Baby scratching face

[BertiesMangos]

I'm at my wits end - my 10 month old is constantly scratching his face and making himself bleed. It's getting harder and harder to distract him to want to do other things with his hands instead. It's got to the point where we can't leave the house unless there are two adults with him to stop him. His face is a mess. We've been to the doctors and have a hospital referral but so far nothing prescribed has made a difference. It's so upsetting and I worry that with open wounds all the time he's going to get an infection if we do still take him out and about. I sourced sleepsuits with scratch mitts (tricky to find in larger sizes) but it doesn't really make a big difference as he still rubs at his face with the mitts until he bleeds. Anyone else been through this? Any suggestions?

There must be a reason why he keeps rubbing/scratching. It seems to me that he may trying to itch his face? Does he have any other skin issues like eczema for example?

Is he allergic to anything?

For the wounds use Vaseline. It creates a protective barrier so that they don't get affected.

Yes it's like frantic itching. He does have eczema but we're not sure if it's "just" that or something more. We have tried so many different creams and products and medicines and it's getting worse and worse, so much blood. We've not tried vaseline but so far he just rubs off other protective creams!

@BertiesMangos I'm sure his face is itchy and he's just trying to soothe himself but obviously unaware of the damage he's doing :( poor little bubba.

I have a friend who's got 2 DS and both are struggling with Eczema and when they itch it gets bloody; I've seen it first hand. It's not constant thank goodness, its only when they get a really bad flare up.

Unfortunately I don't have any advice on what you can use as my friend has tried everything but she said she got some advice off google about some natural remedies which helps. Hope it settles soon x

If he's got scabs already, they'll be itchy and he'll get a rush of pain-endorphin when he picks at them to reopen them. My dd was rhe same when she was going through a difficult transition at nursery - she kept scratching her right ear till it kept bleeding for days.

The only thing that worked was keeping her happy and distracted. If it's really bad you can maybe ask the gp for a kind of numbing cream I think.

Once the scabs healed up she never did it again. So you just have to try and stop him doing it for a few days till the scabs heal.

Try to keep his hands occupied and keep him distracted. Even if you have to give lots of sweet snacks, or put on some very hypnotic TV, whatever works

By numbing cream, I only know because when I've had eczema in a sensitive part of the body, during pregnancy i think it was, (so itchy and awful, i kept reopening the scabs) they prescribed me a special steroid cream that helped it heal but also numbed it. I think it was called audavit or audavate something. It stopped itching instantly and healed so quickly. Anyway I'm not sure if it's suitable for babies but worth asking