nude sleeping

[new-mum]

We are new parents with a 6 month old daughter and both sleep in the nude. During the night we attend to our baby without dressing. What concerns me is will there ever be a time/age when this is not acceptable. I'm also aware she may on occassion want to share our bed. What should we do then? Any views from nude sleeping parents welcomed.

[Siouxsie]

My husband and I were both habitual nude sleepers when we got married, and one of our early decisions was that we intended to stay that way. When our children (2 girls, 2 boys) were infants, we would go to them in the night nude or wearing robes, depending on the temperature/time of year. When they came into our bed, we made no attempt to hide the fact that we had nothing on, and they gradually learned that Mummy and Daddy (not to mention all four of their grandparents and sundry other visitors) didn't wear clothes when they went to bed. During each child's second summer, we got them all used to sleeping in just their nappies. With warm bedrooms and bedding we continued this through autumn and winter, so that by the time they were dry at night, they were well accustomed to sleeping in the bare minimum. Once the nappies finally came off, we offered each one the choice of PJs, underwear or nude as sleepwear. They all opted for nude! They are now all in their teens, and never once along the way has any one of them ask us for PJs or any form of night attire.

[SaraJane]

DH and I both started sleeping nude when we were in our early teens, and never went back to nightwear when our daughter was born. Our approach to her right from the start was that clothes weren't necessary in bed, and that when she was big enough to keep her duvet on the bed all night, she would be big enough to choose what she wore in bed. By the age of three, the quilt was stable through the night, and her birthday suit was her preferred night attire. At eight, it still is!

[Sally_Dee]

Like SaraJane, Siouxsie and, I suspect, most sensible adults, DH and I came to parenthood as committed nude sleepers, generally accustomed to wandering the private parts of the house in our birthday suits, and not owning a stitch of conventional night attire. DH claims never to have owned PJs and my last memory of owning night attire is when I was about seven years old, and of wearing it, even earlier. Right from the start, our children were accustomed to finding us in bed in our birthday suits, and once they had some grasp of what clothes were for, and when/where/why people wore, or didn't wear, them, we explained that lots of people preferred to go to bed with no clothes on, that Mummy and Daddy preferred to too, and that they didn't need to wear anything in bed themselves if they didn't want to. Conversely, if they wanted clothes to sleep in, we would always make sure that they had something suitable available. After nearly twelve years of parenthood, we're still waiting to be asked to buy nightclothes!

[Cassandra99]

After nearly twelve years of parenthood, we're still waiting to be asked to buy nightclothes!

Interesting to see that your kids are still is happy to sleep in the nude. Since this thread has gone a bit cold, perhaps it's time to rephrase the question slightly.

How many of you parents out there have children who sleep in the nude?
If it was their idea, are you happy with this approach to night attire?
If it was your idea, did you introduce it by example, by encouragement, by insisting or by just putting your children to bed without nightclothes?

[Guest]

How many of you parents out there have children who sleep in the nude?
If it was their idea, are you happy with this approach to night attire?
If it was your idea, did you introduce it by example, by encouragement, by insisting or by just putting your children to bed without nightclothes?

As a child, the nearest I ever came to sleeping nude was leaving off my PJ top one hot summer night, much to Mum's disgust, and when DH and I were married, our night attire was generally a single pair of men's PJs shared in the traditional fashion. Our three children, boy 11, girls 11 and 9, generally wore PJs until two or three years ago, when, after a scorching hot day spent wearing just swimming costumes, they decided unanimously that putting on additional clothes to go to bed seemed a little ridiculous and announced en masse, and with not a little trepidation, that they intended to go to bed in the nude. They were slightly taken aback to find that we had no problem with that. We pointed out that it was a hot night, and that it was important that they should be comfortable rather than overly modest, and somewhat surprised them by actually following their example. The next night, the topic wasn't even raised, and we all retired in the buff. Interestingly, once the nights cooled down again, and I raised the issue of reverting to PJs, not one of them showed any interest - just for the record, neither did DH and I - and to the best of my knowledge, none of them has ever found the need to wear anything in bed since then.

[Yamaharley_UK]

Long, long ag in a (more optimistic) universe far, far away... we always slept nude, as did the kids. None of us thought about it. When they (briefly) came back home after university we discovered that they'd changed their approach to nudity and we handn't. Since then we still sleep in the buff but put on dressing gowns outside our bedroom. Sad, really.

[jinjin]

Long, long ag in a (more optimistic) universe far, far away... we always slept nude, as did the kids. None of us thought about it. When they (briefly) came back home after university we discovered that they'd changed their approach to nudity and we handn't. Since then we still sleep in the buff but put on dressing gowns outside our bedroom. Sad, really.

Yes that is sad. Very sad.
Aversion to nudity is something that once learnt is difficult to overcome. In some cases, it shares the characteristics of a prejudice.

[JFG1958]

I reside in Wyoming, and since my closest neighbor is about 10 miles away, (no, I never actually measured the distance) I do almost everything nude. The only thing I do not do nude is drive. although it would be interesting. Wyoming is a very large state with a very small population, so just about every house here has a neighbor about 10 miles away (unless in any of the major cities). I also have a lot of acreage to walk in, and do it 100% nude, and without worry. On the off chance any of my neighbors grabs a pair of binoculars, he/she/they will be dissappointed, all they will see is my chest and face.

[SallyD]

How many of you parents out there have children who sleep in the nude?
If it was their idea, are you happy with this approach to night attire?
If it was your idea, did you introduce it by example, by encouragement, by insisting or by just putting your children to bed without nightclothes?

Our children started sleeping nude during the hot summer 2 years ago. Although DH and I had been sleeping in our birthday suits for many years, since before we were married, in fact, wehad always provided our children (girls now 11,9, boy now 7) with nightwear, which they had generally worn unquestioningly. As the nights got increaingly hotter, and getting to sleep was increasingly fraught, we decided that it was time to promote nude sleeping as an option, not just for hot nights, but for all nights. At bedtime, we told the kids that they were now old enough to choose what to wear to bed each night, permissible options being PJs/nighties, underwear or birthday suits. Jeans and school uniform were most definitely out. That night, with bedroom temperatures well over 25C, our recommendation of birthday suits was universally and enthusiastically taken up. Two years on, not one of them has ever asked for PJs or nighties at bedtime; just as well, as after a few weeks of continuous nude sleeping, we gathered up all the old kids' nightwear and took it to a charity shop.