Should I worry about my daughter?

My daughter is 18 months old and has adopted a new soothing behaviour. I wondered if anyone daughter has done this. I think is mainly when she is tired or bored. She will lie down and squeeze her legs together very tight and does a pelvic thrust motion. It started only lying down just before she falls asleep… now it’s at any time. If she is in the car seat or stroller she squeezes her legs tight. Her latest thing is lying on her back, squeezing her legs together and pushing just under her bellybutton with her hands. I have tried to stop her by holding her and carrying her but she gets mad and squeezes her leg tighter.

Do you think I should be worried about this behaviour? Do you think she is masturbating?

 

Yes, it sounds to me like it does feel good to her. I don't know exactly how to address it, but I would guess that most Peds/child dev experts would say to try not to draw too much attention to it or make it a "bad" or taboo thing. It will likely just go away on it's own. If it gets more obviously masturbatory and not appropriate in public, you may want to show her the places where it's ok to do this (ie in her room.) I would definitely bring it up to the Ped, though.

 

I wouldn't worry. My DD does this type of soothing when she falls asleep in her crib. She rolls onto her belly and tucks her hands underneath her belly and kinda humps. It's very funny. They don't know what they are doing (ie masturbating), like Tracey said, it probably just feels good and helps calm then. I wouldn't try to make her stop. It's very natural. She'll probably come up with another way to soothe herself soon enough.

Erica

 

My daughter and I :blush: both do this! Its a comfort things and not sexual in nature. I've done it since I was a little girl.

 

I agree w/pp. I think it is just a phase and probably something she is doing to soothe herself. I think the best thing is to not make a big deal about it. Try to ignore it as much as possible. I know it's hard because as an adult it looks like something that people are generally not comfortable with and would be very embarrassing but you should discuss it with your ped.

At 18 months, my dd started eating and sucking on her hair with her finger that she has sucked since she was 6 months or so. Just recently, she has added on hair twirling with that. Their world is just so overwhelming. They are learning so much and are so stimulated and they find all kinds of different ways to soothe themselves and calm themselves down. I used to try and stop Arwen from eating her hair but I've come to terms with it that she will grow out of it eventually and it I noticed that it was making her more anxious and nervous when I would get upset about it. I could see that she just really NEEDED to do it and so I let her suck away.

 

I've read this sort of thing more than a few times on here and my niece used to do something similar. It's normal and I agree to try and not make a big deal out of it.

 

My boys do this too, whenever they're tired. I think its just a comfort thing.

 

Thanks everyone! You all make me feel better. Today is been one of the worst days, because it’s cool outside and they are getting over a cold I didn’t take them out. All she did was comfort herself, now she learned to do it while standing. It’s soooooo hard not to make her stop.

I was upset just a minute ago because of what she does. I guess it doesn’t help that her grandparents (my parents) think its bad for her and that I have to make her stop somehow. They are very old school and masturbating is taboo. They think that’s what she is doing and they’re on my case every time they see her do it.