Why should DSD not sleep in her clothes?

[giddykipper]

She (aged 13) sleeps in her clothes.

I've told her numerous times that she shouldn't, she should sleep in pyjamas, but she still sleeps in her clothes.

The problem is, I actually can't think of any good reason why she shouldn't. I wouldn't because they are uncomfortable, but she clearly doesn't find them uncomfortable.

So please give me a good reason why she shouldn't so I can make her stop!

I have been known to sleep in my clothes

(usually after 2 bottle of chablis)

Tell her there will be plenty of time to sleep in her clothes when she comes in drunk and dishevelled after uni piss ups. For now nice clean jim-jams are the way forward.

I woke up one morning to find I had taken my tights off but still had my boots on. Never got to the bottom of that one.

She'll probably grow out of it eventually. Perhaps she's doing if for attention, or just to be rebellious. You know what teenagers are like.

TBH I don't think it's a battle worth fighting, if her mum said to you please would you ensure she does not sleep in her clothes then fair enough but otherwise just leave her. As teenage habits go it's not a bad one!

Because it is unhygienic, and because she will get too hot.

I wouldn't stress over it - she's probably only doing it because you keep telling her to stop! On the scale of things it's a pretty minor rebellion and likely she'll stop if you stop mentioning it. And if she doesn't - does it really matter?

FWIW DS (3) has just announced he is not wearing pjs any more and wishes to sleep nekkid. Anything for a quiet life I say - I reckon he'll change his mind come winter!

They will get sweaty and their pants will get too hot and they may end up with a yeast infection - thinking back to horrid thick school tights.
Apart from over heating I cant think of a problem and they are probably in summer clothes.
I would just get her to change her pants before bed so she doesn't get thrush, although that is a conversation I wouldn't like to have!

It will probably wear her clothes out faster is the only thing I can see.

I would make sure she changes them in the morning or she will smell even if she washes and wears deodorant as the sweat smell will be in her clothes and as soon as she gets warm it will be obvious and she will get teased

I sleep in my clothes quite a lot at the moment, generally because I have about a moment's notice that I need to put DS to bed and then fall asleep feeding him - I get changed in the morning though, I usually wear tops 2-3 times before washing them but if I have slept in an ordinary top once it gets washed.

Have you asked her why she wants to do it? I wouldn't press the point, but it's possible that there is some odd irrational reason behind this that she doesn't want to admit.

13 year old girls are funny little things (thinking back to my young days [aged crone emoticon]) and have all sorts of odd worries.

For eg, if she's recently got her period she might be worried about bleeding on the sheets / pjs. I know you & I would say "but how much worse to bleed on your clothes" but a 13 year old wouldn't necessarily see it that way.

If it's important to her, let it go I say.

I'll let it go then. I've asked her why she sleeps in her clothes and she says she doesn't know, which is the answer to most questions! I think it's laziness tbh. She does shower every morning before school and puts on clean clothes, so hygiene isn't really an issue. She started her period a couple of years ago so it can't be that. Libras she lives with us full time so her mum isn't part of the equation.

They are odd aren't they, 13 year olds. Sometimes I look at her and the clothes she has decided to put on and I think "you can't possibly think you look good like that", but I hold my tongue because she has to find her own way through these things and me saying she looks odd will knock her self-esteem. She doesn't wear inappropriate clothes, just puts colours together that clash terribly (and no, I didn't wear orange and turquoise together when I was 13 and if I did that was the early 80s and that's what you had to wear).

Even when she wears PJs she insists on wearing her bra. I have told her that she shouldn't but there is no way I will shift her on that one. I don't get it, they are so uncomfortable. At least she doesn't wear underwired ones.

This is not a battle I'd have with a 13-year-old. It doesn't really matter, does it?

I think its possibly a security thing.

If she sleeps fully dressed shes always ready to 'go'.

Is she otherwise happy?

She has terrible self-esteem issues when she came to live with us, which have definitely improved a lot in the two years since she came. She is not overly confident still though.

She's changing in the morning right? And showering? And the clothes she's slept in go in the laundry?

So why the fuss?

My kids do this all the time and I really, really don't care. Heck I do it too often.

I guess the only minor issue is when they are covered in crap and you've just changed the sheets but she's 13 so unlikely to be an issue.

Not a battle worth fighting at all.

But. I predict this will kick off with lost of anal retentiveness, moral outrage about standards and taking care of oneself and downright phobic responses, so brace yourself

in the grand scheme of things, there's worse a 13 y.o girl could be doing.

I suppose if you really wanted to encourage her not to do it, you could treat her to some 'halfway house' type stuff, e.g. trackies, vest tops, thin hoodies (what my 5 y.o DD calls her 'soft bots' ).