Lip Licking

My granddaughter and I both have found Aquaphor to be wonderful stuff. Reminding or distracting her might help too.

My son went through a simillar phase when he was 18 mos/24 mos old. I just kepte a tube of petroleum jelly nearby and applied throughout the day as a barrier for his saliva. Target sells a generic in an upright tube - like a tothpaste tube - for around $1.50. That tube will last you years. Within a day or two you will see the redness go away. Good luck!

People lick their lips from being dehydrated. When people are thirsty they lick their lips to moisten them. Ever notice that people who have been exposed to extreme amounts of sun with out fluid have really nasty lips? She neds to drink lots and lots more water. There was an article a year or so ago about how CHAP STICK is actually addictive and it doesn't do as much as peolple think. I have a friend who use to carry 6 tubes with her every where and was putting it on every half hour or so. She even admits she was addicted to the stuff and when she went to straight Vasaline she used less. Now my thoughts on that one...Vasaline is a by product of petrolium processing. Petrolium is GASOLINE. Use the Carmex or my kids carry burts bee's lip stuff, or I found another one that was vitamin C at Body Works in the mall.

The biggest key is remind her to stop and get more fluids in to her. The fluids will help her stop so the ring will go away faster

Good luck

Aquaphor worked for us. We put it on our daughter wherever needed, lips, hands, legs or back. Anywhere there's dry skin. We put it on at night, before bed, that way it stays on longer.

My daughters best friend used to do this, and her mom used to put vaseline on at night also. When she would come stay a weekend at my house, I would put bag balm on it, it tastes nasty so reminds her not to lick, and healed it by the end of the weekend before she went home. It got to the point where during the winter, the first thing she would do when she came over was put bag balm on herself, so her lips and face would heal by the time she went home. You can get it at CVS, it's kept in the same aisle as the lotions :) good luck.

K.,

My 7 year old daughter is bad to do this to herself when she's anxious. Once it starts then it hard to get them to stop licking their lips. I do the vaseline trick at night and can see a huge difference by morning. She doesn't like the feel of it but knows its a consequence of licking her lips. :)

Vaseline is also a great overnight cure for a sore private area (down there) when they haven't been wiping the area good. I noticed someone spoke of vaseline being a product of gasoline. This is something we've been using for years and it is completely endorsed by our pediatrician. The amount you would be exposed to if any would be minimal.

Hang in there!

C.

Use Hydrocordisone cream

I put Eurcerin on my daughter at night before she goes to bed. By morning, it looks SIGNIFICANTLY better. HTH. S.

Carmex has what blisteks has in it. It has menthol. So menthol sooths but also can rechap. Have her use soemthing all day and than before she goes to bed put someon real thick. I would suggest herbal chapstick from blisteks I use that it doesn't have menthol in it. Its all natural. It works awesome within 48hrs there should be extreme results. Another thing is you can do this at night before she goes to bed put Cerva Cream on around her lips. Its a great skin lotion for dry hands recommneded by a dermatologist. Works great!!! After putting that on around her lips put the chapstick on. Explain to her she should try not to lick her lips. Maybe also try to not really brive he rbut tell her if she can try not to lick her lips till after the wedding and her lips canget cleared up maybe she could get something special. I am not one to support brivery but if it works and her face looks normal hey what does it hurt. See too why she does it maybe you can distract her from licking but maybe chewing gum or sucking on candy. Good luck

Hi! My son does this exact thing and it drives us crazy. He has developmental delays and does it repeatedly. We just saw our pediatrician for a check up and she had a name and solution: lip licking eczema (our son's lips were actually getting very scaly from him constantly doing it). She recommended either aquaphor or vaseline, and also low potency hydrocortisone for a short time. I bought the 1% hydrocortisone and applied it while he was sleeping for 2 night in a row, and then used aquaphor as much as possible during the day. The difference is amazing. I hope that helps. You shouldn't use the hydrocortisone long term b/c it can change the skin on the face, but a short time is just fine. It might be helpful for you since you have a big event coming up (you may want to call your pediatrician first)
BTW we also tried things like Burt's Bees, carmex, neosporin etc and while they helped a little, the combo of the hydrocortisone and the aquaphor worked by far the best for him.

Both my kids get this, from licking their chapped lips. I put Neosporin on the area below their lips, to help heal the redness. I also have Chapstick everywhere and remind them to use it as much as possible. Once it starts to heal, prevention is the key to keeping it that way. Costco or Sam's sells the chapstick in a pack of about 15 tubes. Put them in the car seat, coat pockets, nightstand, etc.

good luck!

Aquophor (sp?) ointment and/or neosporin will help immensenly!

I don't know how to get them to stop...beside telling her that she will get boo boo's on her lips?!? But what I do is at night when they are sleeping..i sneek in and rub Aquafor or vasoline all over the red parts. lips, upper part of lip, hands...whatever is red I attack it when they are sleeping. It seems to keep it somewhat at bay during the day. Good luck and have fun at the wedding!

I also have a 3 yr old daughter who was licking her lips and she had the same red, rashy, cracking skin around her mouth. I put A&D ointment on it, I know it sounds gross but I put it all around her mouth at night and it was better the next morning. The skin is smoother and not as red. Hope it helps!

Put vaseline all around her mouth while she is sleeping. Also, it works great during the day, too. My son did the same thing. It's just a phase. Good luck!! :)

I know that this probably bugs you more than it does her. It is because her lips are chapped. I work as a lunch aide in an elementary school and there are a TON of kids that have that red ring around their mouths. My suggestion would be vasaline. It will go away once the weather warms up, but I do know how unattractive it is (I have 4 kids myself). Good luck and hang in there. :)

HI K. - I went through exactly the same thing with my 11-year-old when he was that age. I've got dozens of photos of him with bright red lips and a red ring around them. Now I look at them and smile but at the time it drove me mad. It really is a phase - it WILL PASS - but in the meantime, when she's asleep at night, go into her room and plaster around her mouth with vaseline. You could do it a couple of times, depending on how late you go to bed. That really helps to heal it at night so it's not quite as bad in the morning. Other than that, just try to ignore the habit - and she'll still look cute at the wedding I'm sure - good luck - ALison

I know your pain my son had the same problem. I really don't like to use vasoline it is a by-product of gasoline. What I have found that really works well is Lanolin. Yes, I know it is for breastfeeding nipples but it really does work and it's water-proof (hence the repeated licking). Hope you get it under control!!!!
Tami

My mother always used an ointment called "Bag Balm." I am now a mother of 3 and have used it on all of my childrens for both chapped lips and diaper rash. You can but this at any pharmacy...CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid etc...Target and Meijer carry it also. It comes in a green square tin. Don't be alarmed by the description on the container...I think they used to use it to put on cow's utters while milking them. Like I said, it works wonders for chapped lips and diaper rash and you can use it numerous times a day. I found it was easy to put it on my kids face/lips at night time...it is a little bit greasy, so you may want to put an old pillow case on your daughters pillow so it does not leave a grease stain on good sheets. Good luck to you!