Hi! I would like your advice on how to approach this...
My daughter has been rolling on her belly and touching herself (over her diaper). It seems to happen when she is really wet. I want to start potty training her because I thought that this was a sign she was uncomfortable in the diaper, but I'm starting to wonder if she is mastubating? I know that this is natural, but I wanted to address this delicately. Any suggestions? I don't want her to be embarrassed, but I also don't want her to do this while playing with other kids or at the store lol She's 2 years old, so I want to make sure to speak in a way she will understand.
The way we have been approaching this so far is to ask if she is uncomfortable or if her diaper needs to be changed. Should we ask other questions? ignore it?
I recently read an article about this is either Parent Magazine. Here's the link http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/...
Be very natural and take the diaper is wet angle. If it continues allow her but she should be coached about keeping that activity private in her room, bathroom etc....She is a little young for that to sink in but practice makes perfect...I think though like you she doesn't like being wet.
Sounds like the diaper is making her uncomfortable or itchy, so I'd address that first. At 2, they don't masturbate, they're just exploring their bodies and it feels nice. The difference, at least in my head, is that masturbation is done for the PURPOSE of sexual stimulation/gratification, etc., where a toddler is just discovering how things work and feel. If it's exploration and not wet-diaper related, just move her hand & redirect. As she gets a little older, you can tell her about privacy, etc. I tell my 3.5 year old son it's not polite to touch his private area in public :)
personally i just try to distract them, at 2 they are just exploring, & they are too young to understand this is something you do in private...when they are older then you can tell them where & when it is/isnt appropriate, but at this age i just distract
ignore it . nothing wrong with it. you can address it if she begins to do it in inappropriate places but if she is doing it in her room let her be. We had a kid at our day care that did this. That was the hardest convo i have ever had to have with a mom! luckily she was aware of it!
o and they for sure do masturbate at 2. Ask any physician they will tell you its normal. Its not the same as an adult masturbating , but the child has feelings and has figured out that stimulating herself can bring a pleasurable feeling
ignore it unless other kids are around or your in public. my 2 yr old puts his blankie on it to rub his and make it hard. it is a phase and he only does it when he is going commando. if we were in public or had company I would just say stop and move his hand. other than that I would ignore it.
At this age and with the fact that it's happening when her diaper is really wet, I would stick with changing her diaper immediately and leave it at that. She may be itchy due to the wetness.
Ignore it as the others have said. It's completely normal for them to explore their bodies.
On the other hand, you should start potty training. We started with our daughter around 18 months. She is now almost potty trained at 26 months.
This is happening to my daughter as well, who is almost 2.5. It started while she was still in diapers, but went away for awhile, then came back recently (she is potty trained now). I called my doctor and he said that it is most likely just irritated by being wet or from wiping after going potty. He said sometimes in diapers the wetness can cause irritation (even though it doesn't look red or irritated) and once potty trained, sometimes girls wipe too much and some of the toilet paper can actually get stuck in the folds and cause irritation - so be careful once you potty train her to watch her wiping. He suggested a warm bath and put some baking soda on a washcloth and have her sit on it for a while, then try to splash some water up in there to clean it out. I did that and she immediately felt better. She had told me it was itchy down there. She didn't touch it the rest of the day, but by late afternoon the next day she started again, so I gave her another bath and it helped again. He also said to put some aquafor on it to help relieve the discomfort after the bath. I didn't have any at the time, so I skipped that step, but the bath did seem to help. I'm still not entirely sure if it was just discomfort or masturbation, but considering the bath worked so well, I'm guessing it was mostly that. Good luck!
i told my daughter, if you're going to do that, go to your room, do not do that in front of me...this way, "it's ok, but that's private" but i told my daughter that at 6...so that may be too much for your daughter to understand, just tell her no no for now, but not so that it scares her
