Try this to help your baby learn how to get dressed and undressed

Some babies will sit still while you dress them (we haven’t met many of those babies – apparently, they do exist!). But as they develop more awareness of themselves and have experienced getting dressed a lot, your baby might be eager to help. At times this can be a source of frustration for them and you – they want to do things for themselves but don’t quite have the physical and cognitive skills to get dressed without help. And sometimes you just need them to be dressed quickly so you can go out!  

We think we know what will help: backwards chaining and forwards chaining. Doesn't sound like it has anything to do with getting dressed, we know, but stick with us and we’ll explain!  

Break a task down into smaller steps 

The first thing to do is consider all the small steps involved in the task ahead – so, in this case, getting dressed.  

There are lots of things to think about, getting clothes ready – so making sure everything is the right way round and not inside out. Thinking about the order that clothes should be put on, positioning each item of clothing and your body in just the right way so you can put them on.  

Even putting on a t-shirt has a few steps – putting it over your head, moving your arms into position, and putting them into the sleeves, pulling the t-shirt down and a quick check that everything is straight and ready.  

Your baby can’t help with all those steps yet but breaking the task down might help you think about what your baby can do to help.  

This is where the idea of backwards chaining and forwards chaining comes in!  

What is backwards chaining? 

Backwards chaining involves breaking a task down into smaller steps – and then getting your baby to do the last step.  

They might pull their t-shirt down after you have helped them to put it on. Once they are confident with this step they might do two steps – so push their arms into the sleeves then pull down the top.  

What is forwards chaining? 

Forwards chaining is the reverse, so you get your baby to do the first step and you do the others – this might be tricky with getting dressed as the first step might be harder for them.  

I’m not sure my baby could do the first or last step yet – what should I do? 

Think about the steps in getting dressed that they could do successfully. It might be that for your baby now, moving their arms into position is the best way for them to get involved.  

Whichever way you decide to approach it, try to find a small part of getting dressed for your baby to do themselves.  

If sometimes you just need to dress them so you aren’t late, that’s fine – but if you can build in a few extra minutes for them to help, that might pay off in future when they can dress themselves!