Baby's Pelvic Thrusts

Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Archived Q&A and Reviews

9-month-old's pelvic thrusts

January 2003

My daughter is 9 months old and has adopted a new soothing behavior. I wondered if anyone has known of or seen this before. When my daughter is tired, to soothe herself she does a pelvic thrust motion. This motion might occur in her car seat, which she doesn't particularly like to be in, in my arms, or in the bed before she falls asleep. I've been told that this is simply a soothing behavior, or that it is my daughter's way of preparing herself to walk. She crawled early and has been standing and attempting to walk. Is this anyhting I should be worried about......

my daughter did that when she was exactly the same age. I was also told that it's normal and she did stop doing it after a few months. but it is also a good idea to make sure she doesn't have a yeast infection. gael
Yes, I have witnessed this pelvic thrusting in my own child. She too started walking at 9.5 months and has always soothed herself in this manner since she was an infant. As she got older and began to explore her body I just limited-by very quietly and gently telling her to settle down- her thrusting to her room when she puts herself to sleep. She would do it anywhere. She is now in elementary school and still does it at night when she is settling down but not to the same extreme as when she was little. Also, I took note that when my husband and I went to bed we also had our own type of snuggling down into the bed routine and I think that this behavior is in that arena. A comforting mom
I don't know if my daughter was doing the same thing, but it sounds similar: when she was about 10 1/2 months old, she started thrusting, or humping, all the time. I had read that babies at that age are way too young to masturbate, but it really, really, seemed like that's what she was doing. She would hump against the carpet, a toy or ball, or, her favorite, against me or her dad if we were playing on the floor with her. It kind of freaked us out, and we stopped being on the floor with her so much during that time. There wasn't much we could do about it, other than try to distract her if she did it in front of company and we were embarrassed, or moving out of her way if we were in danger of becoming her humping tool. Then, after a few months, she started doing it less frequently, and now I haven't noticed it in several months. But whether it's a pre-walking exercise or masturbation, I don't see any cause for alarm.

11 month old daughter has a habit of humping things

November 2001

my 11 month old daughter has a habit of humping things. she'll do it to stuffed animals, our cat and yes, even my leg. I'm not bothered by this, I just wonder if this is normal. well, I think it may kindof bother me because I do wish she would express herself in a different way. why haven't I seen other kids doing this? anonymous, please...

I have a girlfriend who's daughter humps all sorts of things in the house. She is now 2.5 and began when she was about 1 yr old. She humps the cat too. I don't think it's unusual.
Take her to see her doctor and see if she doesn't have some kind of female type infection. It could be it just itches. Baby girls can get the same kind of irritants you can get from time to time, including yeast infections. I'd check anyway. If there's nothing physically wrong, she's probably just doing it because it feels good. She'll grow out of it. I've seen baby boys pay more than a little attention to that region for that same reason. I would think girls are no different. marianne
I used to babysit a boy who was maybe 3 or 4? I can't now remember - I only sat with him one or two times, but he did the same thing. It made me feel a little strange, but I was also a teen and felt strange about everything and was certainly too embarassed to say something. I know this probably doesn't help. I just thought you might be comforted that this may not be that unusual (I hope I also am not implying that your child will continue this longer - again, I never discussed this with his parents).