2 year old pulling out her hair

amother

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 10:10 pm

My 2 year old has been pulling out her hair in clumps. I see her doing it specifically while she’s drinking her bottle and laying in her crib. She tugs it and I hear the ripping sounds and then I find clumps of hair in her hands and in her crib.
It doesn’t seem to hurt her (not sure how that’s possible after hearing it being torn from her head) and it’s gotten to a point where she’s mostly bald on one side.
I tried telling her no and redirecting her or giving her something else to hold and play with- it didnt work.
I took her to the dr, they ran labs to check for any abnormalities of vitamin deficiencies but bh that came back all fine.
Did anyone ever deal with something like this or have any advice on how to help her stop and what my next step should be?

(Please don’t tell me to give her something else to hold because every single person I asked told me that and I tried many times, she just put it down and went right back to pulling her hair)

Thank you ❤️

amother

NeonYellow

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 10:12 pm

https://www.babycenter.com/tod.....76598

This is commonly called "baby trich." Most kids do outgrow it.

There are two main reasons for it:

1) Sensory

2) Anxiety

Sensory kids will do well with a sensory diet and probably A LOT of redirection. ScratchSleeves (https://scratchsleeves.co.uk/) are one option for preventing pulling in bed. Getting a doll with long hair can also be helpful.

If it's anxiety, working on a strong parenting attachment is supposed to help.

Wishing you hatzlacha!

amother

Magenta

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 11:06 pm

One of my siblings had that, it’s called trichotillimania. It started at age 2. She went to therapy for anxiety but her hair pulling only stopped at about 5/6. She was almost bald for a while….