4.5 year old humping things 🤦♀️
Posting anonymously to protect my daughters privacy more than anything else 🥲
My 4.5 year old has humped things when tired for as long as I can remember. When she was younger we followed the recommended advice which is essentially to ignore it and not make a big deal out of it. As she has gotten older, we have had conversations about time and place / privacy etc. she understands privacy as she will ask for privacy when using the toilet. Most of our conversations go along the lines of ‘it’s totally okay for you to do that, but it is private, so if you would like to do that you can do it in your bedroom’ for example, if she’s been doing it on the sofa.
Now at bedtime, she asks me to stay and sit in the room with her until she falls asleep, which I don’t mind. But more recently she’s humping toys in bed. Which again, I’ve explained is ok but that ‘it’s private so if you would like to do that, I’ll go downstairs and give you some privacy. I’ll come back and check on you in a bit’ however when I say this, she cries and begs me to stay. I don’t want to shame her, and I know it’s normal, but she knows what privacy means and I’m not sure how else to explain that I am not comfortable sitting in a chair in the corner of her room while she humps her stuffed toys to death. Please tell me someone else has dealt with this?! What do I do?!
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Oh on she to young and early for that time
i feel like it’s not normal?? she’s 4 years old ??
a basic google search will tell you it’s completely normal. I didn’t post on here for people to tell me my daughter is abnormal I was searching for anyone who has also been in this situation who had advice on how to manage it, but thanks for your very unhelpful comment.
as above, a basic google search will tell you that it is completely normal. Doesn’t mean all children do it, but saying it’s ‘not normal’ really isn’t helpful and clearly wasn’t what I asked. Please don’t comment if you haven’t anything helpful to say.
my niece did the same thing around that age and even younger (2ish). it’s completely normal.
i unfortunately don’t know how else you can remedy the situation. i don’t know if it’s something she grew out of or what. i know that her doctor told my sister and brother in law the same thing. to just ignore it and not make a big deal about it.
i know this doesn’t necessarily help, but came to voice that you’re not alone and it IS normal.
best of luck to you, mama.
Actually it is normal. I know a little girl who used to do this from a very young age till she was around 9 ish. But she used to just rub herself on the floor. Those of you saying she’s too young to feel arousal from it, you know they’re born with those parts right? We all know it feels good…
My cousin actually did this when we were younger. Idont know when it started but she was 5 - 6 years old when she continuously did this, especially in the morning after we got ready for school, she would just lay on the floor on her tummy with her blanket between her legs and her hands on her private, humping. I never knew how to react or said anything to her when she did this, I’m only a few years older than her. I’m sure her parents told her something about it but she just continued so they let her & eventually she just stopped. Nothing other than that came out of it, no sexual behavior or anything odd.
This is NOT normal I’m not sure what source is telling you that but it’s either a sign of sexual abuse or something else. Either way you need to ask your daughter some tough questions because she should have no awareness of her private area or anything s*xual at age four.
it’s only a SA concern if they are showing other sexual behaviours. Every single resource / article / online forum confirms it is a completely normal self soothing behaviour. I’ll share a few with you so you can educate yourself ☺️
https://sexedrescue.com/humping-babies/
https://copingwithlindsey.com/why-a-baby-humps/
https://www.drpsychmom.com/reader-q-help-two-year-old-humping-stuffed-animals/
https://parentswonder.com/humping-behavior-in-toddlers/
https://www.focusonyourchild.com/why-do-babies-hump-things/
Also - you really need to educate yourself on some basic anatomy, ideally before the birth of your baby girl, before you do her some serious damage. Babies (boys and girls) are born with fully formed genitalia, and some of them work out sooner or later that moving in a certain way feels nice. It’s literally no different from sucking their thumb or rubbing a comforter on their face. This whole ‘she should have no idea about that stuff’ mantra, is completely wrong.
jus curious as to how many kids you have? And you haven’t seen this behaviour before? This is totally normal and is instilled in children from before they’re born. I’ve known many children do this as they’re growing up. It just eventually goes away and they gradually stop doing it. As to how to manage it.. maybe just ignore it? And try distraction techniques.. show her a book ask her to come sit with you etc.. it’s difficult but try bets to manage it til she grows out of it.
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