5 yr old, obsessive handwashing.

[PleaseSirIWantMoVegBeforeSkeg]

DS has started to wash his hands over and over again.
We were late for school twice last week because it 'needed' to be done.

I've tried to distract him but he gets really agitated.
His hands are now bleeding- and I'm at my wits end!

I've spoken to his teacher who says it has been noticed, and that they are keeping an eye on it. His teacher also mentioned that DS gets quite worried about having dirt on his jumper.

I've been putting antiseptic cream on at night, which he will tolerate. Can't use any type of barrier cream because it really upsets him .

Does anyone have any experience of this?
Grateful for any advice.

I can imagine this is quite worrying for you as he does sound very anxious. I don't have experience of hand washing, but my DS does have really bad anxiety and tends to chew himself when he gets stressed.

There are a few things you can do. First of all, when you are away frm the trigger point of the morning, can you talk to him about what he's worried about? I find that sitting down with DS and drawing with him while we talk helps. It may be good if he can expain how he is feeling when its not discussed along side the washing.

Can I ask how he reacts if you stop him from the washing? Does it get what you would see as unreasonably upset?

I found that when DS was chewing his nails so badly that he was making his fingers bleed, we successfully used reward - I got a toy for him and put it on the shelf. I explained that if he didn't chew his nails for a week he could have it. We kept the reward chart and after a week, no chewed nails, lots of praise and he got the toy (it was only a little thing). We did that for a month and after that he stopped chewing his fingers (phew!)

The other problem then was he started chewing his clothes instead, so we bought him something that was specifically for fiddling and chewing on.

The other thing we did was I made an appt with the GP to go and discuss what was happening to get some outside help. I can't tell you how that will go as I am still on a waiting list.

How do you feel about this? Does your DS have any other rituals or routines that he likes to follow?

Thanks for replying babyheave, sorry I posted and ran.

Your strategies for your DS sound good, glad they seem to be working.
So hard isn't it? Don't want to get it wrong and make matters worse!

Took DS to the doctors yesterday he has an infection on his left hand, so has some anti b's and some cream.
The doctor had a little word with him about only washing after a "pee or a poo" and before eating. I don't know if DS took any notice though.

When I try to stop him he kind of jumps around and screeches.
He often says he's touched something 'dirty' (my bed, his bed, random things that aren't actually dirty)

He says he's licked stuff as well, even when he clearly hasn't. We went on a train today and he spent the journey telling me he'd licked the seat and the window (he hadn't)
And he has a small tic -bangs his shoulder on his chin.

He's exhausting!

How does he tolerate touching/playing with things like sand, play-do, hand paint, shaving foam etc? My dd1 had sensory issues and was very hypersensitive (feet and hands) due to her spastic diplegia and we worked on it by encouraging her to play with those things. Something else I did was a container with dry soup mix, rice and pasta in, she loved it (your ds might be a bit old for that though). It worked and she is fine with all those things now. I know your ds's issue is not quite the same and will have a different cause, but working on him tolerating "dirty" substances in the same kind of way (by involving them in play) might still help?