Hi there i just thought i'd ask this q on this board - my nearly 3 yr old holds herself a lot of late, just puts her hand over her private parts i.e is not fiddling with herself per se. She seems to do it without even thinking about it. Its been about 2 months now, every day for most of the day.

Half the time when she does it she actually needs the loo but the other half the time she doesn't, but still has her hand there. I've checked her and she looks fine and doesn't smell off. Of late, say for the past two weeks, she's very constipated and her bowel movements have been extremely irregular. In fact rather than have a movement she has a little 'flush' of faeces in her panty and often it travels upwards and i then have to wipe her parts intimately which causes her great distress as she's averse to opening her legs. Could the faeces in the vaginal area be causing her soreness? (she does actually say her parts are sore)

What are the other possible explanations for constantly holding herself? I do know toddlers go thru a genital curiosity stage but she actually complains its sore and looks uncomfortable.


thanks