Thanks for the suggestions so far. I apologize that my post was brief because I was in a hurry after being internet-less for about 5 days. Let me clarify a few points here: This was the very first question the mother posed to me during a well-child visit for this child's little sibling. The child in question was not in for a visit so there was no exam. The mother and I had previously discussed masturbation in toddlers on 2 previous occasions and she was given the Barton Schmitt handout on masturbation and I reiterated each time that this was a behavior (1) to ignore; and (2) to pursue in private. The mother's concern as far as I can tell was multi-fold. She's been fine with the child masturbating in her room and discusses this issue with her. A car is not what I would consider a private place (especially with other passengers!) so I can see her dilemma in trying to reiterate/enforce masturbating in private. In addition, the mother shared that the child has a bruise on her vulva as a result of where the harness is positioned and the child was examining it quite closely and asking her mother what it was. Of course, she was concerned that this behavior had resulted in injury. I have no concerns whatsoever about sexual abuse and this is something that the mother and I have discussed in the past and have ruled out. Having already discussed the "just ignore it" angle with her previously, I really didn't have anything else to offer and, yes, telling her to ignore it again made me FEEL like I was trivializing or blowing off her concern. I had hoped to be able to at least make SOME suggestion to her. So, with tips from the list which I appreciate, I'm going to suggest to the mother to either cover her with a blanket/sheet to allow her some privacy to preserve the "only in private" instructions or to consider a high back booster seat with no harness. The pinworm suggestion is fascinating and I'm going to look into that some more. Thanks again ~ Eve Rural peds "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, of the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com