Can't insert tampon

[sarahspins]

I've only been to women docs in that area, and I'm still weird even thinking about going to a male doc. Probably not as big of a deal as it feels like, but I'm not comfortable with a man looking *down there* so to a 15 year old, that would be completely traumatic.

I agree.. I only saw female NP's or midwives until I was 20... I'm not sure I would have been able to handle having a male doctor examine me down there at 15.. or even 17 or 18.. or heck, any point up until I was pregnant with my first baby (the first male doc to examine me was my midwife's backup OB, and I didn't really have much choice because I had just "risked out" of my midwife's care). Now it doesn't bother me to have a male doctor.. but I say that after having 3 kids, and anyone who's given birth in a hospital knows that modesty pretty much goes out the window with that experience, and you get over any inhibitions about "who" is looking "there" - so long as they're not rude or do anything to make it uncomfortable (physically or otherwise).

Anyways, I used tampons (and later Instead soft cups) from a really early age, but I never had problems doing so. I hated pads so much (they always gave me a rash even if I was neurotic about changing them) and so tampons were a welcome alternative - but I had to hide it from my mom since she didn't think that tampons were "appropriate" to use before you'd had sex She based that entirely on her own inability to use them, and in fact even scared my sister so badly about using them that she never even tried until she was something like 28 (I am not kidding) which was several years AFTER she'd already been using a Diva Cup.

You can definitely make an "information only" appointment with planned parenthood or a midwife or even a female pediatrician, that would not be intimidating for your daughter. There's really no reason to need a pelvic exam unless your daughter wants one to make sure everything is okay. They do use smaller speculums on children and young women who haven't had sex yet, so that shouldn't be a concern.

BTW, I don't personally find using a cup any more difficult than tampons.. as far as "ease of insertion" the Instead softcups win hands down (you just pinch them flat and push in, just like a tampon), I always have trouble getting the Diva cup folded right and getting it in place when it's in... and I have problems with it slipping "up" too high and leaking... so I am not a huge fan of the Diva cup personally.. because it just doesn't seem to fit me very well, but Instead works great for me. If she's *interested* in trying a cup, I'd encourage it - if nothing else she'd get more familiar with her own anatomy. I highly recommend using lube when learning to insert/remove any menstrual cup... it makes it much more comfortable. Removing them is usually more difficult than inserting when you're learning.

You can try instead really inexpensively.. http://store.softcup.com/shared/Stor...S=softcup&All= Walgreen's also usually has them in stock (at least they do here). I usually only use one cup per cycle.. I just wash and reuse like you would the Diva or Mooncup so a box lasts me a really long time.