Why all the fuss about mini labias?

[ohIdoliketobebesidethe]

Just overheard hv telling a new mum not to wipe poo out of her little girl's folds but to splash water in that direction while in the bath. I have had two girls and when they were covered in shit I cleaned it off them whereever it was. Have I done them some irreparable damage?

never heard that

Oh, I've always cleaned DD 'in between' too. Surely it can't be good not to?

it's about not getting poo/bacteria into the urethra - can cause water infections which can be very serious.

I imagine this is what she is warning about. I think it's ok if you wipe carefully enough.

harpomarx - I have just looked it up on ask.com and it seems you are right that it's about infection :
"CLEANING A GIRL:
Don't try to clean inside your baby girl's vulva, as it is unlikely to contain a lot of dirt. Opening up the folds may introduce infection. "

This seems mad to me. If there's poo there that is the infection risk. It needs to come out and splashing at it isn't going to work.

i did the splashing thing as i couldn't bear teh thought of hurting her. i am with the hv on this one

I always cleaned, but very carefully. I nagged at dh to do it more carefully. Constantly. He didn't listen to me until dd ended up with a urine infection and we were told by the consultant how important it was to clean carefully. Not a nice way to be proved right - she was on antibiotics for nearly a year.

This is most worrying, DD often gets a lot of poo between her labia. I do clean it away carefully but I'm very worried now. It usually takes about 3 wipes (top to bottom) before it's clean...

Don't know what to do now.

I've always wiped DD, gently though as I am more afraid of hurting her more than anything else. I didn't realise about urine infections so will be doubly careful in future. I couldn't not wipe her though. Sometimes she gets very messy and I couldn't bear to leave it till it's convenient to bath her. Surely there is more risk of infection doing that?

oh, this is interesting

dd always got bits suck (weatabix nappies the worst)and used to be in agony getting it out, i tried cotton wool and water, washing in the bath (she would stand and id hose her down)

but nothing worked well. she had one uti but would complain of being uncomfy

i potty trained her when it got bad obv not an option for all

would like to knoe the best solution

I always clean too. Dd was running around in a sloppy poo filled nappy this morning ~ seemingly for a while before I noticed and changed her. She'd gotten sore in that time, so surely if she wasn't cleaned properly say from morning until bed time bath, she'd get incredibly sore?

I clean inside my DD2's labia everytime I change her nappy with cotton wool and water (and did the same with DD1) Never any problem. I think you're not supposed to use too much soap in the area because it can interfere with the natural flora (bugs) but water should be fine - you couldn't leave poo there - as previous posters have said the poor little mites would get very sore.