Toddler losing hair; any experience:advice greatly received

[TrinityRhino]

dd2 used to go to sleep and comfort herself when tired and sucking her thumb by pulling her hair on one side of her head.
this turned into pulling her hair out and she developed a s,all bald patch. To stop her doing it I cut her hair very short(suffering lots of unwelcome comments) and she stopped doing it. I cut her hair again when it becane long enough to wrap round her fingers and pull out.
Since the last ti,e I cut it the bald patch has spread and now covers the entire side of her head and I have not seen her pulling it out. Also I don't think she is doing it to get to sleep either cause I sit with her and she has stroked the hair on her forehead since I cut it.
I have docs app. on monday but I"m getting rather worried about it.

Don't have any experience of this but wanted to post.
It sounds very upsetting. I'm assuming its thinned there because of the stress of it being pulled so often.

I hope the doctor can help you . [hugs]

[pat on back]

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Actually I have heard of something similar but not through pulling. A girl I know lost most of her hair after a convulsion . Its taken a year but is long enough for bunches now

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TR, just had word with dh. Apparently he used to do this as a child. He would wrap any tiny strand of hair round his finger and pull it out. He was bald until he was 5, not just bald but bald with patches! He remembers being sent home from school with a tub of Hair Restorer to give to his mum!

Good news is that it didn't last and he's not now a baldie!

Worth talking to your GP about it, but I do think that she is pulling it out, I saw her absently rubbing that patch whilst you were here. It may well be a habit that she'll just have to get out of though I'm afraid.

My friend's sone does tis, and like you, she cut his hair very short.
She has started to use serum/cream to the area as this stops him form getting hold of the hair to twirl.

thanks rhubarb, I have realised that I've just not been noticing that she is doing it. I have been trying to really look today and she has been doing it

I'm worried about why none of the first bit that she did has grown back though. I'm still goping to the app. I made on Monday and then will have to practically shave her head.

The serum/cream idea sounds good littlerach, thanks

frumpity glump

My 23-m DS has started doing the same thing. He's always played with his hair, and went through a phase of pulling my hair when he was bfing when younger. But in the last 4 weeks or so he's been doing it more, and now has quite a large bald/thin patch. Like your DD he does it when he's tired (I play with my hair too when I'm tired, funnily enough, but I don't pull it out). I think he does it most when he wakes up in the morning and I let him play happily in his cot for a while until I drag myself out of bed. So I might have to try getting him up as soon as he wakes up .

Thinking of getting his hair cut short, though I don't want him to look like a skinhead - but I don't want him to have bald patches until he's 5 either!

Might try the serum/cream idea too. Can you post again if you have any success with any strategies? Thanks. It's worrying, isn't it? I keep telling myself it's only cosmetic, not a real health problem, but...

Hope you manage to help your DD kick the habit.

I posted about my dd doing this a few weeks ago. Although I panicked and over reacted totally as she had by then pulled out a large amount of hair on the front of her head.

She has been doing it for a while as she has a large area of very thin hair on side of her head where it is not growing back. You can easily see the scalp through the hair. The top of her head (which she pulled a few weeks ago is sporting an impressive five o' clock shadow so I think that area is growing back)

I have been observing dd and she does it when tired or bored. So drifting off to sleep, as well as whilst in the car or watching tv. I have bought her a variety of hairbands/scarves and she wears one day and night. It makes it harder for her to get to her hair. I am hoping this will stop it. If not, then a short haircut will be next.
She starts reception in Sept, I hope she will have some hair then!

What serum/cream do you recommend? And would you apply it to the whole head?

UPDATE

WENT FOR DOC APP TODAY AND HE HAS LOOKED AT HER HAIR FOLLICLES WITH A MAGNIFYING (ooops, sorry) light thing and says they are growing back just very slowly and the best thing i can do is keep it very very shot so she loses the habit

goodness knows what my mother is going to say when she sees her in 2 weeks shes 470 miles away and doesn't know anything about the issue

bump incase anyone is interested

That is good news Trinity - I am hoping dd's more persistant bald patch at the side of her head will grow back soon too!

Re your mum - buy your dd some cute hairbands to cover up the bald patches (will she keep them on?)
My mum is overly critical and we are seeing her mid July and I am already planning ways of disguising the issue so she won't notice.

I'm not going to bother trying to hide it
she will just say al;l sorts of nonsense that dd2 is doing it because she feels pushed out by Gecko blah blah, I'll just smile and ignore, getting qiute practised at it now

You obviously have a rhino hide , I am not that strong when it comes to my mum (how pathetic am I!)

Good news about the regrowing though, now to find ways to break the habit...