Face Picking

[Twin Sister]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here goes.

Anyone have any tips to stop my 2yr old from picking at his face? He'll get a tiny pimple or scratch on his cheek and he'll start picking and scratching at it until it bleeds. It inevitably gets infected and he picks at it more. He's a really cute little boy but having wounds all over his face is very unattractive and people think he has the chicken pox

We put on band-aids and creams trying to get them to heal and just as they get to where they are almost healed he will removed the band-aid and pick the whole thing open again and we have to start over. We just managed to heal the 3 he had (one took 3 months) which scarred, and now he has 2 new ones.

We tied the oven mitts around his wrists the other night which worked for a half hour before he took them off, and he was so upset to have to wear them he left his face alone for a few hours but started picking again the next day.

He mostly does it when he is in bed at night but also when he is in his car seat or when he watches cartoons (which he doesn't watch that often). I try to keep his hands as busy as possible.

It's so frustrating to think his face is almost healed and then to have him come around the corner or pull him for his car seat with a bleeding face. Any tips would be really appreciated.

[Twin Sister]

I forgot to say I asked his Dr for tips to get him to stop and he said that's what 2y olds do and there wasn't much I could do, he'd grow out of it. Unfortunately that doesn't really help me out right now as my child is ruining his face. I'd like to save him from multiple self-inflicted scars if possible.

[sconeonamission]

Jensen's not quite that bad, he just picks at his top lip - right in the middle. What used to be a smooth lip now has a scab type thing on it and he continues to pick at it. He mainly does it when he's tired or about to fall asleep. With his lip though, it's not as noticable as his face.

I don't have any suggestions, just to let you know we're in a similar boat. Ds is also 2

[Twin Sister]

I hope the Dr is right and they do outgrow it. We've had band-aids on all day today and i just keep putting them back on. I'm going to sew mitts on to one of his pairs of pyjammas and see if it helps.

[krysalyss]

We get it too but DS (also 2) is not too bad. Moisturising seems to help DS with the itchiness and we have taught him to pat the area instead of scratching. It helps with the itching but doesn't cause the same amount of damage to the area. If he does it in his sleep though the mittens sound like a good idea.

[Party-of-five]

what about gloves...i googled and quiet a few places sell kids gloves maybe make it a game that he wears the gloves whilst watching tv and in the car sorry not much help it must be hard

[Twin Sister]

I will try both moisturizing and gloves (though he tends to pull things off his hands, I will have to figure out a way to keep them on).

He stopped himself a few times today and said "all done picking mommy" but still managed to do some damage. He also brought me the bandaids this eveing and told me he needed one for his boo boo so he does kind of understand, but half the time I don't think he even knows he's doing it. He just zones out and picks away.