How do you explain periods to a curious toddler?

[Ibloodylovetea]

I'm now in my 60's & my son is 28. I was widowed when I was pg & brought him up alone. As the only adult in the house it meant that I had to take him with me when I visited the loo as I couldn't/wouldn't leave him alone even for 5 minutes. This also meant that he witnessed me using sanitary towels (I felt that using tampons in front of him might be a step too far & left them for when he wasn't around). So, in answer to his questions I used to say that everything was all right & I was using a 'special plaster' because mummy's tummies get ready to make a baby every month, but there needs to be a daddy in order for that to happen and, since there was no daddy, mummy's tummy had to get rid of everything that it had made ready for the baby and the mummy had to use a 'special plaster' eg: sanitary towel. I then made a joke about us not wanting a baby wanting their nappy to be changed & keeping us awake at night with their crying. Wondering how other mums deal with this?

What about if you went to a public loo? I take my small children in the loo with me where I can see them and there has been a couple of times I have had my period and despite my best efforts they have caught sight of a bit of blood. A quick 'oh I cut myself' and change of subject doesn't seem to bother them, I have no idea what else to say lol as details are really not necessary at their age

As I said, I never used a tampon in front of him as I thought it a step too far.

A towel around my waist?! 😂 Obviously not

What about when you were out and about ?
I take my children into the toilet cubicle with me when we are out for the day.

Public toilets I’d probably be chatting about something on the door. An advert or something and my child would have been staring in the other direction or probably playing with the lock or something. To be honest menstrual cups are so bloody brilliant I’d usually get away without having to do much with them unless it was s as particularly heavy day.

My children stayed in the pushchair outside the toilet cubicle or if they were older put one foot under the door and counted or sang.

I think that's ok. I used to say that my body made a special cushion of blood for a baby, and when my body knew there was no baby, it gets rid of it to make a fresh one.

Absolutely. And I kept a beach towel in the change bag for use in public loo cubicles.

I don't see how a child gate would have helped. He would've either been trapped upstairs hammering on bathroom door or doing God knows what or downstairs doing God knows what. At least I knew that he was safe. He was a very active child. I once woke up at about 03:30 hearing the Hoover on downstairs. My first thought was that I had burglers. I then though burglers don't Hoover. My 3 year old son had got the vacuum cleaner out of the (locked) cupboard & was hoovering the sitting room carpet. Considering what other equipment I had in there my blood ran cold. He had dragged a chair in order to get the key to the cupboard from the top of the fridge freezer. 😱

You left them outside?! Zero chance I'd be leaving a baby or toddler by some random public toilet.

Why is everybody saying this is inappropriate?

I have young kids and I actually don't know what to say them about this.

At the moment I just try to distract them when they ask, but it really isn't an easy question to answer without either being too graphic, or not telling the truth.

It's a fair enough question, not sure why people are getting their knickers in a twist.

Op asked how others explain. Some people pointed out they don’t do performance toileting.

I didn't take my toddlers into the loo with me at home - we had a downstairs loo and I could leave the door open so I could see/hear them. Surely a 3 year old can be left playing with something in the lounge for a couple of minutes? I don't really remember at what age they asked about tampons, they would have seen them in the bathroom - I just said mummy's got her period and the bleeding is fine and normal and nothing to worry about, I don't think they were at all worried or showed any further interest!

I never made a big deal out of it and told them the truth.

Which is why the question needs to be asked.. thank you x

I'm thinking that I'll really set the posters off by asking if they leave their sanitary products on full view in their loos😙

Performance toileting?? That's such a bizarre take. Leaving kids outside a public loo is definitely more weird than taking them in with you. It's not a performance just a completely natural biological process.

‘Mummy has her period’
End of discussion 🤷🏻‍♀️

As a mother mostly home alone with dd due to dh’s work I managed to go to the toilet alone. I genuinely don’t understand how people can’t go to the toilet alone.

My toddler dd says it's mummy's nappy. I haven't bothered correcting her yet.

You could buy them a play pen and some toys to put in it?

In all my years of parenting toddlers. They never once saw me change a tampon or sanitary towel.

For a start, I used actual terminology such as uterus, blood lining and sanitary towel. No need for baby talk.

Crackers 😂 yeah, alright. You might not have chosen to do it but this is a massive overreaction,

I had one very curious son and one who wasn’t. The older one was told the answer to all of his questions. We never tried to distract or divert his curiosity. No graphic detail, but age appropriate explanations.

When my sons were at an age that they followed me everywhere, they saw me change tampons many times. They never batted an eyelid. I’d piss or shit with a toddler in the bathroom, why be precious over a tampon?