my son constantly smells his hands

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 1:12 am

hi, I need some advice, guidance.
my 11 yr old son constantly smells his hands all day, he can be sitting and watching something or playing a game or even eating and will just put both hands by his nose and sniff them..........he is normal reg kid in school has friends, he has great family dynamics.

its getting worst and worst by the day.
what do I do?
I need any advice

its been going on for about 4 months now and its just getting worst by the minute

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 3:02 am

My 8 year old son does this too. At first I thought it was some kind of tic. I tried ignoring it at first, now I always tell him to stop. But it's not getting better, maybe worse. And now one of his siblings started doing it too. I don't have an answer.

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 9:15 am

same here one of the siblings started doing it too not sure why, the sibling says well the older one does it

im at a point that I am ready to do n e thing to help it take it away

anyone know if there is a proffesional or n e that can help out with this?

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 9:32 am

My son does it when he has strep. Check with your pediatrician, it might be pandas.

imasinger

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 11:38 am

Is it possible OCD?

ElTam

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 12:49 pm

Kids get weird habits. Totally normal and not necessarily OCD unless you are seeing several obsessive behaviors AND he gets anxious or scared if he can't do the behaviors.

Most habits are easy to break with a little help from a parent. I have one child who has had some odd/annoying habits. We have been able to break them all easily.

1. Sit down and talk with the child so that it comes to their forefront and they are primed for success. "Yankel, I've noticed that you are smelling your hands a lot. Is there a reason?" (It could be something like he doesn't like the new soap you are buying.) If you rule out any reason, then you move on. "Zeeskeit, it's not good to be putting your hands up to your face all the time like that, especially during cold and flu season. You can be putting germs by your nose and mouth and might get sick. It also looks a little different, and I don't want you to get teased at school. Abba and I are going to help you break this habit. It's easy to break a habit if you know how. Are you ready to work with us on helping you get rid of this habit?" (You need his buy-in to start.)

2. Explain the reward system to him. Break the day up into parts. For my daughter, we have done from getting up to leaving the house, leaving the house to walking into school, leaving school to getting home, getting home to dinner, dinner to bedtime.

3. For each time period that he doesn't smell his hands, give a reward. it could be a small amount of money or a checkmark that when he gets a certain amount he gets to chose a larger prize. Whatever will motivate your child.

4. If he smells his hands, he doesn't get a point for that time period. He doesn't lose any points.

5. Each time you see him doing it, bring it to his awareness. "Yankel, you are smelling your hands." But, no shaming, no judgements. No "Don't." Just, "Yankel, you are smelling your hands." Be totally parve. Habits are often happening at a level where the child isn't aware they are doing it. The more aware they are, the less likely they are to do it.

6. Praise for each time period he doesn't smell his hands. At the end of the day, say, "Great job, Yankel, you went three parts of the day without smelling your hands. You are really on your way to breaking the habit." (As time goes on, compare how he did to previous days, but only if it is positive. "Yankel, did you notice you got four checkmarks today! That's more than yesterday and the day before. Wow! You are going to break this habit really soon. I am so proud of you."

This method has never failed to work within a few weeks as long as we've stuck with it.

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 3:00 pm

I wouldn't worry about it. Kids do things like that. One kid starts and pretty soon they're all doing it, until someone starts a new mishegoss. If your ds isn't doing anything harmful and his irritating habit isn't interfering with normal functioning, try to ignore it. This, too, shall pass.

faigie

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 3:11 pm

Ok, here might be the answer.
Make sure the kid washes with soap when he goes to the bathroom. He may be intrigued by the leftover smell on his hands, iykwim.

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 3:52 pm

op here

thanks for all ur replies
hes a germ freak and very OCD thats why im so nervous that its something

he can be sitting and watching and sniffs his hands contantly

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Oct 31 2012, 1:01 am

Is school too hard for him?

Is anybody bugging him? Any older person?

1234abcd

Wed, Oct 31 2012, 1:06 am

amother wrote:

Years ago my son did a similar thing, and I totally ignored it. I gave him a multi and b-vitamin and after awhile it disappeared. I think key was that I absolutely did not talk about it. His habit drove me insane, yet I knew that talking about it in any way, shape, form, or manner, would only exacerbate it.
In fact, a therapist I consulted with advised me to initially join my son on it. So I'd say something like, ''Y'know Sruly, I've really been harrassing you about how you smell your hands, and I've thought about it, and I think it's actually a great idea! I think it's fine for you to continue to smell your hands, and don't stop yourself, anytime you feel like it just do it''

ange

Wed, Nov 14 2012, 4:25 pm

I concur with the advice to consider strep and a pandas connection

elisheva44

Wed, Dec 05 2012, 9:59 pm

My son ( 5 y.o.) does it too. He has some OCD and some other issues. He would ask me lots of times if his hands are dirty and if he needs to wash them. If he is not supervised while washing hands he'll try to use ALL the soaps around. He has eczema, and I noticed that when his eczema gets worse (especially during winter times) he would sniff his hands more. I guess, overall he is very itchy and uncomfortable at that time...I find the post by ElTam very helpfull. If the child is able to comprehent the way it works it should work. We try this system for different obsessive behaviors and it seems to work.