Three year old toddler masturbating

No you shouldn't be concerned, children can start exploring their bodies at a young age and masturbation is a perfectly normal reaction to that exploration. It is NOT repeat NOT sexual. Children especially toddlers who are masturbators do so because it provides a relief valve and help them relax especially they are feeling stressed, depressed or even when they are tired. My two daughters now ages 27 and 24 started masturbating when they were around the same age as your daughter. The only thing you should do is take your daughter aside privately and tried to explain to her in the simpliest terms that it's perfectly ok for her to touch herself as long as she knows it is something that she and only she does in the privacy of her bedroom or in the bathroom and with no one else.

I hope this alleviates your concerns.

Dr. Daniel P. Fitzsimmons, M.D., FAAP

Caitlin,

   Your little girl is 3, you can't explain to her that she should excuse herself and go into her bedroom or the bathroom...sheesh Dr. Dan! You obviously don't want her to put a show on for company either. When you notice your little one exploring herself, which is very normal at this age, just distract her, offer her a drink of milk or offer her a toy of some kind, just get her attention away from herself. Little kid's do masterbate when they are tired or bored, that is normal. They do not arouse themselve's sexually nor do they bring themselve's to orgasm. She will eventually outgrow this.

She did not learn this anywhere, it's something mother nature came up with. I have 5 children and 4 grandson's and they have all done it at one time or another. I remember having a hard time changing my boy's diapers. I had to be quicker than they were and had to fight them to keep their little hand's off their penis. My girl's did the same thing.

At this age, privacy goes out the window, so forget explaining that one to her. She is fine and she is normal and there is no reason for you to become concerned. As she get's older and if she is still doing this, then you can try to explain it a little better to where she will understand, but for now, just distract her and never tell her that it's nasty or dirty.

Yep, as bb said it's something they find on their own.

When I was in bed with the chicken pox, sometime in 1943 when I was 3 according to my mother, I discovered my penis. I was scratching itches I guess and found the built in toy that felt really good when I played with it. I don't think my mother knew about that though. She just threatened to tie mittens on my hands if I didn't stop scratching because she was worried about the scratching leaving scars.


I was quick to promise not to scratch any more. I certainly didn't want any mittens on my hands, I was having too much fun playing with my new found toy.


The strange thing is I don't remember playing with it after I got over the chicken pox and was out of bed so I could resume my normal play.


The next time I discovered any more about my toy I was about 6 or 7 when my two neighbor girl playmates wanted to research the difference between boys and girls. The older brother of one of them told her boys had a bat and two balls and girls had biscuits. They wanted to see the baseball stuff!!! We were looking at each other and they wanted to touch my bat. That's when I/we discovered erections and I learned the joy of the female touch. Apparently that was mutual because they liked having me touch them too. None of us knew anything about sex or masturbation at that time.


When we learned that babies got milk from their mother's breasts I remember examining their nipples many times trying to find the holes where it came out. They examined each other's nipples and mine to see if I had any holes. We never found any.


I didn't learn to masturbate until I was ten but I never shared that with them and they never mentioned doing it either so I grew up thinking only boys did that.


We were no longer doing things like that by the time I was 11 and they were 10 so it was a shock to me when I was 16 and the girl I was dating had hair sticking out both sides of her bathing suit. The neighbor girls didn't have any hair so I thought only boys had hair.


Obviously there was NO sex-ed when I was a lad.

I guess we created our own.

no dont be concerned just try to find out where the root of the problem . hope this helps

Young children, even infants, can and sometimes do bring themselves to orgasm. Get your facts straight before misleading someone with wrong information please

anonymous,

 

Respectfully - toddlers and infants do not have orgasims. The doctor is correct that young masterbaters are simply exploring themselves. Stimulation of any part of the body can be done at any age without a relationship to sexuality. Genitals, in particular, have far more sensitive nerve endings, so even as small children we can derive physical pleasure from self touching. That's not the same as acheiving orgasim (which is entirely sexual in nature).

 

The only issues with children touching themselves is potential infections (ie: playing in the dirt with worms then sticking fingers in orafices). We all did it anyway. We all lived through it.

 

When my oldest was 2 I do remember cringing and hoping he'd stop pulling on that thing. Kept saying to myself... "man, he's gonna need that some day, hope he doesn't wreck it". I think he's fine. He's an adult now and seems to be perfectly functioning.