Strange 'tick' like behaviour in 2yr old

[Chloe55]

My son is wiping at his face or quickly stroking his head regularly throughout the day. He does seem to have done this for a few months but over the past few weeks he is doing it A LOT, more so when he is concentrating. Do you think it is just a habit or something which we should report to the health visitor? He seems ok otherwise.

Would you class it in the same category as nail biting, thumb sucking and hair twiddling?

Give him something to hold and fiddle with that needs two hands - not sure what though! Adults use worry beads....

Yeah I guess it could be like that actually, just weird though!

Or could you just gently hold his hand and chat about what he's doing/thinking - very casual. If he pulls his hand away let go, but if he goes back to the stroking/wiping take his hand gently again. Don't let it be aversive, always gently and always let go and don't make a big thing of it, be very relaxed. My friend's dd started talking behind her hand, always covered her mouth. Friend did this, kept it v low key etc., dc got out of the habit. On the other hand, these do seem pretty similar to hair twiddling etc and prob nothing to worry about.

Yeah, that's an idea, I have just been ignoring it so far. It is frustrating dh and he keeps commenting and telling him to stop which I don't think is helping at all.

I think you're right about dh's actions. That is making it an "ishoo" and turns it into a Big Thing and a Problem, whereas it really probably is just a thing he finds comforting or calming or helps him think - lots of people have unconscious behaviours when they're thinking and it's harmless enough. Can you persuade dh to stop reacting to it?

if it's a tic, it's NOT a 'habit' - i.e. it's not something he can stop if he just tried hard enough

and if it is a tic, talking about it, holding his hand when he's doing it, telling him to stop it will all draw his attention to it more and make it worse

the standard advice for tics is to ignore them - lots of children have transient tics i.e. tics which are around for a while then go, some children have either vocal or physical tic disorders, a very few will develop Tourette's Syndrome - and unless the tics are bothering the child, it's just so not a problem

all my dcs have tics and the eldest has TS, so I've been dealing with tics for nearly 10 years now

Chloe55, I'm sorry - I had jumped to conclusions and assumed it was a habit.

I was wondering about this too my DS age 6 has a habit/tick?! of smelling his cupped hands, he does it all the time. I have gently asked him about it and he says he just likes the smell ok I can live with that so now I just try to ignore it and hopefully it will go away as he has had other little things like this is the past and they go eventually. constant little little coughs, sniffing (when doesnt have a cold) shrugging of shoulders.