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?

This. I’m alone all day with my child whilst my husband is at work. Parenting alone for long periods of time isn’t just something single parents have to cope with.

Sounds fine really. I just said women make eggs every month and if they don't get used, they get washed out by their body. Any toddler would be fine with that..

I avoided having my dc in the toilet with me at all costs

It’s not normal to take your child to the loo.
You make sure they are safe and unable to burn the house down or hurt themselves (in bouncer or playpen or equivalent) and you go and pee.

She can join mumsnet then

I just say women and older girls have a bleed for a few days every month. No big explanation needed. My younger two know that their older sister gets her period as she makes such a drama about it but to be fair god love her they are heavy so I can understand her feeling miserable. Five year old DD calls pads "mummy's nappies ".

I'm sure it's fine. Although must admit my solution there was to put them in front of the TV or in the jumperoo when I had my period so the issue never arose. Barely got any periods before another sibling arrived anyway.

Not your Circus, not your monkeys

I'm another who managed to raise 2 kids to adulthood and keep my toileting private.

My 7 and 4 year olds know about periods and what sanitary products are. I’ve explained, in fairly blunt terms to them. Neither are worried by the honest explanation or have asked many further questions, it’s just been taken as fact. My 4 year old DS would love to get his hands on tampons though - they’re a tempting toy 😆

I never would have had my children watch me in the toilet dealing with sanitary protection. It’s not necessary or appropriate.

i didnt know my ds (then age 3 or 4) now 28 even noticed...til him yelled "do you need bum stix mum"middle of tescos....

@Ibloodylovetea we had a bitch spaniel. my daughter then said I just came into season every month like the dog!

HNRTFT but my children were late 90s early 00s . They never came in the loo whilst I was in there . They never saw STs …why would you subject them to that?
All fully functioning adults now ,no hang ups about their childhood and relationships 😊

My son calls it mummy's red wee. He asked what my sanitary towel is and I said it's like a nappy that mummy has to use when she has a red wee.

All very cheerful and easy. He isn't fazed, nor am I!

As he gets older, things will naturally change and my bathroom habits will be private again, as will his. But while he's 3, I'm OK with curiosity and breezy answers.

I kept it short and simple it's lady blood all ladies get it . No need for all the extra info. Also 28 years later it really doesn't matter does it?

That explanation is too much OP, all that faff about babies and daddies. Surely all you’d have to say is it’s something that happens to girls when they grow up.
Your DS and dil can surely find their own way to navigate this, and seeing as she’s not single, it may never come about 😄

It just sounded really long winded.
As DH would say, he didn’t need the Gettysburg

speech 😄
I haven’t got a clue what I told DD. I’m 60 and she’s 35 now and I just don’t remember. I know I would’ve kept it light.

There is plenty of opportunity to change your tampon without having to take a child to the loo with you,
Of course my DS had to come in the toilet cubicle with me if we were out for the day. Can't ever think that he saw much blood, just a quick in and out movement with my hand whilst he read the signs on the door or something. I told him 'Mummy has her period, so needs to wee more often' before he could talk, so it was just an unremarkable event.
I see no need to come up with complicated explanations for toddlers. Just state simple truth.

My daughter always follows me in to the loo and I was purposely open with the use of sanitary towels so it never seems weird or scary. .

She asked me if I'd pooed myself when she noticed (she was 3), and I said no, and that the sanitary towel was to keep my knickers clean because all women bleed once a month when they grow up. She said, will it happen to me, and I said yes, it happens to every woman and is nothing to worry about. Then she asked when it would happen and I said probably around aged 11 when you also grow boobies. She seemed happy with that.

I think your answer was fine.

I just told the truth.

Same.

I don't ever remember 'learning' about periods. DM never tried to hide anything about it, would have discussions with DF about it (she used to have a lot of problems) and I just sort of grew up knowing.

I've just done the same with dd and ds. They were both velcro toddlers and when they were old enough to ask me I just told them that women have an organ called a womb, it's where babies grow and every month the lining refreshes.

Why does it have to be brusque? I had to explain it every time my daughter saw me buying tampons so eventually she just absorbed it as part of life. I'm nearly 70 and my daughter is in her 40s

Having read the whole thread I think people are so much more prudish than they were in the 80s - a towel round your waist ffs. It's crazy.

My children just never saw me changing a tampon. It’s called privacy.It really is ok for mums to have a second in the loo on their own!