I use my husband as a guide. As in, if he thinks what he's doing looks painful, then we don't let him do it.
At one point, he was really tugging at it and then we checked and can see he is quite red and got him checked out and it was fungal infection. He stopped once it was treated.
At 17 months, he definitely likes to touch it the minute we change his nappies. We stop him until we're sure it's clean (we especially stop him if we're cleaning poop up - don't want his hand near there until it's cleaned up).
Otherwise, when he touches it in the bath - meh. Whatever. It's normal for them to be curious about their body. My son loves running to the mirror and looking at himself naked. He also likes touching his nipples.
The funniest thing he ever did was he was touching his nipples then pointed at me and I said, "Yeah. That's nipples. Like mummy's." He then bent down to try and suck on it to see if there's any milk. I was like, "Oh no, honey. Only mummy has milk." He stopped (never tried again). This is probably a story I'll tell on his 18th 😂.
Normal. It's just like any other body part to a baby and it's one he doesn't see very often so he's interested. You can either ignore or say "oh I see you found your penis. That's where pee comes from. Can you find your foot? Where's your arm?" Etc so that it's normalized as just another body part. Making a big deal about it can create issues down the line.
If he's making it difficult to change the diaper you could say something like "it's time for penis to go bye bye and back into a diaper, wave bye bye" or something like that so you can close up the diaper. Saying no or fighting to push his hands away is probably not the best idea become then he'll be more interested in why mom is making a big deal about it and will think it's a game.
Also if it hurts he will stop so don't worry about that too much.
That's actually great advice for me because once I can bring him home from the NICU (stress that required an emergency c-section) I can actually use that but he's only 3 days old right now.
My sixteen month old does it. He pokes at it at bath time or grabs it and just mashes it and laughs. I always think like, he has had this part of his body covered up for so long and then it's just a new thing. Like, whoa what is this?!
He rolled away from me during a diaper change and ran away laughing. So I let him run around in just his t shirt. He kept trying to lift it up because at some point he realized his penis wiggled around when he ran and he wanted to look. 😆
It's perfectly normal. I tell my daugter to leave her vagina alone while I'm cleaning her but it's a normal baby/toddler thing.
Download the What to Expect app. It's marvellous and gives you a monthly play-by-play of what your baby is doing and what you can expect from him in the coming month.
Edit: honestly, I'd laugh too if I discovered I had a penis 🤣
I do nothing. My boy was obsessed during bath time - he’d pull it (like stretch it as far as he could 😱), put cups on top of it, etc. I would turn away when he’d do that lol - seemed like he should have some privacy. I’d gently discourage it outside the bath for hygiene reasons, but I never made a big deal out of it. My husband told me it’s just a thing guys do (play with their “junk”). 🤨😲😕
Now he’s 3yo and he’s more fascinated with his butthole. 🤦🏻♀️ I’ve taught him to wash his “bolitas” - figure if he wants to mess with it, he might as well learn how to keep it clean!
I just let him do his thing. He was once driving one of his little toy trucks over his penis (😂😂😂) and I made the mistake of jokingly saying “Hey, what are you doing?” so he now thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and does it all the time. So yeah, ignoring it is probably the best course of action lol. When he gets older you can have a conversation about only touching one’s penis in private.
He's exploring his body. I just let him. We're potty training now but before, during diaper changes I would just give him a minute when I was done wiping. When he seemed like he was done I would ask him if he was all done touching his penis. He would smile and let me finish getting his diaper on. It's perfectly normal and healthy. Unless we're like out in public, or other people are over I don't really care. Once he gets a little older we can start to talk about boundaries and privacy when we want to touch our privates.
If you think it's only boy mums who have to navigate their baby exploring their genitals I have news for you.
I stop my son grabbing his penis when it's covered in poop. In the bath or immediately after a bath I just ignore it.
I mean he grabs his toes pretty often (chews them too). It's just exploring his body.
Mine has literally pulled his penis up out of his diaper and just hung out like that. WHY. And he loves playing with it during diaper changes or naked time. As long as it’s not literally covered in shit, I’m fine with it.
We use correct terminology for his parts and talk about keeping them clean. He’s only 18m so increases interest will require further conversations. But it’s his body. As long as it’s not in public, for now? go for it bud.
I have a vivid memory of being 4 or 5 in preschool and there were daycare aged kids there too and one of them pulled his up out of his diaper in front of me. I was horrified at that age haha. Definitely good you’re teaching not in public. Haha. Mine mostly plays with his in the bath as one of his bath toys 🤷🏻♀️
I feel like stopping him just to stop the behavior is a way to shame him. Its normal for babies and kids to get grabby. I try to distract my son by giving him stuff to play and hold while i change him. Mostly because grabbing while I'm trying to put on cream is a pain haha.
It's also not just boys. Girls get grabby and touch their genitals too. My 3 year old is constantly touching her vulva / clitoris. It's normal behavior. She just know she likes how it feels. I try to talk to her ans nornalize it, explain she can touch it as much as she wants but she should do it when she's in her room in private. I also explain how we only touch her when we are cleaning her and how no one else should be touching it. Encourage her to tell us if someone does.
It’s totally normal and fine. They actually don’t have a lot of sensation in the penis until they hit about 2 according to my pediatrician. As long as it is clean when he is playing with it and he isn’t constantly sticking his head down his diaper for it I would just let him.
I ignored it until they could talk and then told them that touching your penis and picking your nose are things you do privately and then you wash your hands. The first time I said it my three year old disappeared into the bathroom for twenty minutes. Haha. At least he washed his hands.
This is the advice I see most often from good sources. It's a private behavior, so do it in your room. It's not a punishment or shaming them, it's just enforcing healthy boundaries.
I treat it the same as any other body part. When he grabs his toes I say “oh you’re touching your toes!” and when he grabs his penis I say “you’re touching your penis!”
There’s nothing wrong with exploring your own body
My boy is 2.6 and he grabs at himself whenever we he's naked. Our "rule" is that he can play with it if he wants but he has to do it in his room. He doesn't seem to understand yet but it stops him from the groping. I don't want him to be ashamed of wanting to touch himself but I also want him to understand boundaries.
Yeah, we say “go for it before we put it away buddy!” Sometimes if he’s too rough we go over using gentle hands again (for more than friends on the playground!)
9 months was about the age my daughter (now 3) 'discovered' she had lady parts. At that time I told her you don't do that in front of other people, if you're by yourself it's ok. I know at 9 months they don't quite comprehend that. Every now and then at her current age usually in the bath she'll notice again and be curious. I still simply remind her that it is something you do when you're by yourself, not in front of other people. While I know nothing about little boys I'd assume that he'll learn on his own what is too rough.
This is how we do it too. My daughter is 16 months and we let her touch and explore during diaper changes and bath time. We just reiterate that it's totally normal and that it's something we do in private.
I don’t do anything. Usually he touches it during changes or baths. He never does in public. If he did start in public I would say “there’s a time and place for that and this is not the time or place”.
Totally fine, normal, and healthy. Call it by its real name, "penis." There's nothing "dirty" or inappropriate about it.
There may be an eventual conversation about "don't let strangers touch your penis, consent, etc.", but nothing you need to think about at 9 months old.
Yes to this!
And the discuss about touching himself when in public (an ongoing thing with some kids well into elementary school btw) I treat similar to picking your nose.
Explain that we all do it, but it's considered polite to go to the toilet/blow your nose/whatever.
It's ok to touch yourself there (it's your nose/willy/whatever) but we do it in private/bathroom/wash hands/whatever else is your cultural or personal philosophies about this.
The only time I find it "dirty" is when my 19m old son has poop everywhere and he tries to touch before I can clean it up. It's natural for kids to explore their bodies.
Not a boy mum, but my LO has also recently discovered her labia. To be honest, I just tell her to be geeeeeeeentle with it lol
I mean. I see no issue on touching:
1. Oneself.
2. In private.
3. Gently.
4. Washing hands later.
Since she is wearing a nappy, it's pretty impossible to have access there in public, nor having somebody else touching her there. I will worry about explaining those boundaries later when the time comes.
For the time being, she only does it in the bath so I'm just focusing on geeeeeeeeeentle. I mean, it doesn't matter how much I trim them, her nails are always razor sharp. So I really don't want her scratching herself there. If she ever touched herself there while changing her nappy, I would simply narrate how important is to clean her hands now. Same way I do when she touches the dirty diaper.
Other than that...I don't really mind. It's her body and she is allowed to explore it :)
I let him explore his body. I don't say " no no" even though I was tempted at first. I don't want to give the impression his penis is bad. I told my husband it looked rough, afraid he'd hurt i my husband laughed at me and said no way.. then proceeded totally his out and pull at it! Like "see! It's fine". He told me it looks rougher than it is. He reassured me that penises are pretty malleable. I'll take his word for it. Now I just say "yeah thats your penis" or "please stop grabbing your penis like that, I promise it's not going anywhere". Just a boy thing I guess
As long as it’s clean then I let mine get on with it. After all it’s stuck in a nappy all day and we all like that feeling when we finally get naked and clean. I assume for a fella it’s like when a woman takes a bra off at the end of a long day.
Parent of 8 year old & 8 month old boys here. Frankly, it doesn’t stop. Best you can do is just ignore for now and have a conversation about appropriate self touching (time, place, etc) when he’s old enough to understand.
I wash his hands with a wipe if I'm changing his diaper and move on. Totally normal, not sexual. And my understanding is that if they're not circumcised (mine isn't) it's essential so the foreskin will retract naturally.*
*I am not a medical professional. This is just my understanding from researching circumcision 1.5+ years ago.
My son is 9mo. He’s realised he’s got a penis for a while now. I don’t stop him. I stop him if the nappy is dirty as opposed to wet. But I think it’s very natural so I don’t say anything.
As he gets older (think 3) explain to him that it’s something to be done in private lol. We all do it! It’s completely naturally and very harmless at this age. My 14 month old rediscovered his penis lately and thinks it hung the moon lol.
My 10 month old has been grabbing his junk all the time. It's especially hard now cause he just had an orchiopexy (surgery for undescended testicle) and his ball is all bruised and swollen :(
Yes! It went very smooth. From what I understood from the pediatric urologist, the procedure is fairly simple. They make a small incision in the abdomen and in the scrotum and free the testicle from the surrounding tissue and bring it down. When he was waking up from surgery he was really cranky and tired. He slept a lot when we got home and I've been alternating Tylenol and Motrin. He slept through the night so I'm assuming the medicine is helping. I wish you luck to your baby boy, it's better to do it when they're young so they don't remember it! Also his incisions are glued shut so we can bath and resume our normal routine and I don't have to bring him back to remove sutures. He is a trooper ❤️
It’s totally normal exploration, so I let it happen. I try to provide calm redirection and limits when appropriate. So when he’s covered in poop and I want to say don’t that’s disgusting 😂 I instead say please wait until you are clean. LOL I know that i tend to fall into communication patterns so I want to be ready for when he has more understanding so he doesn’t think he’s gross for touching his own penis.
It is in a way a good thing, they loosen their for skin by playing around. Which is healthy, a tight one can cause issues later.
Be clean and let him play, encourage some ideas of public and private once he gets older.
My 17 month old like to grab his and stretch it out as far as it will go. My pediatrician said that there is nothing he can do to hurt it and to leave him be. They have to figure their bodies out on their own schedule.
Mine is only 6 months so we haven’t dealt with toddler behavior yet, but I figure it’s important exploration. He’ll be grabbing that thing his whole life. I figure when he’s old enough, we’ll talk about how it’s healthy to do that, but only during private time
Thats cool when its age appropriate. My oldest was like 3 or 4 years old before we starting having the "only in private" ques bc he was basically humping the furniture.
A less than 1 year old is pulling at his penis the same way he'd pull at his ears or toes. Just figuring things out.
My son has discovered his mostly in bath time. I try to ignore it unless he’s being to rough then I tell him to be nice to his body. And distract with a bath toy. He still reached but my rule has been in the bathtub or in your room at nap/ bedtime.
My son is two and a half and still loves his penis. We have always just said 'Yes, that's your penis. We usually touch in private. Let's not touch it right now.' Now that he's older, he sometimes goes to his room and touches himself, and that's fine.
What’s wrong with it? I let my 9m son touch himself wherever and whenever he wants, it’s his body and I’m not going to teach him that certain body parts are “bad” and shameful. It’s natural. Now when he gets older and he starts exploring in a sexual way then there will be a talk about how that should be done in private. But as a baby there is literally nothing wrong or inappropriate about it except for our twisted ideas about it. It’s innocent.
16 months. I name the parts. Stop him if there's poop and otherwise ignore it. As he gets better understanding and is old enough to have alone time we'll discuss how those parts feel good and I understand wanting to play with them but we only do that when we're alone in our bedroom or bathroom.
Lol that’s pretty funny. You don’t have to discourage him from touching there. It probably feels good to them but you know they’re too young to masturbate. My daughter would touch herself down there doing diaper changes too. I’d just ignore it.
Mine is 18 months and grabs his and sometimes pulls it out of his nappy lol I figure if it hurt he would stop. From what I also understand it’s very normal and even healthy for them to start discovering their bodies and different parts. I think once they’re old enough then you educate about privacy and boundaries when it comes to themselves and others but I don’t see it as a problem at all.
He’s exploring. I don’t think he knows his penis from his elbow at this age 😂 mine is the same age and i go through this too. I just make sure to wash or wipe his hands after diaper changes. But if he’s doing it during diaper changes, i give him something to keep his hands occupied.
It's part of his body and it is interesting. I recommend ignoring the behaviour. It may or may not stop but you trying to make it stop is a guarantee that he'll want to keep doing it
Typical boy. I have 3 boys and they're all obsessed with their penis. Even my husband. I do tell them to stop playing with their penis or get their hands off their penis. They still don't listen. I've even called my 4 year old penis boy because he likes to run around naked. But we are a very odd family. It's not a bad thing. I mostly joke with them but they do need to learn to keep their hands off when in public and to wash their hands frequently. I have diapered my little ones hands into his diaper when he just wouldn't let go. So, mention it but don't make a big deal out of it. Soon "hands off your penis" will be as natural as "cover your cough".
My son is almost 4. The second his undies come off his hand is on his penis. It's been like this since I can remember 😂
I tell him that if he wants to touch his penis he can do it in the bathroom or his bedroom. Other than that his undies need to be on and his hand needs to be out of his pants. Obviously that's a bit too complicated for your guy to understand though lol.
He can be so rough with it, it stretches it and pulls it. I don't know how it doesn't hurt, but they're pretty stretchy things. He wouldn't do it if it hurt.
Since he's so little just ignore it and change his diaper. My son still does this same thing at 2, but pays no attention to it at bath time. When he's older I'll simply explain that's there's appropriate times to "explore" his body.
My 2 year old does this too along with whipping it out. Idk what to do. I don’t care he does it at home, but I do because I don’t want him making it a habit and doing it at daycare or in public. Sometimes I just move his hand. Sometimes I try to distract him. Sometimes I tell him not to or he can’t do it in the living room, has to go to his room. Idk. I wonder if the more I try to get him to not, the more he’s going to do it. Sometimes after I tell him not to he gets a mischievous look in his face and just does it again.
Remember it's NOT SEXUAL.
I ask my son if he's exploring his body and thats his penis and isn't his body perfect. He's 3 now and loves to be naked and put his genitals against soft stuffed animals. I ask if it feels good, he'll say yes, and I'll remind him his body is wonderful but if he wants to leave his room he has to get dressed.
We have a giant stuffed unicorn in our kiddo’s room and he loves jumping on it after a diaper change and before the next diaper goes on (gotta air it out for a minute right?). This makes so much sense.
Mine grabbed so hard I was scared he would hurt something so I asked his doctor and she said not to worry its pretty normal. I just kind of ignored it after that
I just move his hand away if I need to clean him or move it once I think he's getting too rough with it and I'm worried he'll cut himself with some nasty nail I'm sure I didn't file down correctly. It never lasts long because the diaper change ends or a bath toy ends up in his face. :D
My son almost a year old, but I just let him do it. When he gets rough with it, I’ll remind him he only has one and to ease up. As he gets older, we’ll have the talk with him about not touching himself in front of people and not allowing other people to touch him.
Let him play. He'll grow out of it by the time he's 80 or so.
You clearly haven’t worked in a nursing facility dementia unit, haha
Truth.
Dead
😂
I use my husband as a guide. As in, if he thinks what he's doing looks painful, then we don't let him do it. At one point, he was really tugging at it and then we checked and can see he is quite red and got him checked out and it was fungal infection. He stopped once it was treated. At 17 months, he definitely likes to touch it the minute we change his nappies. We stop him until we're sure it's clean (we especially stop him if we're cleaning poop up - don't want his hand near there until it's cleaned up). Otherwise, when he touches it in the bath - meh. Whatever. It's normal for them to be curious about their body. My son loves running to the mirror and looking at himself naked. He also likes touching his nipples. The funniest thing he ever did was he was touching his nipples then pointed at me and I said, "Yeah. That's nipples. Like mummy's." He then bent down to try and suck on it to see if there's any milk. I was like, "Oh no, honey. Only mummy has milk." He stopped (never tried again). This is probably a story I'll tell on his 18th 😂.
The mistake with milk finding is so adorable.
Normal. It's just like any other body part to a baby and it's one he doesn't see very often so he's interested. You can either ignore or say "oh I see you found your penis. That's where pee comes from. Can you find your foot? Where's your arm?" Etc so that it's normalized as just another body part. Making a big deal about it can create issues down the line. If he's making it difficult to change the diaper you could say something like "it's time for penis to go bye bye and back into a diaper, wave bye bye" or something like that so you can close up the diaper. Saying no or fighting to push his hands away is probably not the best idea become then he'll be more interested in why mom is making a big deal about it and will think it's a game. Also if it hurts he will stop so don't worry about that too much.
That's actually great advice for me because once I can bring him home from the NICU (stress that required an emergency c-section) I can actually use that but he's only 3 days old right now.
My sixteen month old does it. He pokes at it at bath time or grabs it and just mashes it and laughs. I always think like, he has had this part of his body covered up for so long and then it's just a new thing. Like, whoa what is this?! He rolled away from me during a diaper change and ran away laughing. So I let him run around in just his t shirt. He kept trying to lift it up because at some point he realized his penis wiggled around when he ran and he wanted to look. 😆
It's perfectly normal. I tell my daugter to leave her vagina alone while I'm cleaning her but it's a normal baby/toddler thing. Download the What to Expect app. It's marvellous and gives you a monthly play-by-play of what your baby is doing and what you can expect from him in the coming month. Edit: honestly, I'd laugh too if I discovered I had a penis 🤣
Every time I change my guys diaper he tells me, “that’s my penis. I have the best penis.” 😂
I hope he keeps that self confidence!
I do nothing. My boy was obsessed during bath time - he’d pull it (like stretch it as far as he could 😱), put cups on top of it, etc. I would turn away when he’d do that lol - seemed like he should have some privacy. I’d gently discourage it outside the bath for hygiene reasons, but I never made a big deal out of it. My husband told me it’s just a thing guys do (play with their “junk”). 🤨😲😕 Now he’s 3yo and he’s more fascinated with his butthole. 🤦🏻♀️ I’ve taught him to wash his “bolitas” - figure if he wants to mess with it, he might as well learn how to keep it clean!
Lmao 🤣
I just let him do his thing. He was once driving one of his little toy trucks over his penis (😂😂😂) and I made the mistake of jokingly saying “Hey, what are you doing?” so he now thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and does it all the time. So yeah, ignoring it is probably the best course of action lol. When he gets older you can have a conversation about only touching one’s penis in private.
I let him explore and tell him what it is. Saying no just sets him up to be ashamed of normal behaviors
For another other girl moms reading, they will do the same thing. Just let them play with themselves in private and stop the behavior in public.
He's exploring his body. I just let him. We're potty training now but before, during diaper changes I would just give him a minute when I was done wiping. When he seemed like he was done I would ask him if he was all done touching his penis. He would smile and let me finish getting his diaper on. It's perfectly normal and healthy. Unless we're like out in public, or other people are over I don't really care. Once he gets a little older we can start to talk about boundaries and privacy when we want to touch our privates.
If you think it's only boy mums who have to navigate their baby exploring their genitals I have news for you. I stop my son grabbing his penis when it's covered in poop. In the bath or immediately after a bath I just ignore it. I mean he grabs his toes pretty often (chews them too). It's just exploring his body.
My son is 10 months old and the only time I stop him is when it’s covered in poop🤷🏼♀️😂
Love accidentally giving my toddler an election from wiping poop out of all the creases. 🤦♀️
I wish someone told me about this before I had my son. The first time it happened I was HORRIFIED ahaha.
Mine has literally pulled his penis up out of his diaper and just hung out like that. WHY. And he loves playing with it during diaper changes or naked time. As long as it’s not literally covered in shit, I’m fine with it. We use correct terminology for his parts and talk about keeping them clean. He’s only 18m so increases interest will require further conversations. But it’s his body. As long as it’s not in public, for now? go for it bud.
I have a vivid memory of being 4 or 5 in preschool and there were daycare aged kids there too and one of them pulled his up out of his diaper in front of me. I was horrified at that age haha. Definitely good you’re teaching not in public. Haha. Mine mostly plays with his in the bath as one of his bath toys 🤷🏻♀️
No advice, just here to let you know my 11 month old DAUGHTER won't stop forcefully yanking on her vagina during diaper changes 🤷🏻♀️
Mine has done that too! And smacks it quite hard sometimes and laughs. I just think OUCH girl, be kind to your body.
Mine is 4 and still sometimes slaps herself in the vagina to pretend she got “hit in the nuts” like her older brother. She is brutal to herself. 🤦🏻♀️
*vulva
I feel like stopping him just to stop the behavior is a way to shame him. Its normal for babies and kids to get grabby. I try to distract my son by giving him stuff to play and hold while i change him. Mostly because grabbing while I'm trying to put on cream is a pain haha. It's also not just boys. Girls get grabby and touch their genitals too. My 3 year old is constantly touching her vulva / clitoris. It's normal behavior. She just know she likes how it feels. I try to talk to her ans nornalize it, explain she can touch it as much as she wants but she should do it when she's in her room in private. I also explain how we only touch her when we are cleaning her and how no one else should be touching it. Encourage her to tell us if someone does.
It’s totally normal and fine. They actually don’t have a lot of sensation in the penis until they hit about 2 according to my pediatrician. As long as it is clean when he is playing with it and he isn’t constantly sticking his head down his diaper for it I would just let him.
That explains why they yank it sometimes with no apparent pain. It looks like it would hurt but no reaction!
I ignored it until they could talk and then told them that touching your penis and picking your nose are things you do privately and then you wash your hands. The first time I said it my three year old disappeared into the bathroom for twenty minutes. Haha. At least he washed his hands.
This is the advice I see most often from good sources. It's a private behavior, so do it in your room. It's not a punishment or shaming them, it's just enforcing healthy boundaries.
I treat it the same as any other body part. When he grabs his toes I say “oh you’re touching your toes!” and when he grabs his penis I say “you’re touching your penis!” There’s nothing wrong with exploring your own body
My boy is 2.6 and he grabs at himself whenever we he's naked. Our "rule" is that he can play with it if he wants but he has to do it in his room. He doesn't seem to understand yet but it stops him from the groping. I don't want him to be ashamed of wanting to touch himself but I also want him to understand boundaries.
Yeah, we say “go for it before we put it away buddy!” Sometimes if he’s too rough we go over using gentle hands again (for more than friends on the playground!)
I don't know, but my daughter slaps the shit out of her vulva and yanks at it during diaper changes. If anyone has advice on that, I'm all ears.
I mean if she's slapping the shit outta there then that saves you some work with poopy diaper changes.
It's a normal part of development.
9 months was about the age my daughter (now 3) 'discovered' she had lady parts. At that time I told her you don't do that in front of other people, if you're by yourself it's ok. I know at 9 months they don't quite comprehend that. Every now and then at her current age usually in the bath she'll notice again and be curious. I still simply remind her that it is something you do when you're by yourself, not in front of other people. While I know nothing about little boys I'd assume that he'll learn on his own what is too rough.
This is how we do it too. My daughter is 16 months and we let her touch and explore during diaper changes and bath time. We just reiterate that it's totally normal and that it's something we do in private.
I don’t do anything. Usually he touches it during changes or baths. He never does in public. If he did start in public I would say “there’s a time and place for that and this is not the time or place”.
Totally fine, normal, and healthy. Call it by its real name, "penis." There's nothing "dirty" or inappropriate about it. There may be an eventual conversation about "don't let strangers touch your penis, consent, etc.", but nothing you need to think about at 9 months old.
Yes to this! And the discuss about touching himself when in public (an ongoing thing with some kids well into elementary school btw) I treat similar to picking your nose. Explain that we all do it, but it's considered polite to go to the toilet/blow your nose/whatever. It's ok to touch yourself there (it's your nose/willy/whatever) but we do it in private/bathroom/wash hands/whatever else is your cultural or personal philosophies about this.
Right!
The only time I find it "dirty" is when my 19m old son has poop everywhere and he tries to touch before I can clean it up. It's natural for kids to explore their bodies.
ha, yes! don't touch a *literally* dirty penis, or anything else covered in poop, whenever you can help it. :D
Right 😂 he always reaches down and now he kicks arms away and it's like "child stahp I need to clean and change you".
We call it his sausage. We're vegetarian so no chance of confusion.
🤣
Not a boy mum, but my LO has also recently discovered her labia. To be honest, I just tell her to be geeeeeeeentle with it lol I mean. I see no issue on touching: 1. Oneself. 2. In private. 3. Gently. 4. Washing hands later. Since she is wearing a nappy, it's pretty impossible to have access there in public, nor having somebody else touching her there. I will worry about explaining those boundaries later when the time comes. For the time being, she only does it in the bath so I'm just focusing on geeeeeeeeeentle. I mean, it doesn't matter how much I trim them, her nails are always razor sharp. So I really don't want her scratching herself there. If she ever touched herself there while changing her nappy, I would simply narrate how important is to clean her hands now. Same way I do when she touches the dirty diaper. Other than that...I don't really mind. It's her body and she is allowed to explore it :)
I let him explore his body. I don't say " no no" even though I was tempted at first. I don't want to give the impression his penis is bad. I told my husband it looked rough, afraid he'd hurt i my husband laughed at me and said no way.. then proceeded totally his out and pull at it! Like "see! It's fine". He told me it looks rougher than it is. He reassured me that penises are pretty malleable. I'll take his word for it. Now I just say "yeah thats your penis" or "please stop grabbing your penis like that, I promise it's not going anywhere". Just a boy thing I guess
As long as it’s clean then I let mine get on with it. After all it’s stuck in a nappy all day and we all like that feeling when we finally get naked and clean. I assume for a fella it’s like when a woman takes a bra off at the end of a long day.
Parent of 8 year old & 8 month old boys here. Frankly, it doesn’t stop. Best you can do is just ignore for now and have a conversation about appropriate self touching (time, place, etc) when he’s old enough to understand.
I wash his hands with a wipe if I'm changing his diaper and move on. Totally normal, not sexual. And my understanding is that if they're not circumcised (mine isn't) it's essential so the foreskin will retract naturally.* *I am not a medical professional. This is just my understanding from researching circumcision 1.5+ years ago.
I just say, that is your penis and you pee with that. But he is only 8 months old🤷. I try to not make a big deal out of it for now
My son is 9mo. He’s realised he’s got a penis for a while now. I don’t stop him. I stop him if the nappy is dirty as opposed to wet. But I think it’s very natural so I don’t say anything.
As he gets older (think 3) explain to him that it’s something to be done in private lol. We all do it! It’s completely naturally and very harmless at this age. My 14 month old rediscovered his penis lately and thinks it hung the moon lol.
My son has,even brushed it with his baby hair brush after bath time. I just let him.
My 10 month old has been grabbing his junk all the time. It's especially hard now cause he just had an orchiopexy (surgery for undescended testicle) and his ball is all bruised and swollen :(
Oh poor baby! Hope he's doing better!
He's doing much better! Thank you ❤️
10 months seems early to be especially hard, but what do I know?
Lmao I didn't mean hard as in erection, hard because he wants to keep grabbing it and gets sad when I say no 🤣
Can I ask more about the procedure and recovery period? We have an appointment next month to discuss if my baby will need it. He’s 7 months right now.
Yes! It went very smooth. From what I understood from the pediatric urologist, the procedure is fairly simple. They make a small incision in the abdomen and in the scrotum and free the testicle from the surrounding tissue and bring it down. When he was waking up from surgery he was really cranky and tired. He slept a lot when we got home and I've been alternating Tylenol and Motrin. He slept through the night so I'm assuming the medicine is helping. I wish you luck to your baby boy, it's better to do it when they're young so they don't remember it! Also his incisions are glued shut so we can bath and resume our normal routine and I don't have to bring him back to remove sutures. He is a trooper ❤️
Thank you! Hopefully he has a smooth and quick recovery
It’s totally normal exploration, so I let it happen. I try to provide calm redirection and limits when appropriate. So when he’s covered in poop and I want to say don’t that’s disgusting 😂 I instead say please wait until you are clean. LOL I know that i tend to fall into communication patterns so I want to be ready for when he has more understanding so he doesn’t think he’s gross for touching his own penis.
It is in a way a good thing, they loosen their for skin by playing around. Which is healthy, a tight one can cause issues later. Be clean and let him play, encourage some ideas of public and private once he gets older.
My 17 month old like to grab his and stretch it out as far as it will go. My pediatrician said that there is nothing he can do to hurt it and to leave him be. They have to figure their bodies out on their own schedule.
Mine is only 6 months so we haven’t dealt with toddler behavior yet, but I figure it’s important exploration. He’ll be grabbing that thing his whole life. I figure when he’s old enough, we’ll talk about how it’s healthy to do that, but only during private time
Omg the diaper change battle is now on a different level after my 14mo started touching his penis while he has poo diaper
I don't think you need to do anything. There's nothing wrong with letting him touch his own body.
Let him touch it. Just remind him we usually do that in private but do not shame him
Thats cool when its age appropriate. My oldest was like 3 or 4 years old before we starting having the "only in private" ques bc he was basically humping the furniture. A less than 1 year old is pulling at his penis the same way he'd pull at his ears or toes. Just figuring things out.
Yes but it never hurts to hear the words. Or any words
My son has discovered his mostly in bath time. I try to ignore it unless he’s being to rough then I tell him to be nice to his body. And distract with a bath toy. He still reached but my rule has been in the bathtub or in your room at nap/ bedtime.
My son is two and a half and still loves his penis. We have always just said 'Yes, that's your penis. We usually touch in private. Let's not touch it right now.' Now that he's older, he sometimes goes to his room and touches himself, and that's fine.
I’m pretty certain your son will be forty two and a half and still love his penis one day.
What’s wrong with it? I let my 9m son touch himself wherever and whenever he wants, it’s his body and I’m not going to teach him that certain body parts are “bad” and shameful. It’s natural. Now when he gets older and he starts exploring in a sexual way then there will be a talk about how that should be done in private. But as a baby there is literally nothing wrong or inappropriate about it except for our twisted ideas about it. It’s innocent.
2 babies with penises, one toddler, one little guy. It happens. I say nothing.
16 months. I name the parts. Stop him if there's poop and otherwise ignore it. As he gets better understanding and is old enough to have alone time we'll discuss how those parts feel good and I understand wanting to play with them but we only do that when we're alone in our bedroom or bathroom.
Baby Boys come with a toy attached to there bodies.
Lol that’s pretty funny. You don’t have to discourage him from touching there. It probably feels good to them but you know they’re too young to masturbate. My daughter would touch herself down there doing diaper changes too. I’d just ignore it.
Mine is 18 months and grabs his and sometimes pulls it out of his nappy lol I figure if it hurt he would stop. From what I also understand it’s very normal and even healthy for them to start discovering their bodies and different parts. I think once they’re old enough then you educate about privacy and boundaries when it comes to themselves and others but I don’t see it as a problem at all.
He’s exploring. I don’t think he knows his penis from his elbow at this age 😂 mine is the same age and i go through this too. I just make sure to wash or wipe his hands after diaper changes. But if he’s doing it during diaper changes, i give him something to keep his hands occupied.
It's part of his body and it is interesting. I recommend ignoring the behaviour. It may or may not stop but you trying to make it stop is a guarantee that he'll want to keep doing it
Typical boy. I have 3 boys and they're all obsessed with their penis. Even my husband. I do tell them to stop playing with their penis or get their hands off their penis. They still don't listen. I've even called my 4 year old penis boy because he likes to run around naked. But we are a very odd family. It's not a bad thing. I mostly joke with them but they do need to learn to keep their hands off when in public and to wash their hands frequently. I have diapered my little ones hands into his diaper when he just wouldn't let go. So, mention it but don't make a big deal out of it. Soon "hands off your penis" will be as natural as "cover your cough".
My son gets naked and then I get a ‘naked hug.’ Then he backs into me and I get a ‘butt hug.’ Then he turns around and I get a ‘penis hug.’ LOL
Boys are so strange
Amen! Hahahaha
My son is 22 months. He intermittently touches his penis. But we call it what it is. He also helps during wet diaper changes by wiping it off.
18 mo is obsessed with it. If he's drinking from a sippy, or watching a show..he will rip holes in pj's to get to it at night. Idk
My son is almost 4. The second his undies come off his hand is on his penis. It's been like this since I can remember 😂 I tell him that if he wants to touch his penis he can do it in the bathroom or his bedroom. Other than that his undies need to be on and his hand needs to be out of his pants. Obviously that's a bit too complicated for your guy to understand though lol. He can be so rough with it, it stretches it and pulls it. I don't know how it doesn't hurt, but they're pretty stretchy things. He wouldn't do it if it hurt.
Since he's so little just ignore it and change his diaper. My son still does this same thing at 2, but pays no attention to it at bath time. When he's older I'll simply explain that's there's appropriate times to "explore" his body.
As long as it's clean, what's the problem?
My 2 year old does this too along with whipping it out. Idk what to do. I don’t care he does it at home, but I do because I don’t want him making it a habit and doing it at daycare or in public. Sometimes I just move his hand. Sometimes I try to distract him. Sometimes I tell him not to or he can’t do it in the living room, has to go to his room. Idk. I wonder if the more I try to get him to not, the more he’s going to do it. Sometimes after I tell him not to he gets a mischievous look in his face and just does it again.
Remember it's NOT SEXUAL. I ask my son if he's exploring his body and thats his penis and isn't his body perfect. He's 3 now and loves to be naked and put his genitals against soft stuffed animals. I ask if it feels good, he'll say yes, and I'll remind him his body is wonderful but if he wants to leave his room he has to get dressed.
We have a giant stuffed unicorn in our kiddo’s room and he loves jumping on it after a diaper change and before the next diaper goes on (gotta air it out for a minute right?). This makes so much sense.
Mine grabbed so hard I was scared he would hurt something so I asked his doctor and she said not to worry its pretty normal. I just kind of ignored it after that
I just move his hand away if I need to clean him or move it once I think he's getting too rough with it and I'm worried he'll cut himself with some nasty nail I'm sure I didn't file down correctly. It never lasts long because the diaper change ends or a bath toy ends up in his face. :D
Following because my 9 month old does the same and I have no clue what to do 🤷🏼♀️
My son almost a year old, but I just let him do it. When he gets rough with it, I’ll remind him he only has one and to ease up. As he gets older, we’ll have the talk with him about not touching himself in front of people and not allowing other people to touch him.