eek it's a girl! What do I need to know?

[texmati]

Any tips from girl moms? I know there was a post going around like this for boys and the basic advice was that they were basically the same as young kids.

I went to the store confident that I already new everything I needed to know.

Apparently not-- pierced ears, baby headbands, gender roles, tights, heels, diaper covers? I went to the temple over the weekend, and every girl was dressed in indian clothes while the boys were dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

So moms of girls-- tell me what I need to know? And where to shop, apparently?

[LynnS6]

Congrats!

The only thing you need to be REALLY careful of is wiping her bottom so you don't give her a UTI. Always wipe front to back. Teach her to do the same when she's old enough.

Other than that, it totally depends on the personality of the child, just like it would for a boy. I will say that girls' clothes are a lot cuter and come in a much larger range of colors. Boys' clothes come in: primary colors.

As for your specific questions:
Tights: I only put them on in the winter when it gets cold. You can also do leggings under a dress if you like.
Diaper covers: Usually come with the dress you're buying. As they get older, if you care about modesty, you can add bike shorts or something similar under the dress. I didn't, but dd started to get teased last year by the neighbor kids, and so she started adding shorts on her own at age 6.
Heels: Not on my child until she can buy them with her own money. (OK, we've got one pair of dress up shoes she wears, but they're only for dress up.) I don't wear heels, so it's just not an issue. They're bad for your feet/legs.
Pierced ears: This is very cultural. I don't come from a culture where pierced ears on young children are the norm, so my daughter won't have her ears pierced until she can take care of them herself.

Where to buy clothing: I look more for fiber content than anything. Dd has incredibly sensitive skin, so we don't mostly 100% cotton. We like Hanna Andersson, but they're really expensive. So, I look for them on Ebay and in thrift shops. Dd is developing her own sense of style. Friday she wore to school: Black leggings with red/white hearts, a blue dress and a purple sweater, topped by a mermaid necklace. None of it matched, but it filled her needs.

Otherwise, any good children's clothing maker should be fine. I like; OshKosh, Carters, Gymboree, Children's Place, Baby Gap, Old Navy. I buy leggings at Target because of the price and because they don't have to be all cotton for dd.

Gender roles: Expose your dd to a range of them. Give her a range of toys to play with. Trucks as well as dolls. Expose her to both t-ball and gymnastics. Science as well as art. Then let her choose. My dd tends to choose rather traditional 'girl' stuff - she'd rather swim and do gymnastics than t-ball. Our neighbor's girl chooses 'boy' stuff -- soccer, baseball, etc.

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Congratulations!!!!!! I love being the mom of a girl.

Bubble baths can also cause irritation. If it happens (it happens anyway) let her soak in a warm bath with about 1/2 cup vinegar.

Some girls also need to use very little soap, and do the shampoo at the end of bath time so they aren't sitting is soapy water.

Tights are a pain in the neck. The crotch always ends up between the knees for some reason. But, in the winter, they are necessary. We usually chose footless tights and socks, or leggings.

Shoes.. they like them loud. I don't know why.. but, the more obnoxious the sound, the better they like them.

I can't imagine heels on a child. I saw a girl about age 9 in Costco yesterday in what seemed like hooker shoes and a very short skirt. I did not think she looked at all cute. I don't think it's cute when kids wear adult looking clothes. But, that is for the parents to decide.

Dresses.. by age two or three dresses MUST twirl up when they spin. They will test this out before approving the dress. All kids go through a "pocket stage".. all pants or shorts must have pockets.

Otherwise, girls are like boys. They like what they like. There's nothing wrong with liking sparkles and shiny pretty things. There's nothing wrong with liking painted nails. There's nothing wrong with liking yellow dump trucks. Just let her be who she is, and embrace all that she loves.

[Norasmomma]

As the mother of a girl, then a boy, I felt scared about having a son. Kids are kids, though.

Earrings-my niece's DD has pierced ears, but no one else in the family pierced their baby girl's ears. DD will probably get to do it for her b-day next year when she turns 5.

We have to do tights with dresses, as a baby though I swear leggings are sooooo much easier. tights on a baby are a PITA. With DD now we actually do a lot of dresses with jeans.

Don't expect a girl to be mellower than a boy, my DD as a toddler ran circles around most boys, and she still does. She's a very spirited little girl, and now with DS it's obvious that she was always. He's mellower in many aspects.

I always hated baby headbands and think they look so silly and uncomfortable. DD ripped them off her head.

I also liked most of the girl clothes at Old Navy, Target, Lands' End makes great dresses and clothes, they hold up nicely. I love Keen shoes, DD has some high heels that we got at the 2nd hand store that she wears for playing dress up.

DD loves soccer, running, Barbie's, toy cars, dinosaurs. We let her play with whatever she likes. She is a girly girl in many ways, she likes lipgloss and nail polish, she also likes getting filthy in the mud.

ETA: Little girls don't have to have long hair, DD has a bob because her hair turns into a tangled gross mess, if she wears something not girly I've had old lady's think she's a boy. Her hair just can't be long though because it is just sooooo thick and tangly. She looks better with it shorter, IMO.

[dogretro]

Baby girls are the best! I have had four baby girls, and only girls. Luv em!

One thing I had to explain to my husband several times before he remembered: It goes: Diaper, tights, THEN spanky pants. Spanky pants are what cheerleaders wear under their skirts, over their underwear, so that is what I always call the little diaper cover/panties that come w/ dresses. Anywho, that is the correct order

Our tights never sagged, nor were a pain, really. We also cloth diaper, so there is always a bubble butt to hold the tights up, plus the spanky pants on top.

[claras_mom]

Originally Posted by texmati

Any tips from girl moms? I know there was a post going around like this for boys and the basic advice was that they were basically the same as young kids.

I went to the store confident that I already new everything I needed to know.

Apparently not-- pierced ears, baby headbands, gender roles, tights, heels, diaper covers? I went to the temple over the weekend, and every girl was dressed in indian clothes while the boys were dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

So moms of girls-- tell me what I need to know? And where to shop, apparently?

You'll never have to worry about getting hit in the face with pee!

Other than that, it's pretty well covered by the others. As you can see, I have two. Neither would tolerate a headband. I won't make them wait for ear-piercing, but it has to be an informed choice on their part. Gymboree and hanna andersson both make great leggings, which I prefer to tights. Lands End and Hanna for play dresses....I liked Children's Place until dd1 hit the bigger sizes (which, because she's tall for her age, was a little sooner than most).

Beyond that, a kid is a kid. Individuals, with unique temperaments and talents.

[Linda on the move]

I think that different bits of information are more important at different phases.

At one phase of my DD's life, the most important thing to know was that metallic gold crocks really do go with everything.

Ear piercing is a personal choice in our family. One of my DDs got them done at age 8. The other DD is 13 and thinks the whole idea of piercing is absurd.

And we really like American Girl dolls at our house. A lot of baby dolls are made very cheap and end up looking tacky quickly. American girl baby dolls stay looking nice for years.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

At one phase of my DD's life, the most important thing to know was that metallic gold crocks really do go with everything.

Actually sparkly shoes of ANY kind are a huge hit. And you're right: They go with everything.

[rightkindofme]

There's a newborn thing you should know--little girls can have bloody vaginal discharge in the first few days. Freaked me out. I was convinced I hurt her somehow but apparently it's normal/semi-common.

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Originally Posted by LynnS6

Actually sparkly shoes of ANY kind are a huge hit. And you're right: They go with everything.

LOL.. We had the red Dorothy shoes from Target. I had red glitter in my house for YEARS after that.

[QuestionGal]

subbing

[Norasmomma]

Originally Posted by rightkindofme

There's a newborn thing you should know--little girls can have bloody vaginal discharge in the first few days. Freaked me out. I was convinced I hurt her somehow but apparently it's normal/semi-common.

Yeah my DD had this too, she bled for about a week, she's already had her first "period", my Dr said, "well she has a uterus and it works". She also had milk coming out of her breasts, my female hormones were crazy high with her.

Also a bit TMI, but many times we needed Q-tips to help clean DD up with diaper changes.

Oh and yes little girls CAN pee in your face, IDK how DD does it but she pees out of the toilet all.the.time. DH says she's got a good pumper, LOL.

Also one of the best things for me is that while I may not think wearing a princess gown or a gorgeous dress is what she should wear to town, she's a little girl only once, so I just go with it.

[InMediasRes]

One thing you should be prepared for if you have an older boy (depending on age) is that he may want to try out the girl thing for a while too. DS is very into painted toe nails, skirts, and sparkly shoes right now too. You might want to think about how you feel about that and how you will answer those types of questions now.

I loved dresses on DD as an infant for EC. Then they are AWFUL during the crawling stage because they are always stuck under their knees. Then right back to dresses once they start walking.

We also do leggings rather than tights.

I also have not been the least bit worried about DD wearing quite a lot of DS's hand me downs. Sweatshirts, jeans, solid color shirts, they all work just fine for girls.

Also, everyone will want to talk to you about her hair and what you're doing with it. I just don't get this - why everyone is so concerned with whether or not I want to put her hair in a teensy ridiculous ponytail on the very top of her head like Bam Bam?