Infantile masturbation/gratification

Abstract

Masturbation, or self-stimulation of the genitalia is a common human behavior, said to occur in 90–94% of males and 50–60% of females at some time in their lives [1]. Infantile masturbation is highlighted because masturbatory behavior has been often mistaken for epilepsy due to usual presentation with paroxysmal movements of recurrent character [2]. Infantile masturbation can also mimic other conditions such as abdominal pain, paroxysmal dystonia and dyskinesia [3, 4]. Masturbatory activity in infant and young children is difficult to recognize because it has a spectrum of different behavior patterns, which often do not involve manual stimulation of the genitalia. Misdiagnosis consequently may lead to unnecessary investigations and treatment [2,3]. The condition is more often seen in girls than in boys (65% among 31 patients in Nechay at al. [5], all 12 patients were girls in Yang et al. [4]). It often starts at age under 1 year of life. Episodes are usually observed when the child is sitting in a car seat, when he/she is bored or tired and in relation to the transition between waking and sleeping [5]. During the events of masturbation children exhibit different types of behavior: dystonia-like posturing of different parts of the body has been most often seen, grunting, flushing and sweating are also very typical; rocking and assumed eidetic imagery (seeing ‘telly in the sky’) can also be observed