Hi! I have a 16 month old little girl. Ever since she was about 4 months she likes to rub on her head/hair. It started out with her playing with my hair. At first I thought it was cute the way she would lay there and rub her own head. Now she is pulling so hard she is losing her hair on the top of her head. It's very thin. I've asked her Dr. about it, but she said some kids like to do that. Not really anything can be done. I have cut her hair shorter on the top. It helped for awhile but now she's back at it again. I've also tried putting small stuffed toys in bed with her to try to get her to rub on them. She'll rub on it for a minute or two then put's it to the side. And goes for her hair. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get her to stop?
Have you tried putting a cap on her head when she sleeps. It won't stop her from rubbing; however, it will lessen the effect of pulling her hair out.
My 2 year did the same thing in her crib at night. She would run her fingers through her hair on top of her head and pull it out. She would then hold her hands out for me to pull the hairs off. If I wasn't there she would just twirl them around in her hands. Occasionally she would do while riding in the car. It has been over a month now that she hasn't done it. Her hair is growing back. My husband and I did two things, first I cut her hair to just above her shoulders, then we had her sleep with us for a week to break her of the habit. It was a long week getting her to fall asleep in our bed. After putting her back in her crib for the first week we would keep checking on her and give her her board books, toys, etc. till she fell asleep. This worked for us. I think she forgot about pulling it out in that week. I had read on here about other moms shaving their kids hair to get them to stop. I didn't want to do that since she is a little girl. If it doesn't break her of it in a week, try again. I wasn't willing to just let her keep doing it till she grew out of it, like the dr said. Hope this helps. Oh, we also gave her alot more hugs and kisses after putting her back in her crib after a week.
I forgot to mention we also gave her some small plastic toys that just fit in her hands to hold at night till she falls asleep. The bigger stuffed animals weren't so easy for her to fit in her hands.
My four year old daughter started pulling/twirling her hair as an infant. She would go bald in one spot and then start on another spot. She would sometimes get the hair twirled around her finger so tightly that I was worried she would cut off circulation to her finger. Unfortunately, I don't have any brilliant solutions except to reassure you that she will outgrow it. Once when my daughter was about 2 or 3 we had a really good Mommy/daughter talk about what she was doing. Somehow it hit her that she could run her fingers through her hair gently and get the same satisfaction as twirling. She was much better after that. My goal back then was for her to have hair by kindergarten. She is now 4 1/2 and has thick hair halfway down her back. She still twirls occasionally, but she doesn't pull it out. Hang in there and try not to stress about it too much. It won't be a big deal in the long run.
Hey S.,
My name is K., I have a 3 year old and 10 month old. My three year old since he was born would twirl his hair (right at the crown) when he was sleepy, we cut his hair really short and then he started rubbing it. He would wear the skin away and get ugly scabs and then scars. I was really worried that hair wouldn't grow back there since it was scarring. My pediatrician said the same thing as yours, that some kids just did that. We tried everything too and after about 2 1/2 years old he did just kind of stop on his own. This may not help but my boy did eventually grow out of it and his hair grew back! Good luck!
