Baby pulling his own hair

[Dioskouri]

My (non-identical) twin boys are nearly 8 weeks old. One of them was born with lots of hair, and ever since he was about 2 weeks old he has grabbed it and pulled it - hard! It obviously causes him pain, because he screams blue murder whenever he does it. I can't identify any obvious trigger - tiredness, stress, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this, and what did you do about it? At the moment, I've just put him in a hat!!

[NinjaLeprechaun]

If you're willing to entertain the opinion of somebody whose child had no noticeable hair until she was about 18 months old...

I can't imagine that there's a 'trigger' because I doubt he could be doing it on purpose at that age. His hand is just closing over something it's run across and then he moves his arm - then the poor little guy cries because his head hurts and he doesn't know why.
I think a hat is probably the best solution.

[Dioskouri]

All opinions appreciated NL!

That sounds sensible. It is just rather horrible seeing him pulling his own hair, and of course Dr Google comes up with all sorts of scary psychological diagnoses...!

[jellymum1704]

My DD does the same while breast feeding when he's gassy. nothing to worry about

[TropicalHorse]

My super-practical and completely non-sentimental DM solved this problem by taking the dog clippers to my and my twin sister's heads when we were a similar age!! By the time it grew back we'd stopped doing it. (but we were grabbing each other's hair, not our own!)

[purplemurple1]

Mine did this from around three months and carried on well past the age he could understand his actions and consequences. I read the scary reasons and thought it was a stress thing but now he is two it seems he just like the feeling. He now puts his little sisters hands in his hair as she still has the grab and pull reflex and he finds it really funny.
But as pp said I don't think there is a reason when they are tiny.

[BeautifulBatman]

Put scratch mitts on him then he can't grab...

[Dioskouri]

Thanks guys

[PuppyMummy]

mine did this! he has loads of hair and used to pull it very hard when he was bf. It never seemed to make him cry though, he is 14 months now and not bf anymore. thinking about it I can't really think if/when he stopped.
he still strokes/pulls his own hair sometimes when falling asleep so I think its a comfort thing.
Perhaps with yours he is hair pulling because he is crying rather than it making him cry?