Child Pulling Own Hair Out-help!

My son does this at night to sooth himself and he is 4 1/2! THey do eventually grow out of it. Lucky for me, I can shave his head. Can you put a hat on her at night or gloves/sock, etc?

Sounds like she is doing it subconsciously. Also sounds like she is regressing for a reason like something is bothering her. I would go back and trace every single second of the day, especially what happened before she did that, and see what you can come up with. Do you and your husband get along? Is there anyone that she is around that is arguing and making her nervous? Is she being treated properly by you and her father or by babysitter? Is there another child at day care that is hurting her or causing anxiety? Is there any sibblings that may be causing her anxiety? That may be WAY off, I don't know, but that is the first place I would start.
Good luck.

my daughter use to pull her hair out when she was about 9 months when I began to put her to sleep by herself. I could not handle her pulling her hair out and again let her sleep with me. Her daddy just deployed and she began biting her nail, until they bleed, when she found out he was going. He has been gone a couple of weeks, and the nail biting has begun to lessen again. I think my daughter does it because of stress. I also notice she does it when she is playing with dominate friends and at school. I think it is soothing to her. I have begun to have sit down cuddly talks (when time permits) about everything with my daughter. I let her know she is still my princess even though she is getting older and that she can always sit on my lap. Before daddy left, we use to have a "mommy-sally" day about once every other month. I was time that we could bond without my son or husband being around. We would do mcdonalds for breakfast, go to the zoo, go to the movies and we would always end with steak (her favorite) for dinner at a decent restaurant. This really helped her. She liked the one on one time and i got to see her out of her normal environment. I find that I need to slow down during the day and make time to spend with both of my kids. Keeping house and cleaning can take me all day and I realized that they were growing up before my eyes! If you think your daughter needs help, by all means seek medical attention. I try non medical treatments first but sometimes they dont work and medi is needed! Good luck and hang in there!

This is an actual disease called Trichotillomania. My step-daughter is 14 and had huge bald patches on her head. It was so noticable to everyone. It used to make me furious because I would tell her to stop doing it. She would pull her hair out in mass amounts. I would find huge piles of hair in the car where she set and everywhere in the house. I understand that some hair will fall out but this was way beyond normal. She had been going to the same psychothearapist for 3 years and it was never mentioned to me that she knew about the hair pulling. Her thearapist quit about 4 mths ago and they transferred her to another thearapist. This one noticed it and decided to treat her right off the bat. Now my step-daughter is taking 20 mils of Prozac and has finally started growing hair. Only when she is extremely upset does she do it now.

When I googled, I found this but I don't know if it works or not:

http://www.trichotillomania-help.com/?gclid=CPSLhOuMvpgCF...

I also want to recommend EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) - a tapping technique on acupressure points. Here is a story of how it helped stopped hair pulling in an adult http://www.emofree.com/Addictions/trichotillomania-hair-p...

www.emofree.com has a free manual and information on how to do this technique on your child every night as you tuck them into bed. www.tapping.com has a free diagram.

Good luck.

My kids never did that particular thing, but I think it's about the same strategy whatever behavior you're trying to 'break' (thumb sucking, biting, using diapers instead of potty, etc).

Since she IS old enough to articulate somewhat, I'd ASK her if SHE wants to stop pulling her hair. Go from there. There's really no way to GET her to stop if she doesn't have the 'want-to'. If she does want to quit, again ASK her what would help (reminders, praise, hugs, a reward for quitting for such-and-such amount of time, discipline she probably WON'T CHOOSE that! LOL], etc). Then do whatever she requires. WE all have different personalities, and where I LIKE being told if I'm developing some annoying habit and that makes me want to stop, the opposite is true for my husband (of 32+ years). If she believes she's part of the 'answer' and not just the 'problem', I think that'll help!

I'm afraid that if you're 'stressing' about it, it'll only exacerbate HER need for her 'security habit' and being soothed.

Our daughter (now grown)did that for awhile, and our pediatrician advised us not to make a big deal of it. He said to simply distract her with another activity. It took patience, but it worked, and she never did it again once she stopped.

This is probably an expression of anxiety; its clinical name is "trichotillomania," and it is for self-soothing. If you can't figure out what in her life could be stressing her out (and don't expect her to be able to tell you), then consult a child psychiatrist or child clinical psychologist for ideas on how to teach her other ways to soothe herself and other options if that doesn't work. Many people are surpised to learn that anxiety disorders are very common in chidren and teens, affection millions, and can be treated. Good luck.

HI. I'm a pediatric speech therapist and mom to a 7 month old girl. Have you ever heard of Sensory Integration? I'm wondering if your little girl does other things that may fall into this category. Hates or loves certain things like nail clipping, water, bathing, getting dirty, certain foods, jumping or crashing into furniture, bright lights, loud noises, etc. The occupational therapist that I work with specilizes in Sensory Integration. It is basically how we take in information from our senses. Some children are seeking more information and some want less. If you google it DO NOT FREAK OUT!!! You are going to see it related to autism! I work with tons of kids who have sensory problems but definitely DO NOT HAVE AUTISM. Anyway, I wonder if the hair pulling may be a sensory related behavior. Maybe you could get her evaluated by an occupational therapist and know for sure - if so they could do occupatinal therapy to help her. This may not be the problem at all, but maybe.....Good luck.

I googled "hair pullers" and it sounds like she has trichotillomania. Trichotillomania is a psychological disorder characterized by an inability to resist the impulse to pull out your hair. Frustrating to those who have it, their family members, and their doctors, the condition often begins in childhood, but can persist for decades — sometimes for a lifetime.

In some children, this disorder spontaneously resolves on its own, even after months or years of stereotypical, recurrent hair-pulling. They said that it tends to occur in episodes. Which is why it might have went away and reoccured. Behavioral Therapy such as, Habit Reversal Training, may help.
She will be in my prayers too!

This is a serious condition called Trichotillomania. get her to your ped to get a referral to a therapist. THIS WILL NOT GO AWAY ON ITS OWN. i have a friend in her mid 20s whos still struggling with this. get her help now

I haven't read your other replies - but I can tell you what I have been thru - when I was about 13, I started pulling out my eyelashes sometimes. Nothing traumatic started it or anything like that. I think it started b/c the clumps of mascara bothered me when I first started wearing makeup, and although it sometimes hurt when I yanked solid ones out (the loose one didn't hurt), it was a "good" kind of hurt, I guess. It took me years to stop doing it most of the time, but I always relapse and usually stressful situations make me start again. I am now 35! There is a medical diagnosis (although I've never been to a doc about it myself) called Trichotillomania that you can google and learn more about.

The only other person I have personally known was a neighbor's 8 yo child a few years ago, and he started pulling out the hair at the site of a big scar on his head. Unfortunately, he sustained that injury from an accident that killed his little sister, and he also quit talking. That is an extreme case, but if you think there may be ANY sort of stress your dtr is going through, even if it seems like not a big thing to you, try cutting it out or reducing that stress as much as possible. Also trying to teach her other ways of soothing, like you did before, will probably help, as there is no way to lead a stress-free life all the time..

Best of luck to you
A.

PS- I just googled it and liked this link - there are LOTS to choose from, but this was one of the first & easiest to read - http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/tricho...

J.,

The only enlightenment that I can give you the name of this behavior. It is Trichotillomania. I know this b/c I am a trichotillomaniac! I have done it since grade school. It is something that I try to make myself be aware of but sometimes don't catch it in time. Sometimes, I have balled little spots on in my eyelashes or eyebrows. It used to be so bad that I was so embarrassed of having just a few eyelashes. As I have gotten older, I am trying to catch myself b4 it's too late.

I can say that when she does it, she probably isn't aware of it. I am not aware of it much of the time. I have this sense of a hair that shouldn't be there. It hurts until I get it out. I don't know if she feels like that or not. I do have a sense of guilt about it after I do it but that may have come with age. Also, when I am stressed more than usual is the time when it is the most tempting to do.

You can search for TRICHOTILLOMANIA and read all about it. They don't know why people have these urges to pull out their own hair. Here is WebMD link:

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/trichotillomania...

The following is taken from WebMD.com:

What Is the Outlook for People With Trichotillomania?
Children often recover completely from trichotillomania. In adults, however, the disorder tends to be chronic (ongoing) and harder to treat.

I hope this helped a little.

Good luck with your search.

Hi J.,

You said nothing changed that could cause this. Sometimes there's a buildup of things that can make things worse. (For instance, maybe it stopped during the "outdoor" months but as soon as the weather got cold and you came back to play inside the symptoms returned?) I counsel on environmental toxins and nutrition and have found that there is usually a chemical cause for most of the "new" behavior and the "new" behavioral issues. Sometimes it is caused in utero, sometimes it is pharmaceutically caused, and sometimes it's simple the things we have around our house. Every child reacts somewhat differently but all are affected.

My Lydia was a hair puller as well. She was later diagnosed with ADHD. When we removed the synthetic chemicals from our house, her behavior changed and her diagnosis was removed by the doctor. My first recommendation is always to detox your home and remove any neurological stimulation that is there now. This can be an expensive project if you’re not familiar with the process but it CAN BE inexpensive if you know what you're doing. Let me know if you'd like more information and I'll be glad to help all I can.

Regards,

M.
www.squidoo.com/ifyourbabycouldtalk

P.S. Have you checked to see if anything has changed at the daycare. New cleaning crew? Different snacks?...