11 Differences Between Baby Boys and Girls 

After having two girls, I thought I had the baby thing pretty figured out. But then came baby #3… and surprise! He’s a boy!

I honestly didn’t expect the first month to feel that different just because of his gender. But I was wrong. While some things are universal (like running on very little sleep), there are some unexpected differences between have boys and girls

So if you’re a new parent, expecting, or just curious, here are the 11 biggest differences I noticed in the first month of having a boy…

1. Anatomical Differences 

Of course, this one’s obvious, but when we first found we were having a boy, I actually was like this is great because then I can talk to my kids about a penis vs a vagina. I did a whole podcast about how to protect kids from sexual assault, and the first step is using anatomical names for parts . So naming vagina and penis in the same way you call out either elbow, ears, etc. It does feel really weird at first and it's definitely weird when they say vagina at preschool, but when you teach them the correct terms like that, they can tell you xyz happened to this part of my body. 

ALSO, after having a boy, I realized they have more hiddenparts, or at least different hidden parts than a girl. I literally had to ask Seth (my husband) to come and tell me if I needed to clean under any of the different folds and things. Which, I will say just feels kind of weird but at the same time, I'm his mother, it's my job to keep him safe and clean so I had to hype myself up and remind myself that I got this. 

2. Circumcision

I was relieved not to deal with this decision with my girls. I’m not sharing our choice publicly for our son’s privacy, but whether or not to do it is a big decision. 

And it just brings up awkward/personal conversations when you ask friends/families about their choice and what led them to it. It's like sorry to bring up your kids genitals but just curious, also it ends up talking about your husband's genitals because it's like wow we did this because it matches dad or we didn't care if it matched Dad or whatever and it’s just funny. 

3. Diaper Changes

Boys pee on you. A lot.
You have to change them fast and aim the penis downward when changing diapers. We also totally used these pee pee teepees to keep it from getting on us because that’s never fun. 

Also, I feel like I change his diaper more often. His diapers get full in the front quickly compared to my girls.

The girls also have questions when I’m changing him and are like “what’s that”. I try to just casually tell them it’s his penis and carry on with the diaper changing. (Again, I feel like it’s a good thing fro a learning perspective).

4. Interactions

The way I talk to him is also different. With my girls, it was like “Hi baby girl, you're so beautiful!”. And with my baby boy I’m more like “Hey buddy, you're okay little man.”

Not intentional, I just feel like there’s a different energy. And it’ll be interesting too see if that continues as he gets older.

5. Clothes

We got 12 trash bags of baby boy clothes. I went through, picked out what I wanted, and donated the rest. It’s just funny and cute to see the different little styles and trends with clothes for boys vs girls.

6. Fit the Stereotypes 

Even when you don’t push stereotypes, the kids sometimes naturally gravitate toward them. Without my input, my love to wear pink and they love to play dress up. Our neighbor’s son is obsessed with garbage trucks and literally gets to pumped every time it’s trash day, meanwhile my girls couldn’t care less about it.

7. Breastfeeding

A friend once asked if it felt weird breastfeeding my girls. I was like uhh no, I feel like it would feel more weird to breastfeed a boy. But honestly, not the case at all. Before you do it, it seems like it might be weird because your brain is like uhh this is a pleasure zone. But when you’re feeding a kid, it’s not a pleasure zone — it’s about sustenance.

I don't know how to explain it but if you have thought is this is breastfeeding going to be weird? I thought that too and it's not (regardless of your babe’s gender). 

8. Pregnancy Differences

This pregnancy was different:

• I was bigger
• Less nauseous 
• More exhausted
• Had fewer sweet cravings

And all of these differences do kind of line up with what they say are signs of having a baby boy. Especially, the not craving sweets. 

9. Desire to “Play the Piano”

I don't know if the hormones are different when you have a baby boy or not but postpartum, with my others, I was like don't touch me within these 6 weeks. After having my son, I'm like yeahhh I could play the piano. (Play the piano is what I like to say when I want to do a little extracurricular with my husband). 

Obviously, I didn't before the 6 week mark and getting the all clear but it was the first experience where I had any desire to in that first stretch of postpartum. I also was surprised because in previous pregnancies, I have felt like kids were crawling on me all day and been so touched out that it was like I’d finally get kids to bed and my husband would smack me on the butt or something and I’d be like “nope, nobody touches me anymore today”. So, I've now had both experiences but after having my boy, the fact that I had thoughts that I could possibly “play the piano” so early postpartum shocked me. 

10. Personality Development

My two girls have totally different personalities. If they were a boy and a girl, I might’ve chalked it up to gender—but that’s not it. It’s just them. And it makes me so excited to see my son’s personality develop and see if he is similar to one of the girls or totally have his own thing going on.

There’s a great book called The Child Whisperer that basically outlines four personality types and then tells you how to best support each one and it is gold. It’s been spot on for my girls and been SO helpful! For example, my first is totally me so that comes more naturally to me and if she’s having a meltdown trying to get her shoes on, I know she’ll respond well if I make it a game like “Mr. Shoe wants to eat your foot”. But my second, if she’s having a tough time needs a little one on one sit down with you in the other room to calm down. It’s fun to learn how to support her properly and I’m excited to figure out how to best support a boy and his personality too!

11. Future Haircuts

My girls are proud that I give them haircuts even though they're not great. I don't know why it brings me so much joy to cut their hair, but it really does and my husband's like “uhh can’t we just bring them in somewhere for this?”. But I just love doing it. 

My girls have had like 2 or 3 haircuts in their life and he is going to need wayyy more! I'm guessing we’ll probably just keep his hair short and I'm excited to cut his hair and learn how to do his haircut, but we're just going to have to do it way more often. 

General Baby #3 Differences

Most of these are not gender related but there are some other random differences I have noticed with baby #3, compared to my other two:

• Changing Table: Never had one with the girls. Now? For some reason this time around, I feel like I need one.
• Heavy Breather: He is a loud breather. I’m like are you constantly congested? Have a deviated septum? They say it usually improves as they grow, so it’s probably nothing but I’m going to bring it up to his pediatrician and just keep an eye on it.
• Sleep Needs: He loves to sleep. And of course, he’s a newborn, but it’s more so than my girls and I’m curious to see if he keeps up a high sleep need as he gets older. 
• Baby Carrier: The Sakura Bloom Onbuhimo is my go-to and my lifeline with my third. Pricey, but a lifesaver.
• Car Tolerance: He doesn’t scream in the car like my girls did. My girls HATED it and thankfully he isn’t nearly as bothered by it.
• Postpartum Body: This time I had a real postpartum bump. Still rocking a pooch at 6 weeks. But, doing my Expecting & Empowered workouts, and also just rolling with it and appreciating my body and all it has done.

Excited for a Boy

That’s all I got for the differences I’ve noticed between baby boys and girls. It’s not a ton but some things were surprising. And it also feels a little bit like it did with my first kid because I just don't know what boys are going to be like. Which makes me excited to see how this all changes. Wish me luck! (And good luck to you too, mama!)