My daughter has twisted her hair to the point that she is balding on the underside of her hair. She also sucks her thumb ay the same time. I have seen people twist their hair while they stare of in space, but she is pulling it out. She also twists my hair. She tries to get my hair whenever I am sitting down.

Anybody got some advice...
I was told to try to distract her by giving her something to hold, but she just puts it in her hand that she is sucking on :confused:

Thanks

I'm not a doctor and can only guess, but it sounds like OCD. Have you talked to her doctor about this?

If she's twisting her hair to the point that she's pulling it out, well, that's not normal behaviour and should be addressed.

How old is your daughter?

How old is your daughter?

This sounds almost like a stress reliever.

Does she do this when she is trying to calm down ,before bedtime ?

My daughter is 2 1/2.
I was also thinking OCD myself but I was told to watch for other signs also and that they (Dr's) would not give a 2 yr that diagnosis

She does it ALL the time, when she wakes up , off and on, all day...

My daughter is 2 1/2.
I was also thinking OCD myself but I was told to watch for other signs also and that they (Dr's) would not give a 2 yr that diagnosis

She is a bit young to diagnose OCD, there are many factors to consider before that diagnosis, most children are school aged before they have a positive diagnosis. Of course that doesn't help you now.

I don't have any experience with OCD in children, but I suffer from a mild (very mild) case of OCD myself. The best thing is to distract her. Offer her a toy, read a book, watch a movie together, play paddy cake, whatever gets her to stop pulling her hair. You almost need to train her to think of something else whenever she starts pulling her hair.

It won't be easy, but it's not impossible. It's possible that you will not get an accurate diagnosis for years yet, so reading up on OCD or other disorders like ADD or ADHD may help. My son has ADHD, he was diagnosed this year, he's 10. Now he's finally on meds that help him to concentrate. Just do the best you can for now, but still talk to her doctor, maybe he/she will have some suggestions that will help.

Good luck.

I can only say if you keep her hands busy with other tasks ,crayons,playdoh, using educational toys where she has to put things in boxes etc. that may lessen the behavior.

The sucking thumb at the time of that seems to be a stress reliever to me.Maybe if you gave her a blanket that even may have loose threads on it to manipulate.

Is she developmentally on time according to her pediatrician?

What do you do when she does this ,what is your reaction?

I'm not as worried about the thumb sucking (that's normal at her age) as I am about the hair pulling.

I agree with Artlady, the thumb sucking probably is just a stress reliever, but pulling your hair out, that needs to be addressed.

Well, she has done the thumb and hair since she was about 6months. And I have had a "speach and swallow" test done, because she always has her fingers in her mouth. She tested at a 48 month level. So she is pretty smart...
When I see her pulling on her hair I tell her to stop and she will. And when she pulls my hair I tell her to stop and that it hurts .
I have been telling her that I was going to cut all her hair off real soon. She tell me that we are going to get it cut and she seems fine with it. But should I go to that far... because it would have to be really short...

Whatever you do, don't punish her, this doesn't seem to be something she can control, it's mental and she needs positive reinforcement.

Be warned though, if you cut her hair and she has OCD she'll just find another outlet, and this one may be worse then the hair pulling.

I would continue to distract her when she does this, just be very consistent, and don't make a big deal about it. Simply give her something else to occupy her whenever she starts pulling her hair. Don't mention it, don't chastise her, just distract her. Hopefully she'll re-train herself to stop. It's a habit at this point, she probably doesn't even realize she's doing it.

I know it can be frustrating, but I think that you're already doing everything you can considering her age. Just keep doing what you're doing, be patient, be loving, and read up about OCD, just in case this is what you're dealing with.

Keep us posted and good luck. :)

Thanks...
Words of encouragement are very helpful.

And you know how mom's worry about things. I am pretty sure OCD is part of the problem, she is very independent, stubborn and insists on thing being a certain way. Not everything but definitely on some things

It could be Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder): Treatments and drugs - MayoClinic.com (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trichotillomania/DS00895/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs)

Yes, that is the correct name. And I don't know, but I was told it was a sign of OCD. I will still have to do the research on it.
Thanks for the web site

The thing you have to remember, none of us can give you an accurate diagnosis, her doctor can't even do that at her age. There are many things that can explain this behaviour, OCD is just one of them.

Like I said before, you seem to be doing all you can, keep doing that. She may outgrow this, it could just be a nervous habit, it could be OCD, it could be Trichotillomania, there are many possibilites.

As long as she's happy, healthy, that's the important thing.

She's very lucky to have a mother that loves her, that's concerned for her, and that's willing to look for solutions.

Keep your chin up, you'll do great. :)

In her evaluation they did say that is what she had. I am just trying to help keep it under control. Still, I have never heard of it before and reading about it really FREAKS me out. I mean she is only 2 1/2, how can she have this already? It is obviously she just does, so if anyone else knows about it, or knows someone...
Thanks again everyone... I needed some support

That's what we're here for, support. We don't have all the asnwers either, but we're here to lend a hand if you need one. :)

I don't have much but what I do have is related to either behaviourism's process of shapping, or Applied Behaviour Analysis. Try to be very consistent, it helps to "wire" the idea in her head not to do it.

Any who good luck. Peace be with you.

It may just be a self-comforting behavior and not OCD. I would suggest that you take a look at your household in general and see if there are stresses you can reduce, or comforts you can introduce that are socially acceptable, sustainable and soothing. Also make sure that she gets to do things that will build her confidence and encourage her... Wow, Hannah - you sure can climb high up! Look at you... you are going so fast! What a great little helper, thank you for helping Mommy put the napkins on the table." Having confidence can erode anxieties and apprehensions, and can also be a great distraction. And they show the child that you love her and think she's doing great so you can take a firm stance on the hair pulling without shaking her confidence and comfort with you.

Occupying her hands is a good idea during the day, and when you read to her have her hold one of your hands or an animal with one hand, and help you turn pages wiht the other one. If she starts on the hair just move her hand away from her head and say "no hair pulling".

Whenever she does it, reiterate with a physical gesture to move her hand, "Hannah, no hair pulling".

She may just be a very sensitive child - is the television too loud, or are things kind of disorganized and crazy in the house, or are there a lot of people coming and going? Order and a schedule and routine can be very soothing. So can using "first and then" with little kids so they know what is going to happen next, which can reduce anxiety for people of any age. "First we're going to have lunch, then we will watch Barney".

The idea is that if it is self-soothing that the need for the soothing is reduced with a less anxious environment and day, and that the behavior itself is corrected calmly and consistently - every time you see her do it.

It could take a very, very long time but she will find that it is not soothing if every time she does it, you move her hand away and tell her "no hair pulling". If it doesn't work, she will learn not to do it.

Another good distraction is to have her do things part of the day that make her not want to touch herself with her hands - playing wiht paint or playdough, going outside and wearing her mittens and so on.

And you can consider having her wear mittens for a while to break the habit, or to sleep in them.

I've also been told that instead of telling small children what not to do such as "no hair pulling" it is sometimes better to tell them what they should do instead such as "keep your hands off your head". And you can consider putting a hat on her - one that covers her hair where she likes to pull it and ties under her chin - if she does not stop doing it.

You can also give little rewards like a sticker for not touching her hair during a whole lunch, or a whole afternoon, and then a whole day, a whole night. As she gets a little older these things will be easier to make work for you.

If she doesn't start to reduce this behavior over time, or if you see new behaviors that seem like kind of obsessive things, I would think more about the OCD thing but know that a lot of children have behaviors that their parents want to stop just to comfort themselves - rocking, sucking a thumb, rubbing the silky band of a blanket between their fingers, biting their nails and so on. If she was 14 and doing this there'd be a lot more concern than a 2.5 year old...

Thank you
I did, at first, think she was just self-soothing. Just today I tried to give her a pony, with a long mane, to hold instead of twisting her hair. Guess what she did with it, she held it with the hand she was twisting with and sucking her thumb too.
I don't know, The hair twisting has been going on for a long time but she has done other thing like chewing on the carpet fuzzes. And about a few months ago she was vomiting in the middle of the night and had been complaining that her stomach hurt. And her Ped Dr, at that time, just shrugged it off as a stomach bug. That is what lead me to have her evaluated by a local children's group. They did a "speech and swallow" study. That is where I first heard of Trichotillomania and they said I should keep an eye on possible OCD behaviors.
I have been looking for a doctor in NC and will have to get her Ped Dr to refer her to a specialist. Which will be a challenge. But they should get the study report soon and that should help move things in the right direction.

Thanks again for all the input

You said she chews carpet fuzz. Does she chew her hair too?
Does she chew other non food things more than a 2 1/2 yr old would?

She chews on a lot of things... she was trying to chew on the pony's hair too.
But I have seen some chewing on her own hair.
I know, now, about the possibilities of getting some kind of hairball or blockage in her bowels. And yes she has been having problems... one day she passes firm balls and the next she has diarrhea.
Yeah, Its looking more and more like she has a problem. And so far our doctors are not seeing it. But the more research I do the more freaked I am.

Chewing/eating non food items can also be pica
Which can be a lack of zinc.
You might want to have her checked for vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Good thought... I will add it to my ever growing list of questions

Just thought I would let everybody know... I took my daughter to have her hair cut today. We got it cut VERY short and she likes it.
Yes, she tried to twist it but its too short. So far she has just held her hand on the back of her head. We will see if this helps...

Okay, another persepective just to throw out there. I was an avid thumbsucker until 5th grade. In first grade I retreated to only at night or when by myself. When I sucked my thumb, I liked to have satin or silk or would rub my nose. I knew others who would twirl their hair when sucking their thumb. So my question is does she only twirl and pull on the hair with the thumb in her mouth in a very absent minded way? If so then I would think this is a part of the thumb sucking self soothing behaviour.

My father tried taping socks on my hands at night (I chewed through them in my sleep), hot sauce (I just grinned and sucked it up until it was gone), and countless other things that just did not work. In fifth grade a friend showed me how she quit by sleeping with her hands under her pillow and viola... I learned to fall asleep without the thumb.

I have been very sick in my life and been found sucking my thumb in my sleep (twice) since then.

So, I guess I would evaluate whether it is a part of the thumb sucking activity. If so, it is age appropriate and I would be so careful to shy away from a label and a disease. However, you are there with this and the mother and I am just responding to a short posting, so you will know best!! Good luck.