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Parenting

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Original poster

How can I stop my baby pulling his hair out?

13 replies

FTMF30 · 04/12/2018 08:47

My baby was born with a beautiful head of curly hair, which I thought was wonderful at the time. Fast forward 5 months and it's become the bane of my existence.

Since birth my LO, would scratch at his face (unintentionally) then his arms got longer and it turned to grabbing his hair and his fingers would get tangled in the curls, meaning he'd end up pulling his hair.
Now he's 5 months, is more aware and has better grip, he's began pulling at it when tired or distressed. We used to be able to remedy the hair pulling with scratch mitts but he can now flex his fingers through the mitts and get a good grab.

What was a beautiful head of curly hair is now a frizzy patchy mess with a receeded hair line. He literally has bald patches everywhere and looks like some sort of abused child . I'm worried his hair won't grow back and that he'll continue the hair pulling as a toddler.

Anyone else experienced this? Please tell me his hair will grow back and how to stop the constant hair pulling. It's driving me mad.

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mrkaykay · 04/12/2018 09:05

I'd shave his head. It would break my heart but if you shave it now it will stop further damage and he may forget about it for long enough that any scalp damage can heal. And rest assured baby hair does come out very easily in a few months the new hair will grow in stronger and I don't expect he will pull that out.

Seeline · 04/12/2018 09:11

I was going to say cut it too.
It doesn't need to be shaves, just short enough so that he can't get a grip on it.

metronome1 · 04/12/2018 09:19

Cut it very short or shave it.
My hair dresser said it is good to shave it anyway for future growth or something. I don't know how true that is and I didn't anyway with my girls but might be an additional bonus for you.

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Believeitornot · 04/12/2018 09:22

I would wonder why he was pulling it in the first place and try and keep that to a minimum? Does he have another comforter he could use?

metronome1 · 04/12/2018 09:22

Just to add my baby (1 now) pulls her eyelashes. It's a comfort thing.
She tries to pull mine when feeding and I have false ones (which cost a lot) so I'm very protective of them haha. I think it's something they will grow out of.

00100001 · 04/12/2018 09:26

yy to cut his hair

empmalswa · 04/12/2018 09:30

Cut his hair to break the habit. It has the potential to follow him through his entire life

Original poster

FTMF30 · 04/12/2018 09:51

Ok so the conseus seems to be to cut it. I guess this is the best solution but his hair (even in its current state!) has been such a massive part of his identity. It'll be very distressing to cut it and have a baby who will look so different.

@believeitornot It definitely is a comfort. We've tried giving him other things to grab but he just lets them go and reached for the hair.

I'll speak to DH and see how he feels about cutting it.🙈

OP posts:

empmalswa · 04/12/2018 10:46

It'll be very distressing to cut it and have a baby who will look so different

Very distressing? It's just a hair cut

I'm guessing this is your first?

As parents we do what's best for our children. It's best for you to remove the hair/comfort association before it becomes a huge problem.

Hair cuts are a pretty normal part of daily life.

00100001 · 04/12/2018 14:02

"It'll be very distressing to cut it and have a baby who will look so different."
Surely not more distressing than watching your baby pull his own hair out?? He won't look any different to any other baby with short hair.... and you'll have to cut it at some point.

Original poster

FTMF30 · 04/12/2018 16:14

Ok so the word 'distressing' was definitely an exaggeration on my part, but I will be sad to cut it off as it's been a major part of his identity since birth. Everyone has mentioned how much hair he has. But you're all right, a haircut is probably for the best.

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MeOldChina · 04/12/2018 16:36

Slightly different but my DS has lots of black hair when he was born which gradually fell out. After a few bald months, he now has lovely blond curls! So his first hair wasn't 'him' after all.

mistermagpie · 04/12/2018 16:47

I have had two incredibly bald babies (DS2 is 20 months and has no hair at all still) so obviously can't comment on the baby/hair thing. However I suffer from trichotillomania myself and started pulling my hair out as a child, I'm 38 and still affected by it and I wish someone would have stopped me doing it when I was young as it has had an impact for my whole life. Just one way to look at it.

I do get it though, my kids are so bald that it's almost part of who they are and when DS1 finally got hair it was a bit strange! Sort of like your situation in reverse if you shave it.

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