Licking their lips til the skin goes sore

[TheLemur]

My DS 2.8 seems to have just discovered that he can use his tongue to lick all around the outside of his lips and has been doing it repeatedly since Thursday so they are sore and red

Do I need to do anything? eg: put some cream on when he's asleep? Or do I just let it heal/toughen up by itself

I've tried discouraging him by telling him he'll make himself sore but it doesn't make much difference

Also could this lead to a cold sore developing? It looks like the corner of his mouth could be a bit cracked

Thanks if you can offer your experience of this!

Vaseline during day, Sudocrem at night, repeatedly tell him not to do it

I look after a 5 year old who does this. It's maddening, but nothing you can do. We use vaseline and lip salve.

It won't lead to a coldsore, coldsores are caused by a virus. They will probably be sore and chapped though, so lipsalve etc should help.

Thanks all. A shame to hear that this might be a prolonged phase though!!

they do grow out of it though, DD (7) did this periodically between the ages of about 4 and 5/6. It is annoying though and v sore for them.

My DD is 9 and she has been doing this all her life. She has just had quite a nasty bout of redness and dry, chapped skin right along her top lip - making her look like she is wearing too much lipstick. It also gets worse in the winter and limits her ability to speak as it hurts to much.

As soon as it starts I get the Vaseline out and pop some on her also before I go to bed at night without waking her.

I have never met anyone else who has a child who does this so it is reassuring to know there are other people who experience this too - iykwim!

My dd does this, it ends up a total mess.

ook her to see the pharmacist and told me to use anbesol athletes foot cream (because it's fungal) am not kidding, cleared it up overnight, I was

my ten yr old ds1 does this, have to say ifind it infuriating, he is old enough to know and understand that he is making it sore and yet he still does it and it loks very sore and red, the skin can crack etc.

we make him put a moisturiser on it and it does often go away but comes back within a few days and he consistently licks his lips.

tbh idont really know what to do about it, i am assuming its just habit? but it drives me mad!

I did this as a child and had a red sore mouth for most of my childhood. Unfortunately I never grew out of it and always have to carry a little tin (or 5) of vaseline around with me to keep my lips soft.

I'm known as the vaseline queen

Vaseline applied by stealth at bedtime sorts out most probe of this kind, ime.

Vaseline and stern lectures.

ds1 has taken it one step further lately though and is running his teeth lightly over his lips.... which when done for 3 hours straight leaves them looking like raw meat

ds does this too, he gets a red moustache, teacher once thought it was impetigo and made me take him to the drs!

can't do much to stop him doing it really just licks off vaseline

dd1 does this periodically
right now she has the too much lipstick on her top lip look
I bought her some lip salve
she says she doesn't realise she is doing it

TidyBush - vaseline can be addictive to the skin so I would look at using something else as that could actually be prolonging the issue.

My near 8 year old still does this, we're using nivea at the moment - grrrrr. She's okay for ages and then it all starts up again.

@tidybush: I used to overdose on Vaseline (the small tins are the worst for prolonging, btw), then I happened to buy one of Lancome's Juicy Tubes, which has the side effect, for me, of moistening my lips beautifully.
Some days I only apply it once and my lips are fine.

Thanks CarGirl and OurLady I've had a look around the interweb and have now ordered some Burts Bees balm. Hopefully that'll break my addiction .

DS2 (10) does this - it looks horrible. My Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream sorts it out in no time.

I agree Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream (not the lipstick 8 hour) it's the one in the tube. Put it all round the red area at bedtime and it will be better in the morning.

DS (3) does this and it drives me insane. Had really sore - and actually bleeding at one point - skin around his mouth for a few weeks recently. Thought it was impetigo at one point but GP said it was due to the licking. Prescribed some Epaderm which we put on overnight and in the day for a couple of days when it was really bad - cleared it up in no time. Now we put the Epaderm on overnight when it starts to look like it's going to flare up again.

I still do this sometimes and I'm 33! It tends to happen in winter if I've been outside a lot and my lips get chapped so I lick them to moisten them and then it becomes a vicious cycle. When I first realise what's happening, I tend to slap on a bit of scented body lotion which tastes so vile that if I start to lick my lips, I instantly remember not to and then use vaseline.

Melrose. Apply it before bed time and by morning it'll be at least 50% better and 100% after two nights. You can use it all day too.
Keeps lips kissable too!