I'm a sleeeeeepy bear!

Various alternatives run through my mind when I hear those... Wretched thing.

A sleepy happy hungry bear (???) Hey come and hug me.
That fucker is still haunting my dreams.
He went to a charity shop I'm afraid. DS2 loved him when I was dressing him and doing nappy changes too.

Omg we have the blue hell bear too! It's currently sitting in the footwell of the car because it freaks me out too much to have it in the house...

Hahaha my DD has a pink Alfie bear, DP has hidden it somewhere because it shits him up.

It's not as bad as the ELC laptop type thing she's got though that makes animal noises and plays tunes... then suddenly goes "I LOVE you! You are my FRIEND!" at random intervals if you forget to switch it off.

A+ for total thread derailment, sorry Op :( as an apology I can send you this really lovely toy bear I have...? :)