Baby relentlessly scratching his own face

[ManCubsMama]

My baby is constantly scratching his face and head. He vigourously rubs and claw at his eyes and forehead and ears. I’m actually surprised he hasn’t damaged his eyes yet, touch wood!

I know eye rubbing is a tired cue, he does do it when he is tired of agitated. But he does it loads and loads all the time, plus pulling and grabbing his ears, taking his fingers all over his head and cheeks. It’s really distressing. He does it more so when he is crying, feeding, but why is he doing it now all the time? As in he probably does it once or twice a minute. His little eyes are red and puffy from being rubbed so much. I feel like at the moment he might be suffering from hayfever, but i believe there is nothing I can give him? He is 7 months.

I have to swaddle him to sleep which I understand I am not meant to do past 6 months but if I do 1) he won’t relax to get to sleep and 2) he’ll absolutely savage his face

I have to trim his nails literally every day and once I made them so short they bled 😩😩 I used to put mittens on him at night but actually they make his eyes more sore as rubbing the cotton on them is more abrasive than the skin of his hands. Now I have to swaddle which I don’t feel comfortable doing in case he rolls over and can’t right himself.

Any advice or anyone experienced the same thing?

He has been doing this for a good few months now

Wow. Poor wee thing! I suppose he's otherwise well and not having some kind of itchy ears/eyes or other illness?

The only thing I can think of is to sew his sleeve to the body of the sleepsuit? Near the elbow so he can still move his arms but just not quite reach his eyes. Bit drastic but I can't think of anything else ☹️

My baby has eczema and was scratching a lot all over head including around eyes. Doc prescribed a cream which worked farthing the worst of it away.

She's yours have irritated skin? We have since been putting some normal moisturising cream on her face. She itches it more without the special cream but not as bad.

@goldpartyhat thanks for the suggestion, I might have to do that.

@Fishbaby he does have ezcema but not really on his face. He had it badly on his chest and back, plus all the other common spots - back of the knees etc. We we first prescribed hydrocortisone cream but that didn’t shift it so we now have Eumavate which has worked wonders. Along with me cutting dairy, his skin is the best it’s ever looked.

The ear rubbing started when he was teething. I am a bit worried now it’s developed into some kind of twitch. The rubbing and scratching definitely seems to be a comfort thing.

I’m a little bit at my wits end 😔 I’m constantly pulling his hands away from his face and head

I find socks on their hands can provide a physical barrier and keeping the nails short. Best of luck

Aw bless, I'm glad you're not using hydrocortisone cream. Do you know that oil of evening primrose oil applied to the clean skin, sparingly, clears it up in no time? Harmless too.

I used to have to wear cotton gloves when I was a baby, I had eczema. My son who had no skin problems managed to scratch his face for a while and I put little cotton gloves on him. It passes.

You're doing grand.

Baby Aveeno is really soothing for my baby DC.

I did sew a sock onto the sleeves of a t shirt for DC1 at one point. To wear at night.

May be allergic to or irritated by the fabric softener and washing powder you use? Try sur care for both. And put on an extra rinse cycle.

Has your baby grown out of this yet? My baby scratches her neck when stressed.