How To Dress Your Little Crawler

When your baby is just learning to get around, comfortable, cotton fabrics are key. It helps them to explore in comfort. This doesn’t mean you’re limited to pajamas though. Try some leggings (even for boys – just maybe in a bigger size) in fun colors and prints – there are a ton of cute options out there!

When you’re getting around on hands and knees, you don’t want to be constricted by uncomfortable, tight fitting pants (i.e. skinny jeans), so make sure to dress your one in pants that have a bit of stretch to them so they can find their way from here to there in comfort and style.

I realize I just said comfortable, stretchy fabrics are key with a crawler, but sometimes if you’ll be out for long enough, you just might have to allow your little one to crawl somewhere else (think: grumpy baby at a store who wants to exercise their new crawling skills, or at a park). If I knew there was a chance Fern might be crawling somewhere outside the house, I would make sure to put her in comfortable, loose-fitting jeans. Jeans are thicker to protect those little knees if they’re crawling around outside on cement or in grass, but still give them the comfort to move. You could also opt for jeans that were a bit more fitted with some stretch.

As much as I love a cute dress on a baby girl, the fact is, dresses are terrible when babies are learning to crawl – the dresses are too long and just trip them up by getting caught on their knees. My suggestion is to skip the dresses during this short time and instead opt for tunic style tops. The “dress” in this photo is actually a shirt, but is short enough that crawling was still possible. You can pair the tunic with tights or leggings to give you that dress look, while being much more practical.

Short skirts can also work for little crawling girls. Go for smaller sizes with stretchy waist bands. The skirt in this photo is actually a size 3 months, even though Fern is 11 months old in the photo. Dresses and skirts are long, so if you dress your little one in a smaller size, it will still work (while showing a tiny bit of crawling baby booty – remedy: coordinating bloomers) but be much easier to crawl in.

If you’re looking for a dressier option and are feeling limited without the ability to choose dresses, opt for shorts instead. Depending on the weather you can dress your baby in shorts alone, or with a pair of tights thrown on underneath.

When the weather is chilly, socks are a must, but when you’re indoors, ditch the socks as often as possible. While socks are cute for coordinating outfits, they inhibit babies crawling abilities. Bare feet give them better traction when they’re crawling around.

Whether your baby is wearing tights or pants, choose dark colors when possible. Sticking to colors like brown, navy, black and grey will save you the trouble of constantly trying to get stains out of the knees of their clothing.