DD scratches face till it bleeds - looks like freddie kreuger

[Ferretgirl]

DD is 2 and has developed this habit of scratching her face absent mindedly. She now has scabs on both cheeks which never have a chance to heal as she scratches them off...have tried plasters etc, but they just irritate the skin and she picks at them even more. Nails cut as short as poss but still sharp talons and if I try and explain to her that it's not a good thing to do she gets very defensive. Help, what can I do to stop her?

We have this same problem with DD she's now almost 3 1/2 and it's been going on for almost a year. Plasters make it worse as she seems to be allergic so create more sores for her to pick.

The best solution we've come up with so far is for her to wear gloves at night so she can't pick at them. This has helped a lot and over the summer I thought it was clearing up all together but some more small spots appear again as the weather changed and she started picking them again. So after several trips to GP different creams even a course of antibiotics we're now off to see the dermatologist latter this month. Her picking at it is defiantly making it worse but I think there is something making it itchy to.

Short of making her wear gloves all the time I haven't come up with a way off stoping her pick them during the day. No amount of telling her works.
Have you been to the GP about it at all, was there something that started it off?

I'm going to go to the GP today to see if they have any suggestions but I'm not holding my breath as they don't seem to be great on behavioural stuff. A friend suggested gloves as well - do you use just normal gloves or can you get more lightweight ones? I think she would just pull them off. It started with just a tiny scratch that she wouldn't leave to heal and I eventually put a plaster on it that seemed to bring up more little spots which have then developed into full blown scabs as she's picked them so hard. Woke up this morning to find blood spots all over the sheets where she'd been picking.

I'm 6 months pregnant and very much hope that this doesn't have anything to do with trying to get attention as she senses something life changing on the horizon, but it doesn't feel like an attention thing, more that it's more of an absent minded habit. Thank you for your reply though....it seems the best thing to do is ask for help. I hope you have some luck and answers at the dermatologist.

I got some thin ish gloves from Materland as I didn't want to spend a lot due to needing to cut one thumb out of them as DD sucks her thumb to go to sleep.

It's interesting what you say about the reaction to plaster's as that's what happened to DD as well. Some sort of allergic reaction. The GP suggested impetigo at first and gave antibiotic cream but that's not what it was and it didn't help at all.

GP has prescribed some hydrocortisone cream to see if it will stop the itching. I don't feel particularly hopeful as I don't think she's itching a scratch, just itching for the hell of it but am going to try it anyway. Cross fingers.

Hi @Ferretgirl
I know this was ages ago, but I am just wondering if you ever overcame this problem and if so, how. My daughter is 3 and a half and has been having this exact same problem for the last 3 months.
Thank you so much.