Children's clothes wouldn't become more practical under late in the century. For most of the era, girls dresses were simply miniature versions of what their mothers were wearing, with shorter skirts until age 14-18 (depending on the culture and social status of the family), when a girl was expected to come into society as marriageable young lady.
I especially like the little blue booties on the older of the two girls here (probably dyed satin in this case).
This plate was found at the immense and amazing Casey Fashion Plates Index, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.