Pulling hair out... literally

Hi there. Just wondering if anyone has had the same problem… I have never heard of this happening before!

My 18 month old son has always liked to twirl his hair around his finger when he’s lying down relaxing – like when he’s being read to or watching TV. I know a lot of kids do this, but recently he’s actually started pulling it out instead of just playing with it. It doesn’t seem to hurt him (although he pulls quite hard sometimes) and I tried telling him not to do it a couple of times and he went crazy! At this stage my thought is just to ignore it and hope that he will stop doing it on his own – what do you think?

There is a medical obsessive/compulsive type disorder called trichotillomania. I've only ever looked after 1 child with it - and she was pretty severe.

I'm not a psychologist (just a child health nurse) - but I would see how it progresses. Do you give your child more attention when you notice the hair pulling? That could be a reason why they started??

I would see how it goes, but if you are concerned, or it starts to get worse, I would consult your local child health nurse or your GP.

Good luck!!

Thanks for the advice. I'll mention it to the GP next time I see her. No - we deliberately don't pay him attention when he does it, so I don't think it's attention seeking behaviour. Very strange indeed.