3 year old weird behavior

My daughter has a stuffed dog that has always been her comfort object.  Recently, I have caught her laying on it and doing what looks like rubbing her private areas on it.  She looks flushed and breathes heavy.  She gets mad when you tell her to stop.  At first I ignored it as a phase that would go away and typically she just did it at nap time and at night before going to sleep.  Now, she is doing it all the time and it is disturbing to me and my husband.  

Why is she doing this and how to we stop the behavior?

[Raine9]

i've always heard that when a child is doing something inappropriate, that the parent should not make a big deal about it by giving it much attention. you have tried that and she is still doing it.  

could you think of something she watched on tv that might have provoked it?  does she attend preschool, where she might have picked it up from one of the other kids?  i also have a 3 year old daughter and she picks ups every little thing that my husband and i do and say.  maybe you should just give it a little more time and she will out grow it or speak with your pediatrician.  

good luck.

[Trialanderror]

That is absolutely normal behaviour. You can work on getting the message across that this should not happen in public in case it ever does but in general I would avoid that she feels guilty and self-conscious about discovering her body.

[tiredbuthappy]

every class i have had has had at least one or two children that did this at naptime. some children would just rock to soothe themselves, while others seemed to really go to town! we ignored the children who would do it quietly to soothe themselves to sleep. for the others, or children we witnessed masterbating (masturbating) in school, we would quietly and simply say that this was not something we do in school.
side story- one day a little boy was masterbating (masturbating) in the bathroom. he had probably just turned 3. i told him that's something we don't do in school. the boy in the stall next to him spoke up and said "we do it at home???" Before i could reply, the first little boy said "oh no... mommys and daddys get mad when you do it at home!!!"
anyways, perhaps if you tried simply telling her that that behavior was ok at naptime or bedtime, she would respond. Another option- since it's a specific animal, perhaps it is time that it become a naptime/bedtime animal only. that way you may be able to avoid the discussion of when and where it is appropriate to do that.