Explaining the Birthing Process to a 6 Year Old

You can tell him that their is a special way for babies to be born when they don't have to" slice open" the tummy. At 6 this may be enough for him especially if you distract him afterwords.

There are some really good books that tactfully and not too graphically explain the birth process. They use simple drawings.that do not seem personal. If I remember correctly the book I found didn't actually show the birth canal but talked about it, briefly. You could probably find one at the library. I think that reading a book together might be the easiest way to go.

I wouldn't tell him any different. Just let him think they still come out the tummy everytime, and your neighbors tummy just healed really fast. IMO he's way too young to be told about vaginal births!

We just went through this with our 6 and 4 yr old daughters this past year when their baby brother was born. We chose NOT to tell them and see what they said...their concensus was that the baby comes out my belly button. Although I thought this would be a great learning opportunity and perfect time to talk about "where babies come from" in very simple terms, we were faced with the harsh reality that every child on the bus did not need to learn this fact. And that our chatty 6 yr old may actually upset many parents if we shared this with her.

I am not embarrassed or one to shy away from these topics with my children. It was a very hard decision to come to.

I think you can simply tell him that a mommy's body is MADE to make babies and that the doctor helps her when it needs to come out. We also told our girls a bit about "labor" so that they wouldn't be scared if they saw me huffing and puffing, wincing, etc. We just made it sound like a happy time because we knew the baby was coming soon.

In reality, they didn't really care HOW it came out. Sure they asked a lot. But we turned it around and asked what they thought. When they asked HOW the baby got there, we just said that God decided to give Mommy another baby in her tummy. They were fine with that.

As much as I appreciate your son's curiosity, personally I just think it's innocent questions. Don't make it too informative at this point. Or else you may have some "friends" Moms calling you up.

BTW - our girls have watched me nurse my children, they never make a big deal out of it. And even when a friend was over playing and saw me nursing, my 6 yr old simply said, "Oh, she's just feeding the baby. Let's play!" My point is, if you don't make a big deal of this, he won't either.

If you really feel now is the time to explain a vaginal birth to him, get some books from the library. Some are VERY graphic while others use cartoon like pictures. We did this and our girls were very excited to see how a baby grows inside my tummy. They even asked to go out onto babycenter every week to see what the baby looked like now.

Good luck!

My 5 yr old daughter is very inquisitive & is into all things medical. She is very interested in the body. At 3 she asked for tingue depressors for her birthday. At 4 she got a real stethoscope. At 5 she begged to have her party at the hospital! She always wants to watch dr. shows on tv. I try to encourage her love for this craft, but it is hard. I explained to her that when the baby is ready to come out that an opening occurs between her tee tee & her bottom. This seem to satisfy her for now. She knows I had a c-section with my son & usually imitates that when playing with her dolls. Best of Luck.

I would def explain that a baby is meant to be born through the vagina. In my opinion it's important for kids to know how things would happen naturally if there were no problems... Such as vaginal births, breastfeeding, etc. I have had one natural birth and one csection and about to deliver my next at home, naturally. My almost 5 yr old knows she was born via my vagina while her brother was cut out due to a problem. She knows that's not natural nor planned. I wanted her to understand in hopes that she will grow up knowing that she too can strive for normal birth and breastfeeding experiences. Keep it simple and on their level.

I got an awesome tip on this from TV once--they may not need to know as much as you think they do! It's a great idea to ask what they think the answer is first. Then I would use simple, honest words to explain anything that they got wrong and answer it, but not add too much they didn't really ask for.

My other rule with kids is not to say anything that you'll have to take back later--always tell the truth!

If you really want to explain it to them so they know and aren't confused later then go to your local library and ask the children's librarian to direct you to the section of books on "sex ed", for lack of a better term. They have books all the way "from this is the baby in the mommies tummy, see how it's all curled up and sleeping?" to more anatomically correct books explaining puberty to pre-adoles. age kids.

Here are some links if you just want to look for them yourself.
A list of various books for all ages.
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/pregnancybooksvideos/tp/aa0...

Funny stories about moms whose kids asked the same question.
http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/secondpregnancy/a/babiescom...

my son was born by c section, and he always wanted to see my scar and know "how he came out" lol, so I would show him and explain they cut a hole there and out he came - well when he was 6 I had my daughter, supposed to be c section but she came a day early vaginally.

so he asked to see the cut, I said she didn't come out through my belly, she came out naturally - he asked where from, I said between my legs.

I guess that was enough of an explanation, coz he didn't ask to see or anything LOL.

I think keep it as simple as you can at that age.

well i had to go through this with my kids when i was having my little one. she was 6 he was 4. they know the proper names for genitals and basically i believe i said somewhere along the lines that babies can be born 2 different ways. 1 is something called c-section where the dr. has to give mommy medicine and then he makes a cut and the baby comes out with his help the 2nd way is that the baby comes out through the mommys adult private parts. the baby gets pushed out by the mommy and the dr. is there to help get the baby out. hope this helps somewhat..good luck i know these are so hard to explain without giving to much info but answering the question.

I am pregnant right now and just had this conversation with my 6 year old!
She asked "how will the baby come out?" I responded "God gives mommies a special opening for babies to come out."
DD "Where is the opening?"
Me "in the mommies vagina" She looked very confused so I continued with "Mommies have 2 openings in thier vaginas. One for peeing and one for babies to come out of."
She then commented that babies are big. So I coninued with an analogy.
"The babies opening is like a balloon. It starts out small, it gets bigger when you blow it up with air and then gets small again when you let the air out. The opening will get bigger so the baby can come out then get smaller again."
I only answered the specific questions that were asked and as simply and honesty as possible.
Good Luck!
K.

I told my 6 year old son the truth how he was born. But if your son is social and likes to share beware. When I told him he said "ok, but wouldn't it have been easier if he turned around climbed up my rib cage and come out my mouth?" But after that never said anything else. Then one day we are in our local pizzeria with all the UPS guys at lunch time and my son announces " did you know that when I was born I came out of my mom's vagina?" Everyone stopped eating and looked at my smiling son and horrified mother, I was trying to hide under the table. My son took the "stop eating as doubt of his birth" so he said "really it's true, even though my mom's vagina, I think ,would be too small to let me out" My husband by the way was at the counter paying for our pizza turned around and walked past me and my son as if he didn't know us (lol). Since you say he is inquisitive as my son was just be aware he might want to share this new info with everyone.

in you tube you can find this cartoons about explaining the birth process to kids in a way hes going to understand better than if you try to explain with words ....i use to see it when i was a kid......also theres a lot of more of this same cartoons explaining other thing about the human body and how thing work from dreaming to breathing..
be sure he see it and understand every part of the video....about c-section..tell him that your body like others mommies are not prepared to give birth naturally so doctors have to help you so you and the baby don't get hurt.
i hope this can help you and your kid.
part 1 of 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIjZgg1lLg8&feature=re...
part 2 of 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXRTbRrV240&feature=re...

part 3 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEylDfreE_o&feature=re...

=D