How do I explain where babies come from?
Explain basic reproduction to children at an early age. Even before age three, most children can understand that babies grow inside the mommy’s belly until they are too big for the mommy to carry anymore, and then the mommy goes to the hospital so that the doctors there can help the baby come out of the mommy’s belly through her vagina. The following dialogue might be typical for a young child of four:
PARENT: That’s right. Sue went into the hospital today to have her baby; she might even be having it right now.
CHILD: Mommy, is the baby really in her belly?
PARENT: Yes, though the baby is not in her stomach where the food goes. Right below her stomach, every woman has a uterus or womb. You have a womb too, Caitlin. It is right down inside here (touches Caitlin between her navel and her genitals), and do you know how big it is? Make a fist with your hand; good—it’s about that big and it’s inside of you. Every baby—Sue’s baby and you when you were a baby—starts out very tiny, as tiny as a speck like this (points to a tiny crumb on the kitchen counter) inside the mommy’s womb and then grows over nine months into a baby who stretches the womb and the mommy’s whole tummy to be as big as Sue’s tummy was!
CHILD: Doesn’t it hurt to grow that big?
PARENT: Well, sometimes it doesn’t feel great, but it happens very slowly, and that helps, and mommies love their babies a lot and that helps. And God made women like me and like you in the most amazing way so our bodies can stretch out and hold a baby. It is even more amazing to me that the babies can come out through our vaginas.
CHILD: My vagina is too small for that!
PARENT: Well, it certainly is now! But God made you so that when you are bigger, and pregnant, you will be able to have a baby come out there because those muscles can stretch really big to let a baby through. It hurts quite a bit, but you love the baby so much you are glad to do it, and you are so happy to have the baby that the pain is well worth it. When I held you, I didn’t think much about any hurt that I had.
CHILD: I hope Sue doesn’t hurt too much from having the baby.
PARENT: Me too. Maybe when Sue gets back from the hospital she will show you how the baby drinks milk from her breasts. Another wonderful thing that God made women like you and me able to do is to feed our babies right from our own bodies. Your breasts are little right now, but later they will get bigger, and when you have a baby, they are ready to make milk for your baby. Sue is planning to feed her baby by letting him nurse from her breasts. That’s what I did with you and with your brother.