Anxiety and refusal to wear clothes

Sorry for the late reply, he has wore a onesie a couple of times in the last two weeks but never for long, got a cahms appointment booked with the disability service, Drs referred back to paediatricians for a referral, the hospital have requested an mri on his brain because he’s now started twitching his head and they say it dosent look like epilepsy, he’s had a lot of bloods done to rule out bowel disorders and diseases, now recently noticed lumps in his calf muscles the professionals are telling me it’s him being so active on his tiptoes, and we’re pretty much still housebound because of it all, he’s aloud to go school for two hours a week, one hour is spent in the hydropool and afterwards is when he puts the onesie on.x

Hi 

Apologies for my late reply. 

CAMHS were not very helpful , so in the end my husband and I ordered some  onesie, with a zip at the back.  ( bought from M&S as the material was soft / cotton) . It took both of us to finally get our daughter into it , as she was not happy at all especially as she couldn’t reach the zip at the back to undo it. It was hard , as our daughter was very upset and distressed but we monitored her throughout. After about 3hrs , she finally just “gave up”. 
she sat back down on the sofa , with her iPad and started to watch you tube. Just like that ! 
she is still very sensory driven by clothing and refuses particular types of garments. So literally  I have about 20pairs of the same trousers / shorts tops etc. 

I do hope my reply/ advice  helps with your child. Fingers crossed.

Hi I’m literally going through this with my 4 year old, did you find out what the cause was and how you help your child’s anxiety?my sons also non verbal and has hardly been at school since October because of this, no he won’t leave the house at all or get dressed, I don’t know how to help him and nor do any of the professionals 

sounds like a guy thing. but i like it. especially if she won't get sick.

Turn the heating down at home? It's cold, it's winter. But if her home is toasty she has no use for clothing. If it starts to get cold I think she'll quickly find one or two items she can tolerate. She'll probably wear these one or two items a lot so your next job is to figure out why and get tons of near identical items as you slowly turn the thermostat up. Oh and some autistic people are less sensitive to cold so be aware things might have to get quite uncomfortable for you before it effects her.

I think it's possible you see that part of what's setting her off is the anxiety of having other people dress her as much as the clothing itself. So don't dress her. provide her with a range of options and let her dress herself. If she won't then you need to find ways to induce her that don't involve dressing her yourself.

That sounds quite challenging. My son refuses a lot of clothes as well, but I haven't had this. I am wondering what caused it. Do you remember the last clothes she wore? What happened that day? Did she get a hair cut? Did you have a new detergent? Anything out of the ordinary.
I know sometimes my clothes catch on my skin and it can cause a short painful sensation. Does she tolerate a blanket at night? Does she tolerate towels for drying? That could give you a hint. If she tolerates anything like that I would sew a  sleeveless short nightgown and go from there. If that works maybe add a few cm after a few days, but keep the seem outside.

I overheat at night often and then wearing long sleeved clothing is like torture. That would scare a young girl too.

My son is just about always hot. Even if it is subzero he doesn't wear more clothes. He overheats too. Although his feet become ice cold because he takes his socks off on the cold tile floor. I don't know what to do about it anymore either. He knows it cognitively that they're cold, but I don't think he feels it. I got carried away.

Maybe you could have her help you pick your clothes for the day. I'd put out a few different outfits. Then have her come in and help you pick something for you. In that way you might learn what is more likely something she would tolerate in the future.

I hope you will figure this out soon. Best of luck.

Thank you for your reply 

we have cut all the labels , brought all different styles of clothing - loose fit / tight fit , plain colours, different materials , offered “bribes “ , given her a choice but she doesn’t want them near her - she just screams 

We have done the brushing technique ( and the school ) still nothing 

fingers crossed for CAMHS