4 year old compulsive skin picking

[HeartshapedFox]

Looking for advice - my 4 yr old DS has been compulsively picking the skin on his face and a scab on his hand since before Christmas. I’ve been covering up the worst areas with plasters until they heal but as soon as the plasters come off he starts again.
Looking for advice really, he’s worse at school and watching him at home he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it half the time.
I’ve bought him a fidget cube which he goes to sleep with - that’s a key time for picking and seems to help.
Our home life is stable and boring, there’s nothing obvious I can think of that he’d be anxious about.
Has anyone else gone through this? Is he likely to grow out of it? Are there any tips or tricks I can try for distraction?

IIRC skin picking is a type of OCD. There's probably some underlying anxiety. 'Just Covid' anxiety can probably do it if there's nothing else.

If it was an adult with something similar I would recommend trying to get some treatment for the underlying anxiety. (Just stopping the habit without addressing underlying anxiety often results in a different bad habit developing, like pulling out own hair.)

With a 4 year old I don't know if the treatments are suited, but you could at least start by trying to figure out if he's anxious about something and seeing if you can help resolve the thing he's worried about (could be something silly and easily dealt with). Has he spent time with someone who could be bullying him or hurting him at the time it started?

Speak to GP, there is child therapy available for anxiety though waiting lists are probably horrendous. I wouldn't let it go on too long without attempting treatment because once in the habit it's very hard to break.

Thank you, that’s what I’m worried about really, it becoming an entrenched habit.

I’ve tried talking to him lots of times and in different ways, but there doesn’t seem to be anything worrying him - nothing that he’s able to articulate anyway - it could quite easily be covid.

Art therapy or music therapy might be useful in helping him to express what's underlying it.

At bedtime could you try playing gentle music (classic fm type), or a relaxation audio?

I have had a picking habit since being small. Anything from peeling wallpaper, to picking skin, to pulling off toenails and picking nails. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to stop, just switch to a different method for a while.

Is he a perfectionist? Some people feel imperfect skin (tiniest natural bumps) and pick it off. And because the habit release some soothing chemicals, you can become addicted. It's like being in a trance.

My DS has trich and that and skin picking can be linked to food allergy and gut issues. I'd start him on a probiotic, and if it starts when the plasters come off then keep them on for another month. Get funky character ones.

@Adatwistscientist Wow, you sent me down a probiotic rabbit hole last night, it’s fascinating, I had no idea!

@Adatwistscientist I didn’t know that, very interesting. I’m a picker and I have food allergies and gut issues! I’m going to look into a probiotic.

We bought some anxiety themed children’s books for granddaughter as a starting point for talking about worries . It gave her some good tools and insights in dealing with worries before she knows how to articulate what they were. Watering the tomatoes was a favourite.

Did you find anything that worked? DD has been biting her nails since she was two then moved on to biting the skin around her nails, now if she’s not biting she’s picking. The tips of her fingers are raw and often bleed. I’m at my wit’s end.

Hi @overwroughtmummy he’s still a picker but it’s more under control now. Apart from having loads of fidget toys (he still likes to fiddle with something while he has a bedtime story) the only thing I did differently was start him on a kids probiotic. I don’t know if that helped or if he just grew out of it, but it could be worth a try. It’s so frustrating, I hope you can help you little one x