Little girl hygiene question from a Dad

[Giantbear]

Ok, need a little help here. DD is out of all diapers, she told me on her 4th birthday weekend she no longer needs her nighttime diaper, she is a big girl. As happy as i am, i am now confused as to what to do hygiene wise. I used to clean her lady parts before her night diaper with a wipe. Do i still do so nightly before her nighttime clean underwear?

[lalasmama]

You can do a quick booty-swipe with a wipe if needed, otherwise, basic bathing is enough.

[rin]

We don't do any wiping aside from what's needeed after going to the bathroom.

[Pinky]

My DD also just turned 4 and is still using pull ups at night... So we always just use a baby wipe on her real quick in the morning. (due to the possibility of pee)

Does your daughter bathe every night? If so I wouldn't worry about anything else. On nights she doesn't I'd probably just let her use a baby wipe instead of toilet paper if you think she might need it. We use those unscented mild wipes.

[Giantbear]

She showers 3 times a week and uses wet wipes for poop at home. I will be checking her when she poops at school, but may give a quick wipe at night as she is not such a good wiper after pee.

Thanks all. Still learning the maintenance of the foreign plumbing

[hillview]

Go daddy! FWIW with my boys I had to do a butt check every night for a year or more once they were wiping "themselves" as often it was not good enough ... they are both in good shape now but at age 4 independent was a matter of opinion and smell . I'd be less concerned about pee on lady parts vs poop and if she is maybe not wiping front to back poop can get many places ...

[erosenst]

One more quick tip as you will be seeing less of this area than you used to do. Little girls are known for 'scrubbing' rather than 'wiping' at times, causing abrasion/rash on a rather sensitive (external) area. If you use very soft toilet paper, this may never be an issue. If you don't, or school doesn't, it almost definitely will. A little A&D ointment a couple times a day works wonders. (Something else may work better for her, but that often does the trick and is dirt cheap.) This will likely only be an issue for a couple of years, but you might want to teach her the words to use if this happens - and know the 'solution' rather than hauling her to the ped for something that is almost always treatable at home.

To answer the original question - our DD bathed every 3 days or so at that age. We didn't do any 'between baths' cleaning.

[twowhat?]

My girls bathe every night and I do a "sweep" while they sit in the water...you know, clean water, swipe out on both sides of...Delores...from front to back.

I have found that if I don't do this it will, uh, accumulate stuff...bits of TP, smegma...and it smells. I am trying my dardest to get my kids to just do it themselves in the bath but they are so lazy...I will cut the cord soon since they are too old for me to be doing it.

Be careful with soap - it can sting. Just clear water is fine. I would use a little mild soap if there was a big diarrhea accident or something but for normal bathing, just water.

Another tip: Vaseline is your friend! Sometimes parts get, uh, stuck together and can be uncomfortable, or every now and then my kids complain of their girl parts hurting/etc. A little swipe of Vaseline has NEVER failed me, LOL!!!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

We don't do any wiping aside from what's needeed after going to the bathroom.

dd is out of diapers during the day. unless there's a big diarrhea blowout or something, or she poops in her underwear, we don't do anything aside from wiping after potty and giving her a bath (usually every night in the summer)..and that's been fine so far we bathe DD and DS together, and there's nothing special i do for DD but not for DS.

TBH, i think cleaning the areas for BOTH DS and DD got soooOoo much easier once they are out of diapers. I remember having to clean DS's penis occasionally bc stuff (usually dried diaper cream or ointment) would get stuck in the folds near the tip (TMI). And with a DD, cleaning up after watery poops in a diaper were never fun. Once they were wearing underwear and stuff got more ventilation, never had to use any creams or anything and all pee/ poo was made in the potty it just got a lot easier and very low-maintenance..at least this has been my experience.

[MaiseyDog]

We don't do any wiping aside from what's needeed after going to the bathroom.

Once my girls were out of diapers they took over cleaning. I tought them how to wipe while in the bath, front to back and get in the folds, but that was it.