Any Tips on Raising a Girl?

Updated on September 20, 2012
A.A. asks from Columbus, OH
14 answers

Hi Mamas!

We have a 4 year old boy and are now having a girl this time around! Do you have any tips or advice on what is different with raising a baby girl?

I had some really good advice from friends that I wouldn't have known otherwise before we had our boy. (ie how they start weeing as soon as their diaper comes off nearly every time and lots of other information related to boy parts) I started thinking that despite being a girl I feel kind of clueless!

What can I do next?

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M.J.

answers from Milwaukee on

Wipe front to back.
They are harder to clean due to all the folds.
They love shoes as soon as they can walk :)

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M.K.

answers from Columbus on

My advice: get out now while the gettins' good!!! lol!!!

Ok, seriously, I don't think there's really anything anyone can tell you. You'll just have to take it day-by-day and learn like the rest of us!! Just be sure and give them BOTH attention and hugs, etc. or your little boy might get jealous.

One thing I can tell you .... when she's at the toddler age and tells you she doesn't want to wear THAT dress, believe her!!! lol!!

I've learned from experience that boys are so much easier than girls!! Just wait till they're teenagers .... my son turns 18 next week and has been soooooooooo much easier than my daughter!! She's 15 going on 35!!!

Congrats and good luck!!!

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

I think it'll be fine. She'll do all the same baby things. She might pee all over the place anyway (I swear, I have never met a baby girl that peed as much as DD did). Don't let her sit in soapy water very often/long. If she has curls, don't brush them. Feed her. Dress her. Love her. Find out who she is and just do the best you can...which is all any parent can. Maybe she'll be a princess. Or maybe she'll be a tomboy. Or maybe she'll be both depending on the afternoon.

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D.T.

answers from Muncie on

Keep the "little lady" parts clean and dry. Invest in diaper rash ointment. My daughter is 6 years old and we still use it from time to time. Do your best to follow her lead on toys/clothes/play habits. Not every girl is frills and lace, some are more rubber boots and earthworms. You know the old saying "Sugar and Spice and Everything nice..." some little girls get an extra dose of "spice". Good luck and enjoy!

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J.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

You will find everything so much easier this time around, not because she is a girl but because you've already had a baby. Diaper changing can be a little more challenging with girls, because there are more nooks and crannies to make sure you clean. Otherwise, they are not so different really, at least when they are babies.

My one thing is that I tend to avoid pink and princesses as much as possible for my girl while she's still too little to have a preference. When girls get older, it's almost unavoidable. I figure I want to expose her to so much more than that before the Disney pink princess machine grabs her in its evil clutches. It is helpful that I had a boy first, because she already has all the toys she needs - and they aren't color-coded pink and purple.

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M.A.

answers from Boston on

So many things.. but really they just want love, just like baby boys. One thing I have tried to make a point to do with my little girl (she's only 4) is to build up her self esteem based on important qualities she has.. like I'll say "I love my special girl, you're so sweet and kind and generous..".... or I'll comment on how strong she is when she's lifting something heavy across the room. Or how smart she is. I just mean, I don't focus on saying "you're so beautiful" - I don't want to place her self esteem or self worth on how she looks. Not that I never tell her she's beautiful, I just mean I don't make a big deal of it. I want to teach her there are so many other important qualities... society puts such pressure on girls to be pretty and nothing else. just my two cents! you'll be fine and congratulations!

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L.E.

answers from Provo on

I had issues with the color pink. I was determined to introduce my daughter to every color of the rainbow so that she would not fall into a stereotype. Guess what? She loves pink. I was getting her a variety of colors to wear and she was getting frustrated because she didn't have enough pink things. Finally I realized that I was causing her unhappiness by not letting her be what she wanted to be. So my tip is, let her be crazy about pink, purple, princesses, unicorns, and fairies, whatever. Your tolerance will pay off when she smiles.

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E.S.

answers from New York on

I am so with "2littleones" on this! So much emphasis, from girl to womanhood, is placed on looks.

Emphasize the whole person. Nurture and encourage her interests, even if they are not stereotypically "girl." My 2 1/2 year old is interested in nature. She loves picking up sticks, playing in the dirt, etc. I am going with that.

Sure, she is called beautiful, cute, etc. by passersby, but I am focusing on her entire self.

Tell her to be true to herself. Stand her ground. Do unto others.

Let her have a voice. Hear out her dreams. Hopes. Desires.

And most of all, unconditional love.

x0x0x

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S.M.

answers from Columbus on

Great question. The thing no one told me was to NEVER put little crawlers/toddlers in a dress. My daughter had such trouble learning to crawl, and she would get tangled up in even a short "play" jumper. I started putting her in t-shirts with leggings and she was so much happier.

Also don't be surprised if your daughter is a tomboy and a princess. I avoided all things pink and tried to encourage my daughter towards less traditional girl toys, but she's almost 2 years old and she loves her baby dolls and anything pink or girly. She also loves to play rough with her brother and she's better than him at sports. You can find her wearing a tutu and digging mud pies any day!

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R.K.

answers from Abilene on

Prepare for DRAMA. My daughter just turned 5 but the drama started way before this.
James Dobson has a good book called Bringing up Girls.
Good luck. Our daughter is very strong willed, but still a blessing.

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C.D.

answers from Atlanta on

There are two very good books 1. Raising a Son 2. Raising a daughter. Another good book - Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. You may want to google them. Read now while you can.

The rest will come along as you go. Not all boys pee when you take off their diapers, girls can too, it's just that they don't get ya in the face. I've never had a problem with it though, but I've seen it happen.

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K.I.

answers from Muncie on

I have the same as you are expecting. Things I did not expect ... My sons favorite color to change from blue to pink the day she was born, that there are a million little hair clips that you will end up with even if they are born bald, that even though I was a tom boy I am still capable of producing a little princess (we do call her the warrior princess though because she hangs in there with big brother), that even though she hates to wear shoes she will have a fascination with them an collect them at every point she can whether they are hers or not.

on the more serious side... the hygiene thing is the biggest, other than that they are still babies.

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

I have a boy and a girl.
Regardless of gender, they are still children.
You raise them the same, but knowing that their activities and interests are different.

Per their bodies, they are different of course.
Girls, as someone said below... you wipe from front to back. You don't want a urinary infection etc. Make sure your Husband KNOWS this too. It is important. Especially when a girl has a poopy diaper, you gotta be more careful when wiping and cleaning them, so that poop does not get into their vaginal area.

I have never had a problem, with my son or daughter as a baby, peeing as soon as their diaper comes off.
That is a myth.

Boys and girls...
Just their interests differ.
My daughter was so girly. Loved pink and princess things. But go by your child's cues... and interests. Just let the child, have their own personality.

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V.P.

answers from Columbus on

They sure aren't the same as boys, and as much as I wanted to believe it was nurture and not nature, there's a lot of nature involved for sure! I have one of each, and they're very different, but I don't know how much is birth order and personality, too.

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