My 6yo DS won't stop handwashing

[ChumbleBum]

He does it all during the day, can go for long periods (a few hours)without doing it but can wash his hands 4 or 5 times in 10 minutes and he is making his hands sore. He had a bad bout of norovirus earlier this year and is terrified of picking up germs on his hands now. I try to ignore it hoping it is just a phase but it is driving me mad, I feel sad and frustrated for him, I hate to see him uptight about it. Any advice would be much appreciated

CAHMS might be a good place to have a look at - my sister was the same from a similar age... here

I think ignoring it can be worse sometimes tbh - my mum ignored my sister's 'traits' and (not saying this would happen to your DS) but I think it made it worse in the long run

Must be very hard for you to see him so stressed, but please be assured there are organisations/help out there

i think some of that handwash stuff ( refill the bottle with any old shit once its gone so you don;t have to keep buying it)

Has anyone had any experience of this with their child and did they grow out of it? Thanks for the link Valpolicella, most interesting (if a little depressing!)

I have a child like this Chumble. I haven't decided what to do about it yet though... If anything.
He's 10 and washes his hands constantly. We live in the country and have animals and he sees germs everywhere.
He's particularly worried about touching animal faeces on the ground and becoming blind.
His knuckles are red raw with the constant washing so I think I'm going to have to take him to the GP. I've been ignoring it for about a year.
So sorry, no advice at all,...am hoping someone comes along with advice.

My dd does this intermittently

she went to her Nana's recently and hardly did it at all- she seemed to forget about it for a bit when she came home but has started again over the last week

her hands are getting sore and rough

keep thinking I should take her to gp, but then she improves. Then she gets worse again...

If you go to Val's link Chumble
then click on info sheets
it says this

If you are worried that a child's behaviour is the beginnings of obsessive compulsive disorder, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

Do the compulsions upset the child?
Do they interfere with the child's everyday life (e.g. school, friends, etc.)?

If the answer to these questions is `yes', it may be that the young person has obsessive compulsive disorder, sometimes called OCD for short. If this is the case, you should seek professional advice.

As the answer is no atm, I'm going to leave it

a friend of a friend has OCD, and she says it's very treatable with CBT...also that, the earlier you start dealing with it, the easier it is in the long run

OP, I'd just keep an eye on things, and go to the gp when you have a hunch that it's getting worse/not improving

My ds (9yo) does this for spells every now and then. sore red hands especially in winter. Making sure he dries them properly afterward has helped.

He's always been a fiddler, hair twirler, then jumper chewing. The hand washing started out of the swine flu epidemic I think.

We chose not to make a big deal out of it. I keep an eye out, but I don't want to shine a light on it too much.

Thanks for all your postings, I find that using the rub in and leave hand foam helps to reduce the redness & dryness but the underlying compulsion to clean his hands is still there. I think I'll keep an eye on him for a couple of months and if it gets no better I'll have to take him to the docs . I have suffered from OCD in the past and I hate to think he may feel the way I used to and I DEFINITELY don't want him on medication at his age. I am now on Paroxetine for depression which has not only made me feel loads better, one of the (pleasant and most welcome) side effects is it helps with OCD. I kept my OCD to myself as much as possible for many years so I wasn't offered CBT but maybe it would help my DS...

I think if you suffered from OCD yourself you have to go to the doctors and get this sorted, as it could spread to being OCD about other things. He might need some cognitive behavioural therapy. I really wouldn't leave it a couple of months.