I have a 2.5 year old daughter who has, for at least a year now, been pulling her hair out. It appears to be a habit she isn't even generally aware of. She does it while playing, sleeping, trying to sleep, you name it. Often she pulls a strand out and plays with it. I cut her hair short thinking that would help but it hasn't. I'm told she'll outgrow it but wonder what experienced Moms out there think. Will she outgrow it? Is there anything I can do about it?
Thanks!
My son did this too and in first grade it was really bad but as she learns to cope with stressors in different ways she will out grow this. Be kind about it and try figure out what is going on that triggers this response. Good Luck!(ps he does not pull out his hair now he is 11 now)
Jen
Hi, Michelle. My daughter pulled out her eyelashes and eyebrows starting at the age of six, and she is still pulling at the age of 13. This is a disorder called trichotillomania. Your daughter is young so only time will tell if she'll stop on her own. There is no cure for trichotillomania but there are coping techniques and counseling that she may need as she gets older if she continues to pull. There is a website where you can get a wealth of information on this topic and request some information to be sent to you: www.trich.org
Definitely mention this to her doctor next time you're in. I know how stressful and frustrating this disorder can be so I wish you all the luck!
My daughter is now 3 1/2 and right around 2 or a little before, she started pulling her hair out too. At times, she didn't seem to know that she was doing it - but at other times she seemed to be doing it for attention. I read in a book where they suggested that you put your child in the bathroom or another room and tell them to "go ahead and pull all you want, but don't come out until you are done." Seemed a little harsh to me when I first read it, but I tried it and eventually it worked. First off, my daughter didn't want to be left alone, and secondly, she really didn't want to pull her hair out after all.
hi there! my daughter around the same age developed a lip-picking habit when she was processing new information or was on overload-- it was a sensory input that she used to self-regulate.
advice given to me: pair the behavior you want to extinguish with another sensory input. i gave her a koosh ball to hold whenever i saw her lip-pick-- to compete with the picking. it was mostly while she was read a story and taking it all in, so now i have her automatically hold a koosh when we read together. i tell her: "let's go get koosh-- he loves to read with us!" when she went back to lip-picking, i would say, "where's koosh? hold koosh with both hands so he can see the book!" i wouldn't focus on the lip-picking at all but on the new behavior of playing with koosh.
after a couple weeks, she stopped lip-picking totally. you can also use a squeeze ball or a soft animal to stroke-- anything sensory.
hope this helps!
Hi Michelle,
Definitely nip this in the bud now. With behavior therapy this can be cured, without, it could be a lifelong problem. Luckily your daughter is young so she can be "trained" out of it. I agree with Adp below, replace the behavior with another object, retrain the brain to deal with whatever is causing her to pull; stress, anxiety, etc. Bargaining, offering rewards if she doesn't pull, punishing her, all of those things will *not* work. She can't help it. Behavior therapy is the key-she needs to do something, so just replace it with something benign. HTH.
