'How do babies get into mummies' tummies?' talk

[AVoiceInTheCrowd]

My eldest is only 3 (nearly 4), and this question has come up a lot lately. I really wasn't expecting this at the preschool stage. Looking for ideas about how to answer it please - my attempts to fob her off with something vague about seeds inside mummies' tummies growing into babies do not seem to be satisfying her any more!
Is it wrong that I'm mainly holding back from giving her any more detail as I'd be so embarrassed if she started to talk about this in front of others, rather than because of feeling like she is actually too young to hear about some of the basic facts of how babies are conceived?

No - just tell her straight. It’s just biology and the more clued up she is for later life, the better.

If you don't answer her questions, she'll either find someone else who will (or make up the answer for herself) and this might not be correct or what you want her to be told.

The trick is just answer the question she asks. If she wants more information then she'll ask for it.

If she doesn’t ask what you want to tell her, borrow a book from the library or visit someone with a baby (human or animal) to start the conversation off.

You don’t need to explain the Kama sutra to her! Just basic factual answers: men and women do a special cuddle called sex, the man gives his sperm which meets the woman’s egg in the woman’s tummy. That’s the start of the baby, which stays in the tummy for nine months until it is ready to come out.

We told dd at that age that the man plants a special seed inside the woman and that grows into a baby. She went through a period of wanting another sibling and said she’d give us all her money so we could afford to buy a seed...

I don’t think using words such as sex and sperm, at the age of 3, is necessary.

She’s 11 now and knows exactly what happens btw; we just framed it in terms she’d understand at that time.

Yes, no need to use the term ‘sperm’ as long as you don’t mind your kid trying to buy baby seeds at the garden centre!