18 Month Old Pulling Hair Out

I would try to break her of the pacifier to see if that helps before shaving her head. it may be a whole routine she has and if you break her of one part she may have to 'rethink' her whole soothing process.

A.
A tight fitting hat(no chin ties)with fuzzies on it She needs the stimulation to help her fall sleep. Cutting her hair is not going to stop the need to help her calm herself. Perhaps making the hair slippery with small bit of baby oil so she can not get a hold of it.

Hi A., Here is a little different perspective. When I was a baby I ate my hair. The doctor thought it was some sort of a vitamin deficiency but taking supplements did not help (according to my mother). the only thing that stopped me was a baby bonnet that tied under my chin. I guess I pulled my hair out for a year or so. Here is the good part: I did stop, I did not carry the habit into school or adulthood, I did not have any health problems from it and now have a very thick full head of hair, unlike my siblings! It is an odd habit (one of my sisters still makes fun of me for it), but I would try a secure hat or bonnet before shaving her head! Good Luck!

It is not a disorder, and I doubt she will do it into adulthood. But we all have habits that we use to calm ourselves.

My daughter, who is now six, has twirled her hair into knots since she had hair (kind of late in her case :) ). Sometimes some comes out, but not to the point of bald spots. We've not ever tried to get her to stop, but as she's gotten older we talk with her about it. She recognizes that it is a way that she calms herself, but she also does it when she's happy, excited, relaxing, etc. Some days she now wears her hair in a ponytail and she might just twirl the end of it.

Children who do unusual things to their heads (hair pulling, rubbing, batting and even repeated bumps on the same place) may be trying to make adjustments to the bones of their head that were displaced during birth. Although the cranial bones are quite malleable in the newborn, and usually children work out proper placement through breastfeeding, sometimes a child cannot work all of her bones into proper alignment. Craniosacral therapy is a gentle, non-invasive practice that can shift cranial bones into proper alignment.

Hi A., I don't want to scare you but my best friend's sister has trichotilamania (spelling?)....where the person pulls out their hair. Also I have heard of PICA which is a condition where the person eats non-food items because they have some type of nutritional deficiency. Maybe you could google those things just to learn more. I am not saying that your child has them...I am just bringing things up so you can receive more knowledge about them to help you figure out what to do. Good luck. L.

I would check into this a little further. I know others on here say it's just an age thing, but I never had my children do that. I have a friend who has a little girl who did the same thing and she turned out to have some sort of disorder. I don't remember what it's called, but I would look into it further.

Could you give more info like is she crying or anything like that when she doing this?

My daughter didn't pull her hair, but she LOVED to pick fuzz. She had a fleece blanket in her crib and to put herself to sleep, she would pull off little fuzz pieces and then rub them under nose while she sucked her pacy. It was a comfort thing that helped her to go to sleep. When we'd go get her up from naps sometimes the fuzz clumps would be stuck on her face above her mouth and below her nose. If she got a hold of our brown family room blanket, she'd look like a little Charlie Chaplin! Maybe you could give her a fleece blanket and show her how to do that, instead of pulling her hair? I'd rather have a bald blanket than a bald baby girl! After we took away my daughter's pacy at 2 years old, she didn't do the fuzz thing anymore. Good luck!

my daughter did this as a nervous habit when she was about 2-1/2 and it turned out to be from stress of hating the babysitter. she pulled it out by the chunks and was bald on the top of her head for a few months before we realized it. your daughter is pretty young to think it could be for the same type of reason but make sure everything is happy in her life. i would get a second opinion from a doctor because it only gets worse before better. my daughter even did it in her sleep so i had to try to keep mittens on her hands at night. the longer it goes on the longer it takes to stop it.

S.

my almost 5 month old girl was born with 2" of thick hair...now it is even konger. When she was a newborn she did the same thing because it was long....then she would look at me like I did it..lol..but she got used to it and now she soothes herself with circular movements near the top and back of her head when she is nursing...I am assuming she will grow out of it. Try showing her how to gently run her fingers through it.

A.,

I had a daughter who did the same thing at a young age. I watched her very closely and would move her hand away from her head when she would start. She was a thumb sucker and would mess with her hair when she got tired or was watching tv etc. We eventually got it stopped but it started again in elementary school. She is 15 and we still have problems off and on with it. SHe was diagnosed in 5th grade with Trichotillamania (hair pulling) This disease is associated with OCD (obseesive compilsive disorder) SHe has extreme anxiety issues that stem from these two diseases. When things get stressful or something is overly upsetting then I se an increase in the hair pulling. I would strongly suggest that you go and talk to a professional to see if this is just because of her Nuk and the comfort issue or if it could be the signs of something more. I wish we had sought help or pushed more to figure this out when my daughter was your daughters age. BEcause the older they get the harder it is to control and stop. I have a neighbor that kept her daughters hair cut real short like a boy up until she ws in fifth grade because of hair pulling. She waould let it start to grow out and then if she saw signs of the pulling or bald spots she would cut it again. Her daughter in now in sixth grade and has shoulder length hair and it is not a problem for now. I also agree with trying to gradually get rid of the nuk. You can research or google Trichotillamania on the internet. THe more educated you are on hair pulling the easier it will be for you. It has not been a easy ride for us. We finally had to accept the fact that it is just cosmetic and it will not affect her other than her looks. That has taken alot of the pressure off and has made it easier for all to learn about and try to deal with ans fix. But the older they get the harder it is because we live in a society of very mean and not sympathetic children and adults. If you have any questions or want any other advice please feel free to contact me. Not to discourage you but get on it now and get educated on it now. You will be a head of the game if it becomes a serious issue.

S.

Mom of three and maried for 17 years.

I too did this until I was about 2. I would twirl my hair around my two fingers that I sucked on, and then suck on my hair. I would also pull it out many times while twirling. It was associated with that whole routine, because I grabbed my mom's curling iron when I was about two and my fingers were bandaged up. I started sucking my thumb and never twirled my hair again. Obviously, DON'T do this to your daughter but it shows the association. Once the association is gone, she will stop which is why the hair cutting would be good. I too have no lasting effects from it :). Good luck.

My niece pulled out her hair for a while when she was young like your daughter. She would twirl it until it came out & she had several bald spots. Her mom finally cut it pretty short & kept it short for a while. It was too hard to pull or twirl with short hair so eventually she stopped. She now has beautiful long hair!

A.,
It does sound like your daughter may have some sensory processing issues. It may be beneficial to ask your pedicatrician to write a prescription for an Occupational Therapy evaluation. They can suggest calming strategies for her. Good luck.
S.

Hi A.,
My daughter had the exact same problem except she was a thumb sucker. She would not only have bald spots, but scabs on her scalp. A friend who is a PA mentioned many times there is a secondary action that goes along with the sucking (for example Linus always had to have his blanket). Once we got our daughter to quit sucking her thumb she quit pulling her hair. Now she has a nice full head of hair. I know it sounds mean to take away their NUK or thumb (comfort item) at such a young age, but we decided it was worth it. I hope everything works out alright for you.
~B.

My niece starting pulling out her hair when she was about 18 months. She too started with rubbing or playing with her hair while she sucked her thumb. Then around 18 months, she started to pull it out and wrap it around her thumb while she sucked it. She had several bald spots on the top of her head. We tried everything too and the doctor suggested cutting her hair very short. We did cutting her very short. This seemed to work as she was not able to pull out her hair b/c it was too short to hold onto. After her hair started growing back we were worried that she would start to pull it out again, but she did not. She is now 5 and has very long hair and no problems with pulling it out anymore. I know you probably don't want to cut her hair short, but it was the only thing that worked for my niece and the short hair looked better then the the bald spots on her head.

Hi A.
My daughter did the exact same thing when she was that age. I ended up shaving her head beacuse she had bald spots from it. She ended up being digonsed with Sensory Processing Disorder We had a theripest come in once a week and do some therapy and she stoped pulling her hair out she is six now and has very beautiful hair. If you have more questions please let me know. T.

Hi I use to baby sit a girl that did this and she would eat her hair (not sure if your girl is eating it or not). Anyway, she had another condition and was having a surgery and they found tons of hair in her tummy so the parents had to cut her hair pretty short to keep her from eating it. However, they never shaved her head. Good luck!

I wish I had some advice. There is info out there on this topic, not to long ago I saw a tv special (20/20, dateline sort of thing) about people who do this, even when they dont want to, its a compulsion. Sorry I can't be more help but I did want you to know there are others out there dealing with this so do an internet search and see what you can find. Good luck!

A.,
I agree w/the sensory/OCD issues etc to the posts below. I would only add that I've heard the child/person who does this may just be deficient in some way. I'm not sure what may cause it, but some ideas to look into would be ~ iron deficiency, Omega 3,6,9, magnesium, etc. . .

Wish I could narrow it down for you. If you need more info, let me know and perhaps I can dig deeper for you if you're interested.

____@____.com

Good luck!
J.

Hi A.,
my girl did the same some months ago (at about 16 months old). i was very upset when she did it. it can be a matter of her feeling too much anxiety or just liking how the hair feels soft and by mistake pulling it out. is she sleeping enough during the day? are there any changes in her life that are making things too stressful for her? looking back i think her day care was too difficult for her and she wasn't getting enough rest during the day and was too worked up at night (that's when she pulled her hair out).
for us it was a matter of finding the right soft doll for her to hold while she falls asleep. i would hold her and have her hold the doll while she was relaxing before going to bed and she got used to holding it rather than her hair. she stopped within a couple of days and never did it again.
good luck. hope it's just a bad habit she'll grow out of quickly.

My son is doing the same. It was suggested to cut his hair very short so he was not able to pull on it. I tried this and it worked. My nephew and husband used to do the same when he was a child and they do not do this during adulthood so I think that this is just a kids things.
Thanks
T.