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5 year old child licks hands all day. How can I stop her??

4 replies

EOM1979 · 26/11/2022 00:21

My 5 year old licks her hands all day. Her little friends have begun noticing and telling her things like she can only goto their houses if she stops doing it. But it's unconscious - she even lick's her hands then rubs her feet in the middle of the night if she wakes briefly when we go in. She says it's because they're dry which they may well be. She has palmar hyper hidrosis which basically means sweaty hands and feet like me. She's been doing it for 2 years now and the GP has no idea what to suggest. She even asked the paediatrics team for advice and they didn't know what to say either. If anyone can help us be so grateful.

Not at the bottom - I have never licked my hands but I do need to rub my feet at night so they get warm and aren't dry and actually so they feel a bit damp and that means I do spit on my hands and rub it in to them at night. I've always presumed it's because of my palmar hyper hidrosis but now my child does the same thing I'm wondering if it's a genetic thing! She has never seen me do it by the way!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Beamur · 26/11/2022 00:24

Could you put hand cream on and cotton gloves/socks at night? Would keep her feet warm and makes the moisturising more effective. Also doesn't taste good so might help with that habit.

EO2022 · 26/11/2022 07:57

That's a good idea. She hates cream and socks but maybe there's a way we can tell her it's worth trying.

PritiPatelsMaker · 26/11/2022 08:08

Has the GP thought of treating it as though she has OCD?

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EO2022 · 26/11/2022 11:35

That's a good point. Our lovely GP was clueless as to what to suggest and said she will check again with paediatrics but I will perhaps ask her for a referral to CAMHs.

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