My son is over 18 months. I notice that he pulls on his diaper a lot these days. I am not sure if he is touching himself, or just discovering his body parts. I am even thinking that he may be trying to inform me, that he's peeing. Is this normal behavior for a little boy. I am lost. Help. Thanks.
my son started that is actually the nervos in his pee pee devpoling sorry for my spelling, starting to feel like almost when it gets hard it gets bigger, my son is now 4 and its very senstive to wash it. hell grow out of it its normal..
Completely normal!! At this age there may be a couple reasons he's pulling at his diaper.
1)He's old enough now to notice when he's actually peeing.
2)He can tell the difference when his penis gets erect (sorry for the bluntness)But it's all trapped in his diaper and has no where to go. This was a problem with my son for a while.
3)He's actually just realizing that he does have a penis and it's his!
If you really want to know why he's grabbing at himself just check his diaper every time he does it... You'll soon figure out which one of these it is!!
If it's the 1st one you might want to start introducing the potty, don't expect anything to actually happen. But at least telling him about it is a start.
If it's the second one... Just ignore the behavior and maybe make his diapers a little bit more loose. Give him more breathing room in there.
If it's 3rd one you can either ignore it and he'll eventually get bored and it won't be anything new and he'll stop or it would be a good time to teach him when he can grab his diaper like that... Depends on your parenting style for that one!!!
Hope something out of all this helps you!! Good luck
He might be trying to tell you that he is ready to start potty training. It could also be that he is discovering himself. It's perfectly normal. My son discovered himself at three months and hasn't quit since.
My son started doing the same thing around that age & at 20 months, he is still doing it. My pediatrician assured me this behavior is very normal for their age. They are trying to discover how their bodies work, why certain things feel hurtful if they squeeze too hard or how different textures feel. At times my son seems to even stroke himself, which startled me the 1st time, but my husband & pediatrician assured me this is normal as well & is no different then when they play with their hair or a toy to discover what it does & why. -Sharon
My daughter is doing the same thing. I have started sitting her on the potty when she does it and a few times she has gone but more often then not she is just exploring. The worst is when I change her, as soon as diaper comes off the hands go down. When she is only wet she will grab a wipe and clean herself. On the other hand my 4 year old son is still grabbing himself and will constantly have his hand on his crotch or down his pants. My older 2 boys did the same thing but they did eventually stop after they were fully potty trained.
Hi Lisa,
I think it is totally normal. I have 2 boys, one of which is also 18 months old. My son does the same thing, he'll pull on his diaper and say poopy or pee pee. Sometimes I even let him sit on the little potty with his diaper on, just to get the idea. He is more advanced then my first son because he see's his big brother (3 1/2) doing the potty thing.
Lisa,
It is absolutely normal, I have 3 boys, the youngest being 20 months and my oldest is 7 and I still find him tugging on it every now and again. I wouldn't be concerned at this point.
Hello Lisa,
My son, now 4 1/2, used to do the same thing and still is, but without the diaper. I think it's a natural thing boys do. My friend's that have boys do the same thing also.
Yes, I would say this is pretty normal. Alot of times children around that age are now noticing that having a wet ditie is uncomfortable, so they usually want it off. This may also be a sign that he may be wanting to use the potty. All children are different with how they approach using the potty(wanting to that is). I come from a very large family, and I have noticed that out of the 14 nephews I have, at least 9 were ditie tuggers when they were ready to start training. So it is something you may want to look into. This is just a suggestion. Best of luck! Donna, Hagerstown, MD