Helping Younger Children
Dressing baby with cerebral palsy tends to be easier than as the child starts to grow. When you dress a younger child, it isn’t uncommon for you to lay them down on a dressing table to dress them. At around age two or three, your child will learn to start dressing themselves and learn how they should put on clothing. With that said, children who have CP can have a harder time with this because of how muscular or intellectual difficulties that can make this harder for them. In many cases for children with CP, you will dress them through laying them down.
Dressing Your Child on a Bed
Let’s say that you have decided to lay your child down on a bed. You should first make sure that you have laid him down on the bed, rather than on a piece of furniture or on the floor. That’s because the bed will offer your child the most comfort, and you can also use an elevated bed so that you don’t injure your back while dressing your child. Be aware, however, that when you choose to dress your child on an elevated bed, it has its share of risks. For example, a child with this birth disorder has a risk of falling and getting more injured. For that reason, you might install a safety rail as a way of keeping him safe.
As your child becomes a teenager, you should try to encourage your child to stand when you dress him because you want your child to work on his strength. When you encourage your child to hold onto a book case or a dresser, you teach him how to balance himself. You have to take this on a case-by-case basis, however, because some children will have severe CP. Dressing children with cerebral palsy doesn’t have to be an impossible task. Over time, you will learn what works and what doesn’t.