Cleaning toddler dd's genitals ... NIGHTMARE!!!

[mummylonglegs]

My dd 2 1/2 just won't let me clean her genitals, she gets completely hysterical and furious, and I can't force her without hurting her or feeling very invasive. When I've got little flashes of the area just inside her labia it looks really kind of (sorry ) cheesy and I'm desperate to clean it properly. She has a bath every night but the water obviously doesn't reach right in there.

Does it need cleaning? Should I leave it? What do you do?

My question, do you need to clean it ? I wouldn't have thought so.

I would most definitely leave it, personally.

BTW, I never, ever clean mine on the inside (TMI?) and it's fine.

don't think I was even looking there at that age!

leave it. Give her a flannel and tell her to wash her bottom front and back but don't worry about how well she does or doesn't do it.

Shower. Let her play with it.

Message withdrawn

Agree with HMO2 and others who say just leave the cheese unless there is poo in there too. Mind you, I'm the new mother who contacted her HV in hysterics about said "cheese". First child was a ds and a doddle in comparison
You could try getting her some flannels either from Ikea or those little terry cloths from Perfectly Happy People. Then she could have a fresh one for every bath. We do this with dd because she has constant ear infections.

Vaginas are 'self cleaning' apparently. I give dd a soft sponge and she does it herself. I used to obsess about cheese too, but now, unless poo is involved, we just 'wash and go'.

Also, soap & wash gels can sting and irritate - my niece had terrible dermatitis once - from Dove soap!

Ok, good, I'd rather not have to battle about it. Incidentally, I'd never use anything like soap and water there at all, I usually just use a wet flannel.

One of the reasons I've tried to have a little clean there lately is that she keeps saying she's sore, and in particular doing 'sore wees' which made me wonder. But probably nothing to do with the 'cheese.'

she might have cystitis/ bladder infection? What colour is her wee? If it is darker than normal, I would take her and a urine sample to the docs.

Or thrush?

flannels might be too rough? - you could give her a fleece wipe?

Her wee's a normal colour, she just looks a bit pink around the edges of her 'lulu' as dp has called it .

Charleypops, that sounds lovely, where could I get one?

If she's red and complaining that she's sore as well as looking cheesy, it might be thrush.

There's loads here on ebay some really lovely designs too. Dead cheap.

dd (4) sometimes has a slight irritation, just as you say pink around the edges of what she very straightforwardly calls "the line" (as in, but mummy, how does a baby get out of the line?) - we go back to using a touch of zinc & castor oil barrier cream overnight and it seems to clear up at once. Agree completely with not washing within the "line".

If her wees are sore is that not cystitis? Maybe give her some cranberry juice which helps this I think. Could you have a look at the soreness when she is asleep and maybe put some cream on it so she doesnt freak out?