2-year-old masterbating

[Susie N]

Hi,

I have a question pertaining to my 2-year-old and her habit of masterbating.  This is so embarrassing for me and my husband.

Ever since she was around a year old (a little younger maybe, too) she has been...uh...how to say this...doing various things in order to feel a certain something *down there*. At first, we noticed she was pushing and rubbing against the thing that goes between the legs on the highchair. She would get herself going (pushing and rubbing) so much that she'd break out in a sweat, breathe heavily, and then at the end look like she was completely tired out (much like we all do after a romp in the hay). It was so embarrasing if we were with any friends or family.

As time went on, she was doing the same thing in her carseat against the part that goes between her legs. We've taken her out of the highchair, but she still finds ways to do this. She'll sit on the steps or on one of the small kid size chairs we have and squeeze her legs together while pointing her toes, and just move her hips up and down until she gets what she wants. Thank goodness she hasn't figured out she can do the same thing with her hands.

I can tell you that she has never been in a situation where anyone has touched her inappropriately. The only babysitters she has ever had are my parents and I know they haven't done anything. Her father and I are just mortified (especially him) and don't know what to do. We've scolded her for it and she just gets mad and screams and then goes back to doing it once we quit watching her. I thought maybe it was a stress reliever for her, but now I'm noticing that she's doing it at any time of the day...stressed or not.

Has anyone here had experience with something like this? I've researched and can't really find info on what to do with a 2 year old. She doesn't exactly understand me saying to only do this in her room when alone (like I've read in other advice given). I don't want to punish her and give her a complex about her sexuality for later when it's appropriate (with her future husband).

What would you do in this situation??? Help! We're even hesitant to put her in the church nursery for fear she might do this there!

[mjbeales]

OMG!  You have described my 2 year old to the T!!! LOL!! I mean everything.... and it all began with her kinda humping her Boppy chair when she was 6 month old. At First we were like "nah!!!.... it couldnt be!!".....! and now she is 2 and does it in her car seat ...high chair...just as you described. She has this really focused look and tenses her whole body while pointing her toes!!! Its quite funny actually .....and I totally ignore it as I feel this is normal. I am a stay at home mother and have been with her 24/7 all the days she's been on this Earth....Trust me when I say I have never left her side......so this has to be normal .....

[clairemaddy]

hi
what a reilief to see yr post my daughter is now two and half years old and doing the same thing she started in high chair, car seat and buggy now she just gets down on her knees shopping centres anywhere to do it i just try distraction but it does not work.some days she has no quality of life for sitting rocking.i thought my daughters rocking was all related to her having poor quality sleep (she has night terrors)and seems to do it more when tired but after reading yr post and others im no sure.if yr ever on here please let me know if she has stopped?

[eugenerae]

it is normalfor a 2 yr old child to do this mine did n it scared me as well so i took her to doc n everything...n they all said the same its normal some kids do it some dont they grow out of it my daughter did......good luck with what ever u choice to do for ur child

[dadofbaby]

This is an old post but i found it looking for info on this so ill post to it what i have found. I took my daughter to the doctor to see if she has something wrong with her because she was doing pelvic thrusts in her high chair and her doctor smiled and said oh she is masterbating. It ok and totally normal. She said I may want to discourage her from doing it in public places if she starts that and told me of other patients she had that we having the same concern. She assured me that this is totally normal for some kids, not all kids do it eg she is the first of our 7 kids to do it, but normal none the less. My daughter has never been babysitted by anyone other than my wife and myself.

[concerned2928]

My daughter is almost four. She has been touching herself down below for what feels like forever. I remember it started when she was maybe 18 months something like that. To begin with she only seemed to do it either in her car seat or when she was strapped in her pushchair and at first we thought the harness was uncomfortable - not realizing she was actually rubbing herself against it. I was really horrified as I couldn't understand why she would do that at such a young age. I also got very embarrassed if anyone else was in the car and she was doing it, especially other kids as they would always ask what she was doing! I spoke to the health visitor about it then and she advised to ignore/distract and it would eventually stop. I am saddened to say it hasn't and instead of doing it in the car which seems to have stopped, she lies on her front and touches herself on top of her clothing. She used to do this a lot and in front of others. When she was three, we were finally able to teach her that it was a private thing, and should only be done in her room. But now it's still hard for us to accept her behavior when she constantly goes to her room to do her thing several times throughout the day.

[Uguess]

It is not wrong for a parent to assume that their children are normal or in perfect harmony with nature.  It is however, weird (almost comical, and perhaps sad) that you would pick up on this and have the nerve to harass the parent for thinking this way.  It is wrong to judge a person for their sexuality be it straight or gay, but social engineering has never worked in the past and is unlikely to work in the future.  You cannot MAKE a person see things your way.  Mother nature made sexuality pleasurable as a way to entice procreation.  This mother's problem was with her two year old doing something that is not proper in public, not with the future sexuality of her child.