Is Anyone Elses Babies Doing This?! Should I Be Worried??

Yup, my daughter did it and still does sometimes when she's mad at me... they don't really know any other way to express their anger - they can't really tell you... she will be fine.. put lotion or triple antibiotic on the scratches and try calming her with humming or a lullaby...

Good Luck!

J.

My daughter will be 5 months on the 24th. She does the exact same thing when she get mad. Her little neck stays all cut up and red. I do not know what to do. I also cut her nails almost everyday. I don't want this to be a continuous habit later on, so I would like to find a way to stop it. Sorry that I am not much help on preventing this. Let me know if you find anything out, and I will do the same.

Yes, my youngest did this. She would also hit herself in the head. I realized it was her frustration with herself, her perfectionism which continued to express itself as she grew older. I always worked very gently with her, holding her hands gently and expressing my love and acceptance to her. She has mostly gotten through those issues now, but to this day I know that I need to deal gently with her- even a cross tone of voice seems to be too much for her...she has such a tendency to be hard on herself that I don't need to add to that burden at all, but instead I need to support her trust in herself...and to keep delivering the message that mistakes are a good thing because that's how we learn and grow.
If you want more ideas about working with this, you might try EFT at www.emofree.com. I love this system of de-stressing and self-healing.

My own children did not do this, but I have known many others that do. Maybe it is just a 6 month old's version of a temper tantrum. If it hurt very much, she would not do it. Now, my youngest child had such grabby hands, that she would pull her own hair, not out of anger, but by accident. The silly thing would cry until her fingers were released from her hair. That looked more like a coordination issue than anything else.

My little girl does this when she is tired also. She is now 12 months old and has more hair so she scratches less and pulls more. I think it is just a reaction to being exhausted, but the pediatrician said lots of babies do this, and to just keep her nails trimmed.

My son did the same thing, he pulled on his ears and rubbed his face when he was tired. I always just put him to sleep and everything was fine.

I've seen babies do this. Sometimes they were teething, sometimes an ear infection. Usually they were just mad. They understand more words than you think. Try talking to her about why she is mad while you are trying to figure out what she wants. You might teach her some baby sign language so she can begin to tell you when she is hungry or wet and such. This works well with our infant/toddler group.
C

This is normal from what I was told. My daughter went through a phase a few months ago where she would hit herself on the face, head and body. She would also bang her head in her car seat. As a mom this is really hard to see I know. She was never mad when she did it which is why I was concerned...but she eventually stoped doing it.

Scratching the back of her neck is a sign of allergies.....

My oldest daughter pulled her hair when she was sleepy. We always knew when she was ready to take a nap. Of course, she didn't give her hair much chance to grow. Now she has a full head of hair, and that term of hair pulling did not last that long (less than a year). My youngest pulls on her ears. She doesn't have an ear infection, but whenever she gets overly exhausted or frustrated she will pull on her ears, or kind of flip them with both hands. Good luck!

Hi K.!! My name is D. and I have an eight month old baby girl and she does this all the time aswell!! She also scracthes herself on her thighs everytime I change her daiper!! The doctor told me it's because she has dry skin I use cetaphil lotion on her but honestly it has'nt stopped the scracthing so I think it's just something babies do!! I would'nt stress to much!! bye hope all works out for you!!

You also might want to check her ears for excessive wax or potential ear infection. My 9 month old daughter does that when she has a lot of wax. At one point, it was so full, she could hardly hear. Good Luck!

If a doctor has already checked her ears for an infection, then it is probably just the teething. My son does this when he is teething or tired. I second the tylenol suggestion. It seems to help my son out and is easier to get in him than the Orajel or other ointment for the teeth.
D.

I second the teething. Teething has a tendency to cause pain in the jaws and ears and may even be giving her a headache. She doesn't understand why she is in pain so she is attacking the areas. My 5 month old is starting to teeth and she is pulling her ears a lot. Also, make sure that you are cleaning under all the folds behind her ears. Dirt can get trapped behind there and may not be clearly seen on first glance. I clean and use neosporin on her little scratches. On nights that she seems more agitated, I use night time numbing medicine on her gums and tylenol 30 minutes before she goes to bed.

GL,
Jodi

One of my boys pulled at his hair as a baby when he would get mad. He's now 18 months and does not do it very often anymore since he has become really good at screaming and throwing a temper tantrum! My other son would pull at his ears when he was teething. I constantly thought he had ear infections and would take him to the doctor, and that was never it. The teething pain can radiate all the way through the jawline, which ends at the ears. Being sure he had stuff to chew on helped some.

Dear K.,

Yes, it is typical of an ear infection, I would take her to the Drs. right away

H.

Have you had her ears checked? My 1st daughter always pulled on her ears, my 2nd daughter pulled her hair and ears. It's not always an actual ear infection, but allergies that can cause fluid build up in the ears and it can make a baby fussy.

I hope it's nothing serious.

my baby did or i should say is still doing this(shes 10 months now). it's just a phase they go threw. all my boys did it as well. try socks on her hands, they have baby mittens but the socks are harder too rub off then the mittens.

I dont have any advice as to why she is doing this type of behavior, but I thought I would suggest that you try filing her nails with a baby nail file instead of clipping. I have found that when I clip their nails, they may be shorter, but just as "sharp". Filing them helps to give her nails a softer edge, so maybe when she does scratch herself, it wont leave a mark. Good luck, hopefully she will grow out of this:) ~A.~