Baby Private Parts Intimidate Me
I guess the title itself kind of explains my post for the day…
I never thought I would have a daughter. Ever. In our family there are all grandson’s and actually come to think of it, the last girl that was born was me! That is going back almost 26 years now.
Since becoming a mother, and even babysitting and working with children, it seems like I always have been caring for little boys. I have become accustom to cleaning and diapering little mini penises.
But now I have a daughter. Saturday marked one week of her life on the outside of my uterus. And in the past week diapering has certainly been one of my biggest sources of anxiety. First the kind of diapers we are using… I have a full supply of cloth diapers waiting for her little butt. Unfortunately she is so tiny that she doesn’t fit into any of them. I thought my recovery from the c-section was going to be my biggest cloth diapering challenge this time around… nope!
Then there is the entire cleaning regiment. Of course as a female myself, I know the good ol’ front to back trick. But the combination of breast milk poop, and a new baby vagina has me freaking out.
Before I left the hospital… I was up late and texted a friend who works the overnight shift at a local safe house, and is often bored come the middle of the night. The text itself read “Baby vagina’s are intimidating” it certainly made for a hysterical conversation.
Of course I asked the hospital staff about it… you would think this was my first baby right? And ended up with a full lesson… including the fact that my daughter could have a period… I think that may have sent me over the edge. Haha!
But, she is still alive, and healthy… so I think I have got the diapering a little girl thing down pretty good in the couple days I have had practice.
Anyone else have horrible anxiety over diapering their daughter?
I felt the same way! I have 2 sons, but had to care for a friend’s daughter while she was on bed rest. It freaked me out to be cleaning there and worrying about it. I was suddenly so glad to have boys!
Danielle right there with you girl. I had a boy first and then had a girl and i was a little freaked out myself. Seems so weird since we are girls? The baby period freaked me out i’m like “what? a baby can get a period?” My daughter did have a little blood one day in her diaper but i’m def. glad i knew it could happen. Plus the breast feeding blowouts omg girls just seems to have alot more areas for stuff to hide haha. Another thing though that happend to her was she was like a week old and one of her nipples got really hard and swollen, they didn’t tell me that could happen. I totally freaked out called my mom and other friends with girls. We made it through it all though and i know you will too. You will be a pro at it before you know it.
Mom of three girls piping in here-
important “rules” to remember: wipe front to back… make sure you get in ALL of the folds… don’t wipe away the white stuff, it’s good for them… that’s about it!
Put me in front of a boy baby, and I’m totally lost. Happens to me every time with my client’s babies!
PS- Your girl babies breasts may get swollen and even make a little milk… totally normal.
I was so scared to change my daughter. Changing a little boy seemed so easy even though they can arch the penis and shoot pee out of it. (haha)
i’m a grammar nerd, so i must point out that vaginas (plural) does not have an apostrophe. you only use an apostrophe with a contraction (vagina is) or possession (something of the vagina).
as for being freaked out by your daughter’s, i’m sure you will do fine.
after all, YOU have one and you seem to have taken care of it okay, right? whereas i’m starting to feel anxious about caring for my infant son’s genitals as i’ve never had a penis … 
I feel the exact opposite. My first baby is due in August, and the only reason I want it to be a girl is that I am super intimidated by having to take care of a penis!
My tip? buy a small pack of disposables for the first week or two. The meconium and teeny tiny butt are not cloth friendly.
Also, baby girls can fountain just as well as boys. I never expected it and nearly got a faceful. True story.
I had one of each. IMO, both have their own challenges. Just be sure to take your time and get her all clean. You have to learn to spread things to be sure you got everything clean. I preferred disposable diapers as they keep the wet away from the body. That’s just my preference.
I was the opposite I have two baby girls and one boy. The penis scared me more. I guess because I knew how to take care of the girly parts and not so much the boy parts
As for meconium and cloth. You can always use a disposable insert (like a grovia, gdiaper, flip) inside the cover for the first week or so. Or use a diaper liner.
@doreen- I do think it is a personal choice on what type of diapers to use. However, keeping the moisture away from the skin and being so absorbent is not necessarily a good thing. The baby will pee two or three times before you can tell a disposable diaper is wet. In the meantime, even though their skin is not wet, they are being exposed to the ammonium in the pee. With cloth you change the diaper more often and their skin is not wet. If you use a fleece liner or a pocket style diaper the fleece pulls moisture from the skin and they will be nice and dry to the touch.
I was surprised how easy it was to keep my daughter clean. We’re having a little boy next and I’m freaking out about how I’m going to wipe him! With girls, it’s easy – front to back, all the folds. What do you do with a boy? Do you have to go around the little penis? Can you just wipe “down” like for a girl? Do you have wipe each side and around? It’s so confusing to me! I babysat when I was young and changed boy diapers but that was 20 years ago and I can’t remember what I did!
Also, I disposable diapered my daughter, but plan on cloth diapering my son. For the first few weeks, we will be using either disposables or the disposable options for Grovia. I got interested in cloth because while potty training, I didn’t like disposable potty training pants and went with cloth. I was surprised at how easy it was to keep them clean and it wasn’t gross at all! My daughter also potty trained lickity split by 2 years old! So cloth diaper it is next time around!
qtips! Because although u wipe right. poo creeps as she sits in it.
Ok so i think ive got the baby vagina cleaning down! my dd is ten mos. old now. But i do still wonder; is it safe and is it “enough” to clean in their little private parts with a baby wipe? (i buy un scented and if that breast milk poop is in there pretty good, i wash her butt in the sink faucet. @ Katie R. Thanks for the tip about the white stuff! i always wiped it. :-/
About the baby period… i had a son and he had a period too. he had blood all over his diaper. totaly freaked me out. but the nurse nicely explained that it happens because the baby (doesnt matter gender) is carrying the mommys hormones so they have to release them some way.
And something that freaked me out? Did you know that vaginas can seal up? Called Vaginal adhesion. Weird and creepy