To have mistaken a baby girl for a boy

[mzS1990]

The mum seemed reaaaaally offended over a genuine mistake

It's not offensive at all really. I don't think most people could tell the difference in three year old girls and boys if it wasn't for the clothes and hair, let alone babies.

The only time it's a bit annoying is when people keep doing it once they've been corrected. Seriously this has happened a few times with my DD. A man once said "ah look at him doing bla bla" and I said politely, "oh no, she's a girl" and he said "she?!" as if it was a ridiculous idea! She was wearing a blue dress at the time. I just found it funny, but it was a bit weird and I did think he was a bit of an arse. Also, when we dressed DD in fairly girly clothes and people got it wrong a lot anyway. It wasn't offensive, but I did sometimes think, did the purple tights and pink shoes not give away the fact she's a girl? Meh.

If I'm not 100% sure I just don't comment till the parent or whoever does. I just make general comments or questions like "How old is your little one?" etc. Some people can be a bit sensitive about it.

Now she's 3 with a mop of curls down to her waist and there's no mistaking she's a gal wink

She could be a boy with a mop of curls to her waist. At 3, with no secondary sexual characteristics, you can never be totally sure.

I used to get people actually argue with me over dd's sex. If they really can't get their head round a toddler with short hair being female then they're too thick to waste my time on.

When i was on holiday aged about 8 some woman tried to insist i use the men's loos.

It's just ignorant.

Back to the o/p, no i don't get offended when people mistake my girls for boys. I do get offended when they tell me I must be wrong!

Babies all look very similar, unless it's one you know well.

I can't really see why someone would get worked up over their girl being mistaken for a boy or vice versa, unless the child was naked at the time.

Someone asked me the other day whether DS2 was a boy or a girl. He's nearly 3 now, was wearing very boyish clothes, and I'd just been addressing him by name (not a unisex name). It happens. It's usually an easy mistake to make.

Happened twice to dd yesterday alone. I'm not bothered, doubt she is (she's 6 months)

YANBU.

For some reason (vodka) I initially thought you were her midwife in the delivery suite.

Mistaking a baby's sex isn't a new thing.

I'm 47, and when I was born, I was apparently frequently mistaken for a boy, despite being dresed in pink. I have an unusual name, and back in the late 60s, many people thought my mum was mistakingly saying a boy's name.

I was too young to understand, and clearly haven't been harmed by it. Mistakes happen, and I've seen many babies where you judt wouldn't have been able to tell one way or another.

Used to happen all the time to DD1 - I'm not big on pink and apparently if your baby isn't dressed in pink it can't possibly be a girl I really really didn't care though, so it's ok.

My babies looked like potatoes. Without the wigs. I told DH that recently and he looked scandalised that I'd had those thoughts. Obviously at the time when I was blinded by hormones I thought they were the most beautiful babies ever. But in retrospect, their heads were a bit spuddy.

Thinking about it, children do change as they grow. DS was clearly boyish looking as a toddler, but when he started reception and into Y1, he had a very androgynous look to him. Even now, you can look at photos of the time and be very unsure if he was a boy or girl.

Now he's 12.5 he's very clearly a boy, even with longer hair.

Oh gosh everyone thinks my baby boy is a girl, even when he's dressed in blue.

You just can't tell sometimes nothing to get offended about.

When dd was being born we didn't know the sex and the midwive noticed baby had lots of hair before she came out, she said "You're in trouble if this is a boy, all this hair would be wasted'

Nah,she's being a tit.

I dressed my one year old daughter in a ramones t-shirt and tartan leggings the other day.

Frankly I was stunned anybody thought she was girl!

People constantly think my son is a girl, laregly because he has a mop of curls almost down to his waist. He has an unusual name which could sound a bit like a girl's name, so I think people see the hair, hear the name and make the scenario fit.
He doesn't mind and nor do I, but I think he's only just realising that people think he's a girl because of his hair - a lot of our male friends have long hair and vice versa, so I think he just assumed that nobody can really tell unless they ask.

My 7 month old son is quite delicate of feature and I usually put him in a vest and leggings (easy for him to wriggle around in) so they can look like tights, and a few people have referred to him as 'she'. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. If I do correct them, I usually say something along the lines of babies all looking the same- although now I may need to steal the 'potatoes with wigs' line, that's great!!

Up until he turned 1 loads of people used to mistake my DS for a girl, even when he was wearing blue. Its an easy mistake to make with babies you don't know as they do all look pretty similar when they're small, even some with some toddlers its hard to tell. YANBU, its an easy mistake to make as a one off. It didn't really bother me until DS was given a party invitation by another mum at our swimming class which had the female version of his name written on. From the amount of time we'd known each other and the context he was very obviously a boy! So I did get offended at that one but didn't say much about it other than pointing out that she'd written the wrong name on the envelope.

The other thing loads of people comment on is his skin colour because he is olive skinned - now this really offends me because they question me about it as I am white and so is his dad. In my family we have mixed races and his gorgeous skin comes from there, but people think its ok to question me about it with a 'how?' attitude, and some people make the obvious jokes which are just insulting.

Mistaking a baby for a boy/girl is generally accepted by most reasonable parents but its when people start digging for information about background and saying things like 'does he get that from his dad?' that it grinds on me.

My friend's baby daughter gets mistaken for a boy all the time. When anyone asks what 'his' name is my friend just replies 'Boris' 😀

She could be a boy with a mop of curls to her waist. At 3, with no secondary sexual characteristics, you can never be totally sure.

Okay, just to elaborate - she now has long, ringlet-y hair down to her waist, a fringe, pink glasses, and wears mainly pink (think tutu's as she's generally allowed to wear what she wants) I think people can be totally sure at this age with DD - now if she got mistaken for a boy I'd be

YANBU, it's hard to tell.

Although I'll be honest when DD is mistaken for a boy I become irrationally angry and very previous about it

"Her, HER name is...."