4yr old. abnormal sexual behavior

Is it normal for a 4yr.old to grind up a pillow in a humping motion?She says the pillow makes her feel uncomfortable and nasty plus  she does this alone in bed  very quietly and if we catch her she says" I wasnt doing nothing witth the pillow."Her being molested is not a consideration she has not in any way gone threw anything terrible like that.Please tell me and my husband what to do!

[AnnieBrooke]

Tell her that is a private activity she should only do in her room when she is alone.  Your reaction should be calm and matter-of-fact and then let the issue drop.  She might or might not stop.  She's probably doing it to calm herself or self-soothe (presumably it feels good to her).  It's pretty normal, even some babies figure out how to rub on their carseat strap or something else.  

[mum2beagain]

It's perfectly normal, my youngest has done something similar rocking/rubbing back and forth sat on his bottom since he could sit up in his crib! He does it almost every night before falling asleep. To him it is no different to any other self soothing method such as sucking a paci or thumb and he only does it when he is tired. As Annie said we just let him know it is something he can do in his room in private.

[tiredbuthappy]

This is much more common than you might think! As a preschool and daycare teacher, I have seen at least 1 or 2 kids in each class that does this to fall asleep. I do not think they realize that they are doing it, and there doesn't seem to be anything sexual about it. It is a way to self-soothe. We simply ignore it if it is subtle. If it is more than subtle (one kid would work up a sweat!) and it couldn't be ignored, we would tell them that it is not something they should do at school. We tell the parents to explain to them that it is something they can do in private in their homes.