HELP!! My 2.5 year old little girl has me very concerned. She is twirling her hair to the point that she is pulling it out. She twirls it so tight that it cuts the circulation off of the tip of her finger. When she removes her finger she has the huge knot. This might sound silly. I am sure there are those who are thinking I should write in when I have a real problem. However, she is causing herself to go bald. She has pulled so much hair out that she has barely no hair on both sides of her head. The greater concern for my husband and I, what is it that is causing her to need to twirl her hair so dramatically. She also still has a binki which she is extremely attached to. When upset, the first thing she wants is her binki. I would like to know if anyone else has had to deal with something like this or if anyone has advice we would really appreciate it. I have tried substituting a blanket for the hair twirling, braiding her hair in two braids in hopes the braid would not twirl therefore she would stop...she broke hair off getting it out of the braid. I tried french braids, pony tails, messy buns you name I have tried it. It was suggested to try putting gel in her hair strengthening the strands and making it difficult to twirl. This will be what I try when she wakes from her nap. I noticed the hair twirling last summer. It has slowly increased in intensity since then. We are concerned because this is obviously emotional and a cry for help but why?????? Please help us.
Cut her hair short and keep it short until three months have passed. That bad habit will be broken and you can stop cutting it "boy short" and let it grow again.
Cut her hair very short. Yes, I know you want it long, but long with bald spots? She's been twirling it a year now, she isn't going to suddenly stop. Redirection and cutting it a bit shorter might have helped then, not now.
If you don't want her using her binki, take it away. By 2.5 she is long past needing it (though others will say it's fine). Hide it and give it to her only at designated times and wean her off of it. We lost my guy's at 13 months, the same day we'd stopped the bottle, he survived stopping them both cold turkey. Your daughter is using it and the hair-twirling as self-soothing techniques, she does appear to not be handling things well emotionally, but we can't know why. It's time to speak with her pediatrician for advice.
I would get her a squeeze toy of a sort and tell her to squeeze it when she needs to. I did this for my son when he was biting his fingernails into the quick. It helped. (He was older than your daughter, but I would do it if I were you anyway.)
You just HAVE to cut her hair very short. Even if you don't like how it looks. I don't think that letting her suck non-stop on the binky is appropriate - you could have a mess on your hands with strong sucking hurting the shape of her teeth. Instead, offer her the squeeze toy.
Think about how your household runs. Is it very loud in your house? TV blaring non-stop? Anybody yelling? Do you run her back and forth to lots of activities? Is she in a busy daycare? Is there a stressful teacher involved?
Try to figure out stressors for her and eliminate anything that is over-the-top. Do NOT let her do anything she wants. That will just cause you a mess and backfire on you anyway.
Cut that hair very short, mama. Good luck!
Talk to your physician and read this article. Sounds like its not that uncommon: http://www.kidsgrowth.com/resources/articledetail.cfm?id=...
First off - I wouldn't worry too much about either, the binky or the twirling the hair. She's 2. This is pretty normal behavior.
It's habit. So with any habit, you just need to "redirect" and do so with as little attention as possible. It also would help to keep her hair short for awhile. Who knows- maybe her hair bothers her...ya never know! It will grow back! We kept our daughters short - it definitely helps!
Is she doing it all day? Or only at certain times?
My daughter was a bit of a hair twirler. It started with her twirling my hair when id rock and/or feed her. Then I pulled my hair back and used headbands. Then she started eventually with her hair. It was just a soothing thing. I'd just gently take her hand away and mention she may get knots.
I'd also say that the more attention you give to it the more she may do it. So redirect and try to ignore it.
I do agree too- you can observe and see if there's things that are triggering her to do it. Commotion, stress, boredom, etc.
It will pass!! :) mine did it for a few months....she's 3 now and doesn't anymore.
1) Let her have the binky. I hope you're not trying to take it away -- that will make the hair pulling worse. Her hair is more important than letting her have a binky, and possibly having braces later on. Hair on a girl is critical.
2) If I were really worried about hair pulling on a child, I would shave their head until they stopped the habit. This may sound extreme on a girl, but it's worth it if you can stop her from destroying her hair. OCD is hard to stop, so it's worth whatever measures you have to take, before her hair follicles are permanently damaged, imo.
If you take the binky and she mentally needs it she will find something else to suck, like her thumb, fingers, the corner of a blanket, etc...address the other issues first.
I think it's time to talk to the pediatrician and see about a mental health referral to find out if this is significant to them so that they'd know of something to do about it.
