I think its gorgeous how she dresses the baby and I would do the same. I hate seeing babies in trendy clothes and slogan t-shirts. They arent teenagers. And when it comes time and they want to choose how to dress, I would listen. But at 16 months I do not believe you are injuring your child’s psyche by dressing them how you want. Get real people.

In my experience, shoehorning a child into a certain style is a recipe for rebellion. I am very strongly against constantly dressing children in the stereotypical dresses and trousers because it badly inhibits their sense of individuality and creativity. As parents, we have a duty to encourage our children to be whatever they dream of, and as trivial as the way we dress them may seem, it is one of the earliest things that they can have a hand in helping with, therefore, to restrict this area from the get go is shortsighted. I do not want my daughter growing up believing that she always has to be highly-groomed or dressed up. In an image-obsessed and weight-obsessed society, clothing is an important aspect. I’m not accusing Ali or her husband of being bad parents at all, but I would hope that they would allow Estela (beautiful name) to find her own style as she grows, and not insist on the dresses if she doesn’t want them.

Estela is such a beautiful…she deserves to be dressed well!!!

Alii is from Louisiana. That is how girls are dressed from the time they are babies until about 4. Bows and dresses. The rest of the world may not like it but we just don’t care! We like our girls to be girls and non-trendy. Plus…..little girls don’t need to be in black either!!!!

I’m not a mother yet, but I won’t be as dead-set as she is on dressing her as she wants (while she still can, of course!). And that may be because I’m not a big dress person like I was when I was younger or when I had no choice, lol. I wear what I like to wear, and I’ll put on my child what I want. Unless it’s a gift from someone, then I’d at least want them to get some use out of the outfit that was given to them… Besides, there are some cute little pants/jeans/leggings outfits out there lately.

But, hey, Estela is adorable in every outfit I’ve seen her in, dresses and all. She, like her mother, can rock any look!

Nina I have to disagree about baby bikinis. They are actually practical since you can change a diaper a lot more easily than having to pull off a wet bathing suit and put it back on. Plus the one my daughter has had a cute ruffled bottom and an top that was more like a tank top.

It’s not like her 16-month-old can really decide herself what to wear so I don’t see what it matters how Ali dresses her daughter. She has little time left to choose what her daughter wears before she is deciding herself.

I personally think that my daughters looks their cutest, and most baby-like when they wore pretty girlie dungarees. I am wondering how her child got thru the crawling stage always wearing dresses – we found that a problem, as our eldest daughter kept falling over the hem of her skirt when she was crawling. We had to put the skirts and dresses away until she was on her feet!

I, too, think that’s a bit extreme, and also think some kids’ clothes are also going overboard (i.e. baby bikinis and halter tops). Then, too, I heard many a story about how my mom used to change my clothes AND comb my hair 3 times a day… like I was a doll. As far as being dressy dressy, with the lace on the socks, ruffles on the bloomers and froufrou dresses, that was saved for Sundays.

Yeah Christine I read that, but prior to anyone knowing that, most of the comments on this board were how cute she looks. And Ali’s daughter can’t argue right now lol I am sure when she can she will definately have an opinion either way, like all kids!