Constant hand licking - nervous habit or OCD ???

[DuddleDipper]

My 7 yr old son constantly licks his fingers and hands and wipes saliva all over them. Its very upsetting and I do not know what to do about it. Its gotten so bad that I have noticed his hands now smell and things like his DS smell. He started doing it last spring, I think when he had a wobbley tooth and he got used to putting his fingers in his mouth. Within a couple of weeks this progressed to him licking his fingers, hands and he had started to lick his forearms. We have discussed it with him, he doesn't know why he does it, we tried to look at the hygeine aspect, handwashing and spreading germs etc but it carried on. Then it just stopped when he went into school after the holidays and I thought it may have been an anxiety thing. But it has started again over the last few weeks. Has anyone else experienced this ? I'm worried that it might be the start of OCD or something similar ?

Does sound rather odd. Could be a bad habit that he needs to shake... like nail-biting or hair-sucking. It could be that he's getting something from his skin. Salt perhaps? If it stops when he is at school maybe he's just bored? OCD is quite a long leap from 'bad habit'and would require a professional diagnosis. Nailbiters can get quite nasty-tasting stuff to paint on the fingers as a deterrent. Perhaps you could find something similar?

I am hoping its just a habit and he'll stop again, I do twiddle my hair. Great to hear from someone who did do it BeerTricksPotter !

my ds, 4, does this. He licks everything!he'll lick shopping trolleys, spoons, cardboard , his teddy, i even caught him running his tongue along the pews in the church. he also sucks and bites things (inate objects). and he dribbles. I'm thinkin about taking him to the doctor, thought it might have some ent issue, he does have a tongue tie so don't know if thats an issue. My brother used to chew his sleeves to bits.

6yo DD does this - it drives me mad - she's an otherwise bright girl and we discussed hygiene etc (she has cold after cold and tummy bugs galore presumably as a result of this)

She cannot explain to me why she does it - yet she is funny with food and won't eat much but happily licks her hands / furniture / toys etc

I spoke to the school nurse who said its not uncommon and is hopefully a phase that she will grow out of

Wonder if there is an element of 'pica' in the licking problem? If you say she is funny about food and presumably has quite a limited diet she may be lacking in nutrition. Pica sufferers respond to their nutritional deficiencies by licking or even eating non-foods like coal, ice and stones. Do you give your daughter supplements?

Good point Chill it could be - yes I do give her childrens vits, and what she does eat is quite healthy - lots of fruit and some veg just not much protein

Hi, I’m having similar issues with my 5year old son now. Did yours grow out of it or did you discover any methods to help him stop?

As a child and beyond I have experienced ocd which included licking hands and also blinking +counting numbers now I conciusly try not to at 64 yrs of age things do improve stress is a trigger 😊