POLL: How dirty...

rayskit10

do your kids have to be before you change their clothes?

did that change with age? 

rayskit10

when my kids were newborns, i would change their clothes if they got any spit up, or obviously a blow out. they would wear 2-3 outifts plus pajamas a day. this was b/c they slept so much and i have a weird thing about sleeping in dirty clothes.

now that M is 1, if he gets food on him i usually just leave it. he's a messy eater and dribbles when he drinks, so he always has at least some food and dribbled milk on him. if i changed him everytime he got dirty like this, he would wear 6 outfits a day. in fact, he can pretty much crawl in the dirt and as long as it's after nap, he'll stay like that until dinner.

T goes to school and pretty much stays in the same clothes all day until he goes to bed. 

Suzi-G-

Mine's too little to really get dirty aside from his own bodily fluids.  Any amount of diaper leakage warrants immediate changing.  Slobber and/or spit-up.... eh... it depends.  If I changed him every time he spit-up a little it would be ridiculous. 

With older kids (I taught preschool and nannied in college) if we're not going anywhere special and the "dirty" is ordinary (a little food, a little paint, a little playground dirt) I'd wash hands, wipe face and leave the clothes.  If the mess is going to warrant sponging down arms and legs then I'd change their clothes too.  But I'm not much of a clean freak, kids get dirty it's the nature of the beast.

The exception would be if it's an item of clothing I like and the stain really needs to be pre-treated immediately.  

charlotteL

At this point they get dressed in the morning and stay in those clothes all day.  The exception is if the throw up on themselves,have an accident or pour their drink on themselves.  The usual daily grime is not enough to warrant changing.

KelleyA

Under 9 months she pretty much got changed after any solid meal...she was MESSY!  She wasn't a spitter so I didn't have to change her often as a little baby...1-2 times a day.

Now unless she pees on herself she stays in her clothes all day.  The only exception is if we're going somewhere like a restaurant/someone's house.  I don't mind a little paint/lunch on her clothes.  I've definitely become more relaxed about it over time. 

KKMMex

I try to keep them in the same clothes all day, but lately we've been playing with water every afternoon in the backyard.  Sometimes I'll let them run around nekkid or put bathing suits on them, but they will often get soaking wet with the water hose before I think to change them.

If Elizabeth gets really messy while eating I'll change her shirt.  If Sarah wets her pants I have to change everything below the waist.  Sometimes she just needs a dry pair of underwear.  I'm amazed at the amount of laundry our family produces.

 

jen5-03

I don't change for dirt unless we're going somewhere special - say to meet some friends for dinner.

I only change them if they are wet and I think they're uncomfortable. Wet can = spilled drink, water hose, overzealous handwashing, spitup, pee, etc.

I've never been one to change clothes often, but of course they need more changes when they're tiny just because of more poop/pee/spitup.

LisaK2b

Baby age:  Maybe once or twice depending on how many time they would spit up or drool like crazy on their top.  For major spit ups, I change right away.  For drool, I wait until it gets pretty bad and then change her especially if it's before a bottle and she's probably going to take a nap.

Toddler age:  She pretty much stays in her day time clothes until it's night time unless she makes a big mess on her shirt from eating, then she gets her shirt changed once during the day.  If it's at dinner time, we keep her in it until it's bath time and she'll change into her PJ. 

Nanner

Baby--Unless it was a huge food mess, diaper leak or blowout, I'd generally keep them in the same clothes unless we were going somewhere, or the clothes smelled bad from whatever made it dirty.

Toddler--Sam will stay in the same clothes all day, unless we're going somewhere and they're dirty.  I will change Hannah's pants if she has an accident, but I generally try to keep her in the same clothes all day too.  She has a different idea though.  She's going through a phase where she wants to do wardrobe changes a couple of times a day.  It's not so bad as long as the clothes she changes out of are still clean!  But sometimes she gets a little juice on her shirt and wants to change immediately, even if we're just hanging out at home all day.  Yikes.  Clothes horse already.

nvp05

Baby- we had to change Rena several times a day since she spit up so much. I couldn't stand the smell of it on her clothes! She wore a lot of bibs so that helped some.

Toddler- she pretty much stays in the same clothes all day. She makes a big mess at lunch sometimes (spaghetti day!) at school, so if we are going out to dinner or something then I change her. She doesn't like to be changed...but she hates to be dirty even more! So I'll show her the dirty stains and she'll happily let me change her!

kreeper611

Poop gets a change.  Pee - depends on how much.  Usually it only happens overnight (on the rare occassion) so he gets changed.

Spit up - depends how much.  A quarter/silver dollar size amount...I'll just wipe it off and go.  A palm size or bigger, probably change him.