Whyyyyy won't he get dressed

[november90]

My 3.5 has suddenly become impossible to get dressed and I am so stressed about it.
Everything is itchy or too hot or too sticky or literally anything! He is in Avery particular phase at the moment but getting dressed is by far the worst! It took 3 hours to get him to wear pants the other day 😩
Anyone been here and have any tips?

Urgh, my ds did this at 3.5. I was heavily pregnant with dc2 at the time. One day, after an hour of trying to persuade him to get dressed, my hormones got the better of me and I just sat down on the bed and cried. I felt terrible at the time, but he always got dressed after that!

My 3yo would prefer to be naked if she had the choice. Hell my 7 yo would prefer to sit around in her pants most of the time! If you’re not going anywhere then leave him be. If you need to go out give him an option of a couple of outfits and say he needs to pick one. Gives him a bit of control and you get what you want. Maybe a reward chart or bribery to persuade at first!

Oh bless you! I have a 14 week old baby so this phase is just the last thing I need!
It's absolutely driving me crazy he's in such a tantrum phase at the moment!! 😩

My DS is just the same, won't get dressed without endless nagging, often it's 1pm by the time he's dressed.

He's 15 (years not months).

@FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue hahaha, Oh no! Not another 11.5 years 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

I've been really worried about it though so it's nice to hear I'm not alone 😩 I'm worried what he's going to be like when he goes back to nursery if he needs to change his clothes :(

Does he have other sensory issues? Loud noises? Does being wet or dirty bother him? Is he okay on swings?

I think you've just answered your own question there. You have a 14 week old baby. Older children tend to naturally regress when a baby arrives because they go back to the 'needy' stage as that is when they got the most attention from you. He's in competition for attention and he's figuring out ways in which to get the most time from you. You may have to be stern with him and spend less time trying to please him. Maybe find ways in which he can help you with baby so he feels a bit more included.

Agree that the new baby is a factor.

Don't worry about getting dressed unless you really have to. Nothing wrong with PJ's.

If he needs to be dressed, get out two t-shirts and two bottoms and let him choose which ones he wants to wear. Then challenge him to get dressed before eg you have put the others away, cleaned your teeth etc.

Give what sound like choices, eg do you want to wear the red one or the green one, shall I help you put it on or do you want to do it yourself.

And if it is to get attention, try to make nice attention for when it is done ( rather than not doing it to get attention), get dressed and then we can ...

Good luck

Can he dress himself yet? I went through this and found that encouraging DC1 to dress themselves really helped, probably from a similar age. We had DC2 at a very similar age gap to you and it actually encouraged DC1 to grow up rather than regress, loves being the older sibling.

Dd was just the same at that age, it was awful. In the end I resorted to bribery just to get us out of the house - a sticker for each item of clothing but only if she put it on/let me put it on nicely without loads of complaining. I remember thinking she would still need stickers at school but she did improve eventually. Much sympathy, it's a horrible stage especially with a new baby as well.

We didn't have issues with getting dressed but our DS did turn into an absolute nightmare meltdown-wise at 3.5. Took us by total surprise but it has (thank goodness!) totally passed now he's 4! Agree that new baby might be a factor. Sorry you're having a tough time with it, you have my total sympathy

Thanks for all your replies! I think with the lockdown and his little brother he has been a little bit spoilt recently just because I've felt so sorry for him having to be at home all the time! I think he's just playing up now about that and I don't really know how to resolve it! I'm hoping nursery and routine may help...
He does have some sensory issues. He had glue ear and suffered terribly from ear infections for the first 2 years of his life which didn't resolve unTIL he had grommets fitter last year. That massively effected him though so he is a little sensitive thing bless him!