Toddler Thursday: Sizing them up
It's Sarah K.K., back with another installment of Toddler Thursday ...
The other day, a friend of mine posted a picture of her son on Facebook. He was crawling up the stairs, but his PJ pants were falling off, and his diaper was hanging out.
That's sadly a pretty common sight around our house. My son, Isaac, is a tall and skinny guy at almost 21 months old, and I'm starting to think that kids' clothing sizes might be even more messed up than women's clothing sizes. And that is saying something!
When he was born, we were given clothes in a variety of sizes, which was great because it meant we weren't drowning in tiny onesies he'd wear twice and then outgrow. But it's become a running joke that every few weeks, I put this pair of Carter's pants on him, convince myself that now, finally, they fit, and then they start slipping off again. They're marked 18 months, and the length is great, but that waist? Still too big.
For ages, he lived in American Apparel karate pants, these knit, elastic-waist, comfy pants in neutral colors that went with everything. But now, the 12-18 month ones are too short and the 18-24 month ones just fall off. Sigh.
It seems we're reduced to high waters (as seen at left) or Pants on the Ground.
I asked around among some of my friends, trying to get a handle on what places and brands run bigger or smaller. We've had decent luck with Old Navy's regular and boot cut fit jeans. I also bought a pair of fleece pants and a pair of brown slacks there, but we haven't tried them yet. To me, Carter's seems to run bigger in the waist. We've had the same issue with Gymboree -- too big in the waist and often featuring what appear to be drawstring waists, which would totally help with our problem, but then it turns out they are faux. Le sigh. While ordering something unrelated from One Step Ahead, I added a pair of clearance 18-month pants to my basket to reach the level of free shipping (I'm so compulsive about that. Am I the only one?), and they look like they will fit in the waist, but they are too long, of all things.
I'm looking forward to the warmer weather for a lot of reasons, but especially because the kidlet can wear shorts again -- a lot of his 12-month stuff will still fit, and we ought not have as much of a length issue. Whew!
But still, I'm curious what brands you've found to fit your various sizes of toddler. Feel free to leave a comment below.
(Oh, and an aside: Regarding last week's potty post? He's shown not one speck of interest in the potty since then, except for sitting on it once, clothed. So maybe he's not as ready as we thought. We're OK with that.)
(Photo by me)
Comments
Hi Sarah,
it is frustrating, isn't it? The unfortunate thing is that it's not so much a conspiracy as a mismatch between brands' unique size charts and kids' unique growth patterns. And drawstrings...well, safety first. We're just about to launch a service called SizeTracker that helps parents find kids clothing brands whose sizing may fit their child best and to track how those sizes will fit as your child grows. In the meantime, I hope you'll stop by our blog for tips on finding kids clothing that fits.
Stormy @SizeTracker
Posted by: SizeTracker | March 12, 2010 9:31 AM
sarah your best bet is to stick with the pants that have adjustable waist bands. I know I had them from carter's when my kids were very young and even walmart carries jeans with them up into the larger boys sizes. My son is in a 6/7 boys for length now but his waist is super skinny still. I also hate to spend more than $8-12 on pants/jeans that he will either grow out of length wise or rip out the knees.
Posted by: holly | March 15, 2010 12:24 PM
I completely feel your pain. My daughter will be 18 months April 10 and it seems to be a daily dilemma finding clothes that fit her properly. It certainly doesn't help that she's tall for her age (last doctor appt she was 31 1/2 inches tall and 24 pounds-that was 2 1/2 months ago). I've found, like you, that Carter's seems to run long but the waist seems to always be too big. Their dresses though are perfect (sorry that doesn't really help you). Stuff from the Gap is too short. But Gymboree clothes seem dead on. She's been in 18 month clothes for awhile now and is creeping into 18-24 month sizes here and there and everything Gymboree (which is best purchased on clearance or at yard sales, on craigslist and at totswap) is the right length and isn't absurdly big at the waist. Otherwise, your friend is right, Old Navy is the way to go. Their clothes are sized perfectly and priced reasonably.
Good luck!
Posted by: Sharon | March 15, 2010 4:53 PM
I second Old Navy, especially for pants. It's the only place I buy clothes for my son. And I always add a few extra items for myself... for the free shipping ;)
Posted by: Betsy | March 16, 2010 11:11 AM
My son was a premie (born 9 weeks early at 2 lb 12.5 oz). We didn't even make it into newborn sizes until he was almost 3 months old, and was in 6-9 month clothes until almost 18 months. Even now, at 3 years-old he is still very small (barely 30 lb. fully dressed) and proportioned like his father with a long torso and short legs... Standard sizes mean nothing to us. On any given day he may wear 2T jeans (thank goodness for adjustable waists) with a 3T shirt, and underclothes in 18-24 months...whatever fits.
Posted by: GrayGirl | March 17, 2010 9:26 AM