Pulling out hair and eating it.

Is this normal? DD1 not only pulls out her own hair and eats it, she eats hair she finds on the ground, cat hair, she'll pull hair off of my hair brush or she'll try and suck on mine or DH's hair. She will usually find a dummy, stick the hair in her mouth, then out the dummy in and roll it around her mouth, and eventually eat it, unless we get it out first. If we do get it, she will lose her mind 90% of the time. Hysterical screaming, physically violent at times, with herself and us, bawling her eyes out. She does that too if we try and stop her from eating hair. We've tried ignoring it, distraction, telling her it's yucky, or could make her sick, or might hurt her tummy. She does it anyway. She's always had this huge oral fixation, from about 12 months old it was biting and eating the fur off of her teddy bear. Then she transitioned onto sucking on mine and DH's hair when we were sleeping (DH used to have quite long hair). Now it's at the point where we're finding hair in her nappies, and I'm not really sure where to go from here. She hasn't got any bald patches that I can see, but I'm worried she's going to create some soon. Has anyone else's preschooler when through this, and of so, how did you 'fix' it, or did they just grow out of it?

No idea, but I'd be asking a paed. You don't want her getting a blockage in her intestine.

It could be Pica, it's a disorder where people eat things that aren't supposed to be eaten. I would perhaps consult with your gp about her hair eating as it could get dangerous for her digestive system :(
Best of Luck

Yeah, that's what I'm the most concerned about, a blockage :/ Hmmm didn't consider PICA, I had that in both my pregnancies, I'm anaemic and DD1 seems to have low iron too (we unknowingly out her on cows milk too early when my milk went, which increases the likelihood of anaemia :( ). We don't have a paed, could a GP help at all?

A gp could refer you to a paed. It could cause physical problems, I'm also wondering re the psych side? But really have nothing to add, I think you really need a professional. Have you noticed if she does it more a specific times? Like comfort? Control etc?

Sensory seeking is another one to look into

My DD (23 months) has just, in the past couple of days, started pulling out her own hair.
XH thinks it's cause she's sick with something (she's also been throwing up after milk products) but I dunno.
Hope you figure out what's up and how to fix it

She's been doing it for about 18 months all up, the hair obsession. Eating it about 6. She is very sensory, like she often freaks out if she has to wear shorts, or if her sleeves are still rolled up from eating, she starts pulling and biting at them to get them down. So maybe a gp referral would be the way to go.

maybe look into a chewy tube - they're like dummy texture but for chewing on - Dj has them. he also has an oral fixation - part and parcel of everything else.
Maybe see if you can see a pead, i can PM you who we used to see in frankston if thats any help?

Start with a GP and get referrals from there. Mention the hair, the oral fixation, the other sensory issues. There could be physical and mental/emotional elements, so it might need a multi-disciplinary approach. With DS' sensory issues, once we thought about it, we realised there were a lot more things going on and a lot more interconnected stuff.

My friends daughter had the same thing. I would be getting a referral to a paed as soon as you can. My friends daughter although she is well now and had not had any problems for years did suffer some serious complications at the age of 4 as a result of eating her hair.

I think a paed referral would be best. It is hard because many services are closed this time of year.

:

---

I think a paed referral would be best. It is hard because many services are closed this time of year.

---

That's what the gp told us :( So we're just waiting now.

A pead is a good idea, sounds like may be sensory related or even anxiety. Hugs hope you get answers soon.

Just thought I'd update this. Didn't end up following through with the paed referral, as it was too far away. We're going back to the GP to get another referral some time this week. DD1 is still doing it, but it's gotten a lot worse. This morning I noticed that she has a bald patch :( We suspect trichotillomania.

Good luck getting a soon-ish appointment.

My DD1 has had several bouts of hair pulling/eating. I think in our case it was a comfort thing because as a baby she used to twirl my hair while breast feeding but she kept pulling so I transferred her hand to play with her own hair. She was doing it almost constantly and got a bald patch. I cut her hair short and it seemed to break the cycle. She was then fine for months but started it up again at some stage and when all else failed I cut it short again and it worked again. (BTW, by short I mean a girly bob cut, not shaved off or anything)

Just saw this thread. I was going to stay look into trichitillomania, and it is a anxiety based disorder. I work in adult pshycistry and there are some great new meds along with CBT therapy techniques that can help but that is in adults.. Not sure how they would tackle it in a child so young.

Hope you get answers soon.

We're seeing the GP about this today.

How did you go?

How did you go? I noticed a little girl doing this today, and thought of this.
Hope you got some answers.

We've been referred to a child psychologist for assessment, the appointment is next Tuesday so I'll definitely let you guys know how that goes. GP suspected Trichotillomania too.

It's great you have an appointment quickly!

We we're put into a service called Kids In Mind, I hadn't heard of it before but I'm very grateful for it.

Good luck!!

Update. So the session went well. We have a long way to go though. It was basically just getting to know each other and all of that. The hair pulling is getting quite bad now, as is her anxiety. I'm starting to feel really lost and scared for her. I don't want her to have to deal with any of this. I just want her to be a happy, secure little girl. She's so beautiful.

3974

:( all the front is short like a really bad fringe, because it's all been pulled out, and her hairline just keeps going further and further back.

Try not to worry. Have you tried keeping it short for a while? So she can't get hold of it?

My friends dd is now 10 & we're only just starting to see her with a full head of hair. Last I saw her a lot of the front was still awkward regrowth, but she's getting there.
They had her hair braided 18 months ago. Its cost $250, but it was the start of breaking the habit. Maybe something to keep in mind when she's older.

Good on you getting her help. It is a long road, but you will get there x

Yay for the first session going well. Here's hoping this leads her go be the happy little girl you want her to be. Any ideas on what triggers her?

We had a child where I work doing this. He is just over 2. He is a boy though so they shaved his hair in the hope he'll forget by the time it grows back. If I see them this coming term I will have to question them more about it and see if it was a phase or something else. If he is doing it again I might mention to them about going to the GP too and getting Trichotillomania looked at.

Glad the session was helpful. It sounds like it's anxiety. A couple of my friends have DDs with quite bad anxiety. They both went to a specialist clinic in Sydney that deals with preschoolers who have anxiety. Both found that with the extra help (particularly for them as parents) their girls were much, much better by school age. One of them virtually has no ongoing anxiety at all and waved Mum off without a tear starting school. If you saw where she was a couple of years previously you wouldn't have believed it was possible.

Not sure if that helps, but they both told me help early on seems to be most successful. Hugs.

Anxiety can do horrible things to children, dd had a lot of trouble with her toileting and coping with change the time before school was hard. Finding the triggers is difficult when they are so little glad you are getting help. hope you can work out what's going on in her mind that is worrying her.

You are on the right path to a positive outcome. :hug:

I don't know if you remember but my DS had really bad anxiety in the lead up to starting school and was licking his hands constantly, raw in some places. He was such a ball of stress and between the licking and the tantrums it was not a very good time for anyone.

Anyways, it is now nearly two years later and you wouldn't guess that he had anxiety problems. We just moved half a country away and he has been just fine with it all. I can see a bit of anxiety seeping in around the edges as the cause some of his deliberate misbehaving etc, and today he asked for some antibacterial hand gel which he hasn't wanted for a long time but compared to what we have had in the past it is nothing.

I just wanted you to know that just because she is going through this now doesn't mean it will always be this way :hug:

:

---

I don't know if you remember but my DS had really bad anxiety in the lead up to starting school and was licking his hands constantly, raw in some places. He was such a ball of stress and between the licking and the tantrums it was not a very good time for anyone.

Anyways, it is now nearly two years later and you wouldn't guess that he had anxiety problems. We just moved half a country away and he has been just fine with it all. I can see a bit of anxiety seeping in around the edges as the cause some of his deliberate misbehaving etc, and today he asked for some antibacterial hand gel which he hasn't wanted for a long time but compared to what we have had in the past it is nothing.

I just wanted you to know that just because she is going through this now doesn't mean it will always be this way :hug:

---

This made my day (and it's only 7.30am!), thank you. To know that there's light at the end of all of this is all I want right now :hug:

We ended up shaving her head. Very difficult decision, but I think it was the right one. I'd rather her have no hair for a short time, than become before sick or worse from a blockage in her intestines. DH shaved his head in solidarity with her, which was gorgeous.

How awesome of your DH to do it with her!
How has she been since you did it?

Love that your DH did that! Gorgeous.
I hope this is the start of something great for your DD. xx

Have been thinking your little girl, and wondering how you are going?