Just found out from U/S: It's a BOY!!!

[j4ino]

I have a 2-year-old daughter and I come from a family of all girls! This boy comes as a happy surprise to me! What do I need???!?!!?!?

[tammylsmith]

How exciting

My little guy was born 2 months ago, and I also have a daughter (she's 3) He is such a love... but wants to eat constantly! In fact, he's a bit of a grump if he doesn't get to nurse often. I'm sure that is different from one to the next, but that is a major difference I noticed between him and my dd, so I was going to suggest a good carrier you can nurse in. I love my mei tai.

One thing l I can tell you that you DON"T need is to circumcise (be sure to visit that board if you are on the fence... it helped me make up my mind! Dh was against the idea at first but thanked me later)

Best wishes to you and enjoy your little angel! Boys are so fun!

[Jaesun's Dad]

Congratulations. Today is our son's 5 month birthday, and so far the needs have been pretty minimal. He does nurse a lot, but otherwise he's a mostly calm and happy kid that just wants love and attention. I can't think of anything specific that he needed that a girl wouldn't. He's intact, and the only special care we've needed there is to carefully wipe off some messy poop off his delicates (dad (me) gets this honor when I'm around).

[JordanKX]

In my limited experience, babies are So similar for the first year. They're working on development, not gender-specific stuff. DS is 9 months and he loves his 4yo step-brothers trucks that make noise. But I'm confident that if he had a sister, he'd be playing with her stuff in just the same way.

The only thing that did get me (despite being WAY older than my two brothers and changing years of diapers), was fear that I was hurting his boy parts, on some messy poop changes. DP had to stand over me a few times to encourage me that I wasn't Hurting anything. Which was really more embarrassing than anything. There are special creams and stuff that are better for girl parts... so far we've had no issue with boy parts and rashes. Really, the boy stuff just isn't an issue.

Girls pee just as much as boys, but boys will shoot up at you. So, it's a good habit to take off the diaper, put a cloth over his stuff while you're getting yourself ready to put the next diaper on.

I certainly recommend looking into the forums on remaining intact. It was our choice. And there are some good links into penis development and what to do/and not to do with an intact baby.

Everyone in my family says Boys are Easier. Since I have nothing to compare that to.... I couldn't say. But they sure are fun. Congrats Momma!!!

[lifeguard]

Congrats!

I wouldn't say there is anything really special you need for a boy than you would for a girl.

Oddly I knew about the whole peeing up & all over thing but it never has happened with ds - when he peed it always just went down his leg. So it's not necessarily a given.

[HappiLeigh]

Congrats!

My DS was the first boy in his generation in our wider family. Fun to get both genders in there! I think the only differences so far have been a) the sales job we did to the family on why we chose not to have him circ'd, b) I have to use diapers with gussets because even with a diaper on it seems like he pees everywhere, and c) people are much less likely to gift us baby clothes, perhaps because they are less fun.

[aerobrandi]

Originally Posted by HappiLeigh

people are much less likely to gift us baby clothes, perhaps because they are less fun.

I think this is probably true. It seems like there isn't as much out there for cute baby boy clothes as there is cute baby girl clothes. My cousin is pregnant with a girl and I had way more fun picking out clothes for her than I did our son.

And I have to second the being afraid of hurting him during baths and diaper changes. And then I saw the way he would grab and pull on himself and that was no longer a fear.

[texmati]

congratulations!!! ITA. Don't circ! I can't imagine caring for a surgical wound in the first few months. cleaning down there is a breeze- just wipe, wipe, wipe all over! Only real difference that I can think of is range of pee. Maybe invest in some pee pee tee pees!

After that you need some adorable matching clothes for him and you husband. It just melts my heart to see DS wearing a burnt orange onsie, and some basketball shorts.

link to cac

[kismetbaby]

I'm pretty sure that you don't need or need to do anything different! But yes, don't be surprised if you get peed in the face a few times, LOL. I wanted a girl when I was pg, but now I am totally loving being the mom of a little boy. Something soooo sweet about them. (Not that girls aren't sweet of course!)

I've had fun buying boy clothes even though they aren't quite as adorable as girly ones.

[miami mommy]

What you need is a good sense of humor...for when he's peeing all over the place on the changing table. I highly recommend EC because once we got that down he would wait until I had him in position over the toilet to pee.

I love love love having a little boy. Congratulations!

[Kmama2]

COngrats!! We have a 3 year old dd and a 8 month old son. The main difference is my son can't ever seem to wake up dry. We use cloth but had to do sposies at night as he was always waking up wet. The pee is so forceful when it comes out he just pees out of things. He is always wet in the front above his waist band and yes we point his penis downward. Even the sposies didn't. I do a sposie and a Pocket diaper on top and even then half the time he still wakes up wet. MY dd never had this problem. Of course she didn't nurse as much at night either.

[nola79]

Just wanted to say congrats! Boys are a lot of fun! Of course, there are not many differences as far as baby care, you'll do great

[tammylsmith]

I wanted to add that my ds manages to pee right out of his diaper sometimes... even if everything is on properly. No idea how he manages that stunt, but at least he's only peed and pooped on dh so far.

[Norasmomma]

We have a girl who is almost 4 and a baby boy who is a couple days shy of 9 months, he is also the first boy in our family(my dad's side). We didn't "know" he was a boy or a girl until he was actually born, but honestly I knew the whole time, I felt so different with him.

Anyway I am another to say that circ is not necessary, I researched and read about it and honestly I just could not see any reason to do it, and more reasons to not, IMO.

As for diaper changes I found DD to be harder, girls get stuff in their parts, boys it's all on the outside, so that was one thing. My son only let fly with the pee a couple times, I guess he knows how to control it or something. We do EC with him, but that was kinda a non-planned ting, he started pooping only 1-2xs a week, so I started putting him on the potty at 4 months.

His appetite is HUGE, I seriously cannot believe how much this boy eats. Nursing, food, you name it he wants it. DD had a big appetite, but it was nothing compared to my son. Our first night he nursed for 2 hours. This am he has eaten 2 cherries, a half a cheese stick, and a bunch of cheerios, and he still wants more.

Oh and he is a "mama's boy". DD was/is a "daddy's girl", IDK if that is just nature vs. nurture or personality, but it is a BIG thing I've noticed.

[NEastMomma]

Congrats! I come from a family of 4 girls and DS is the 6th grandchild on my side with only one other boy. I adore my little guy - so sweet, so fun!

I think previous posts have been right - no circ and watch out for pee! One thing I did not know was you should really point his penis down when putting on a new diaper. My DS would soak through all his diapers and clothes on his belly and it took a few weeks before I realized it should "point down." Haha!

[hakeber]

I had a boy first and then a girl, and so I feel confident in telling you that you don't need anything different for boys. You really should read up on circumcision and the case against it if you are living in a country where it is frequently par for the course. I have read horror stories of cases where they just did it without even a request from the mother. Apparently you have to request NOT to have it done.

Having given birth to ds in Argentina and his dad being Scotish, it was a non-issue for us, but I have heard some pretty sad stories. The latest of which includes a woman acquaintance of mine whose little boy she felt had too little taken off the first go around and went back for more when he was almost two.

Sorry, lecture over...go and read the forum.

The thing I did with the pee was to have a cloth nappy or washcloth handy and place it over his crotch while changing diapers...you could also try looking inton the EC forum for some helpful tips on pottying boys...that I would say is the biggest difference. It was very hard to read DS's cues whereas with my dd it has been a piece of cake. They do say boys TEND to wear diapers longer. Our was using a potty all day by two, but still wore trainign pants to sleep or wet the bed every night until he was nearly five. Now it's pretty rare.

Seriously though, I have five nieces and even at an older age there is nothing that is strictly "boy" that isn't socially contrived until puberty. one niece is good at maths, another is super athletic, another is super energetic and "rough". All boy stereotypes. Just give him lots of choices and let him play with what he likes. If he's going to go to school he will be schooled soon enough on his gender roles. Despite being into dolls and princesses and football and monsters alike until he started school, ds spent 2 months at kindergarten and came home ready to chuck out all things pink and "girlie" even his butterfly book, because "Butterflies are for girls...yucky"

[amber87507]

Yep, my son is older he is 7yo, but I have a pretty good memory and I cant imagine anything I did w/his care that I would have done differently had it been a girl.

We didnt need any pee pee tee pee things even! I changed his diaper all the time, but I know I would have done that regardless of gender. I think how much one pee's is different per child not by gender.

My son is intact as well and there's no special instructions for an intact baby, you just wipe them like norma for diaper changes (poop mainly, didnt really wipe for pee). Easy peasy =)

Congrats, boys are awesome, I knew I was having a boy before I knew I was having a boy =P.

My boy now is hoping he's getting a little sister lol, I think he really prefers to be the only boy. I think he's afraid of being "replaced", which just is not possible. He said he'd be happy w/a boy too though.

Id like a girl, but Im use to boys so either way Im good, I just want to know!!!

[wombatclay]

Congrats!

I have two girls and a baby boy and I know I felt completely at sea when thinking about a boy.

The pee thing... like some pp have said, my ds never pee'd "straight up" or "over his head" or anything. What he DID do was pee sideways, right off the table, soaking DH a few times as DH stood next to me during a diaper change. Actually on his very first day DS soaked the entire stack of clean blankets (piled next to the changing table) by spraying them top to bottom. So, um, yeah. Expect the unexpected in terms of getting soaked.

Other than that... I think most baby stuff kind of depends on the child's own personality. DS liked his tummy tub more than the reclining tub, prefered soft snuggly toys over snuggly blankets, slept equally well in arms/in our bed/in his bassinet. But those are all personality things, not really gender things.

Enjoy the adventure! (oh, and if you don't particularly like sport theme stuff... start putting out a "rocket ship" or "camping critters" vibe now... "boy" stuff seems to come in "sport", "space", or "wilderness" flavors with heavy machinery mixed in for good measure. We found it was easier to tell people "we would like space ships" than "we don't want sports".)