DD constantly playing with her bits!

[winesoon]

DD is 21mo now but this started at about 17mo. She sits in her highchair and rubs her bits up against the bar between her legs. Same happens in the car seat and supermarket trolley. I've tried ignoring it and telling her to stop but neither work. It's really embarrassing and it distracts her from eating, plus it drives me mad. A lot of the time we just feed her standing up to avoid it. Should I take her to the GP or just accept it as a phase that she will hopefully grow out of soon?

It's a phase, and a phase you need to look at without adult eyes.
My son used to do this, it wasn't masturbating, it was a comfort thing. I was horrified at first, he would sit there with his thumb in his mouth watching TV and playing with his winky.
My mom said ignore it and I did, he grew out of it in a few months.
It's really no different to how my youngest rubs his blanket against his cheek.
It's not nice, it can be embarrassing, but she's really young and it's not 'wrong' yet.
She will grow out of it, I promise x

You could mention it to the health visitor if having a 'professional' opinion would put your mind at ease, but you really don't need to be seeing the GP specifically for this xx

Thank you for your reassurance. I've heard about boys doing it but didn't realise that girls did it too. No reason why they wouldn't I guess but it does get frustrating because she kind of zones out while she's doing it.

Dd discovered this about 4 months ago. She's just turned 3.
I ignored it and distracted her and now she doesn't do it anymore

My DS has been doing this too, I have just taken to ignoring it now as hoping that he will grow out of it once he figures out that yes, it is still there and hasn't fallen off!

Is there any indication that your DD might have thrush or a uti? I would rule those out before putting it down to a development issue.

Many children of this age do it - ignore it. She is not shaping up to be a nymphomaniac; she is just exploring her body.

One of my DDs at the age of about 6 was fiddling with her nethers in the bath and I decided to completely ignore it. But after a few moments she said: "Mum - there is a label down here!" When the children had gone to bed, OH and I had an entertaining evening trying to decide what this label might say: Do not Dry Clean; Handle with Care etc. etc.

Perfectly normal, nothing to be worried about.

DS was obsessed with his penis, when we started potty training and he suddenly had unlimited access to it, he literally wouldn't stop messing with it!
I ignored it and he's now, mainly, grown out of it.

loads of kids do it. Its nothing to worry about