Concern About Self-soothing Behavior - Eyeball

Ditto Marda!
In addition, when you are nearby and notice her doing this, gently remind her 'no-no' we don't touch our eyes, and then give her something special to hold and feel, or pick her up and sooth her and rock her and hum to her and then put her back down. Try to replace the unwanted behavior with a little love and attention. Hopefully, she'll outgrow it and you'll forget this ever happened, unless you come back here and read about it in a year.

I suggest that if you ignore it, she'll stop doing it. She's exploring her eyes. She'll come to an understanding about how they feel, etc. and stop doing it.

You don't notice it but she touches her eyes during the day too. We all do unless we consciously stop doing it. It's unlikely she'll get pink eye or spread germs unless she's sick or someone in your house or daycare is sick. And if someone is sick she's likely to get sick without touching eyes. The germs are all around.

Yes, it's best to not touch our eyes but teaching a toddler this is not going to work. She'll do it until she gets no payback for doing it.

My youngest likes to touch her eyelashes as she's falling asleep. If your ped isn't concerned, I wouldn't worry about it just yet. If it really creeps you out, you could try giving her a replacement. My nephew had a stuffed toy with "hard" bead eyes that he would rub...maybe something like that would work for your daughter?

I wouldn't worry. My son plays with his ears, my 27 month picks her nose to self soothe (so it could be worse). I'm telling her now to keep her fingers out of her nose when I see her, and she stops, but she still does it when she is getting sleepy or ready to go down for the night. I just let her have it there. lol Baby steps, right? :)