gotta laugh, I guess!

[Anonymous]

Well, at some point, I gues you have to laugh so that you don’t cry! Dh is out of town in London, so of course, Hailey has to come down with a major fever- 104 one day, 102 the next. I took her to the doc, and he said it could be strep or hand/foot/mouth disease… great! (I’m thinking the second based on the fact that she’s just screaming all day and night!)

But here’s the somewhat funny part- I asked about the hair pulling. It’s been getting worse and worse, to the point that she has a HUGE bald spot! It started off as twirling, but now she just pulls it right out of her head and plays with it. And it’s all the time, not just when she’s nervous. I’ve been finding tight pieces of hair wrapped around her fingers, and he said it could cut off the circulation to the point of losing the fingers. He said it’s a condition called tricolomania (or something like that) and he said it’s common, though the stuff I read is very disturbing, to say the least! He said that I need to keep her in mittens all the time, which has been hard. So this morning I took her for her first “haircut”, if you can call it that. I got it cut all off, basically a crew cut, and it was kind of sad. She looks kind of odd, but sweet- I don’t think the kids will mess with her with this cut!!!

I swear if it’s not one thing, it’s another!

s&h’s mum2006-10-11 16:17:30

[Anonymous]

Oh, my….Poor Hailey.

It’s always like that arond here, too. One time when dh was gone I was laying in bed after putting the girls to bed and I saw something fly down my hallway towards me. Long story, short….it was a BAT!! What a night that was.

The first time dh was gone, Liza was a few months old and had been sleeping all night for weeks. Well the first night she was up every hour all night long. Turns out she had thrush of the mouth and was in pain from that.

Of course, when he’s gone is always when we have tornado warnings, too.

Anway, I sure hope the mittens and haircut help her to stop the hair pulling. You must be so stressed out. I hope her fever and whatever’s causing it passes quickly.

[Anonymous]

Wow Lori, I’m sorry. This must be beyond stressful. I think I’ve heard of that trichotillomania. I think I’ve heard it could be genetic. Have you ever had genetic testing done on Hailey?? We just saw a geneticist with Bryce to find out if he has some kind of syndrome (connecting his heart, cleft, etc.) It’s crazy what can just pop up in one of your children seemingly out of the blue. They think Bryce might have one particular syndrome, but we’re waiting for some chromosome tests to find out for sure. ANYWAY, my point is, seeing a geneticist might give you some answers (if her problems are to do with genetics).

[Anonymous]

I am sorry to hear that. My son is also doing this; pulling his hair out by the roots and all. He hasn’t developed a bald spot yet. The other day while he was trying to eat he just started grabbing his hair by the handful and would not stop. I had to pick all the hair off his hands so he could finish eating. He too gets it wrapped around his fingers where they are black & blue. I have asked several doctors about this & they look at me as if I am crazy. I did read somewhere that you can also try leaving a showercap on them…if you can get them to leave it alone!

After you posted I looked this condition up for myself and it is very disturbing. I hope she starts doing better soon & some positive things start happening for you.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry to hear she is having more problems. You just can’t catch a break can you. I hope it is nothing serious and will go away on its own.

I have only worked with one kid that was a hair puller, but she was much older, 7 or 8 eventually she was diagnosed with OCD. But that was totally different then what Hailey is going through.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry to hear the doctor saying that… i really believe it could be a tick – i have a bald spot in my head beacuse i do the skin picking thing when i am nervous….

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the support, guys!

Christine, I swear I would have gone crazy if there was a bat in the house! I don’t even like spiders, so I don’t know what I would have done. You deserve an award for dealing with that one.

As for the hair-pulling, I think I’m going to need to take her back again tomorrow to get it cut a bit shorter (if it’s possible). She still can get hold of it, so I want to get it as short as it can be. I specifically asked the doc about OCD, and he said that in infants and toddlers it’s not associated with any mental health issues.

Heather, good luck with the genetic screening. In young children, the hair pulling tends to be more of a bad habit they use to comfort themselves, more along the same lines as nailbiting. I think when they’re older it has the genetic links because it’s associated with anxiety disorders and OCD. Our ped happens to be a metabolic geneticist and so he’s pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. I really don’t think that Hailey has any syndromes at this point- all she has is the reflux and the feeding problems. She does have an anxious personality… and now the hair pulling. (Maybe I’m in denial, who knows!)

K&T’s mom, I’ve tried covering her head with everything known to man- she’s at the age where she loves to pull hats off and then try to put them back on. So nothing works- I even tried a bandana, and a stocking kind of cap that covers the whole head. She loves wearing them, but also takes them off. Hence, the short hair cut.

Hopefully this will pass soon.

As for the fever, it’s hand, foot and mouth disease- great. She came out with some small dots on the soles of her feet, and now they’re starting to look like blisters in a few places. My niece and nephew just had a mild case of this a few weeks ago- only in the mouth, so it’s a slightly different strain of the same virus- but my nephew was absolutely miserable. I’m not looking forward to this next week with her.

[Anonymous]

Lori,
Well that’s relieving then. I didn’t know it was different when small children did it. (I hope I didn’t sound like I was being negative or discouraging before! Just throwing ideas out as I get them I guess, & obviously genetics has been on my mind lately).

I think the haircut is a really good idea, especially since she’s so young & it doesn’t matter as much. Hopefully that’ll give you time to help her break her habit.

I’m sorry about the virus – hope she feels better soon (and that you & sarah don’t catch it!)

[Anonymous]

Lori

I know it is a little different because I have a boy but I keep his hair very short too & it does help. He gets his hair cut once a month & it is harder for him to pull it out. He is able to grab at it but when it is short it sometimes slides right out of his hands.

Hope she is feeling better soon.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I honestly don’t know if it’s any different, but that’s what the doc said (who knows if it’s true). She’s still trying to pull at it, but can’t get it out. I wanted to shave it really short, but the lady didn’t want to do it… said it would look really bad b/c she’s a girl. So we just cut it super short, and if it’s still too long, then I’m going to go back and get her to trim it.

Good luck to you too.

[Anonymous]

Poor Hailey. I hope the hand/foot/mouth doesn’t last too long.

[Anonymous]

Lori:

You deserve an award for all you have gone through and are still going through. Hang in there and I hope little Hailey is feeling better very very soon!!

Robin

[Anonymous]

Oh no! I hope Hailey feels better soon and hope you can get some rest soon

too.

[Anonymous]

Hi Lori, glad you are staying as positive as can be under the circumstances. Hopefully, one day, you really will be able to laugh about all of this! Sorry to hear you are going through so much (yet again) and I sure hope Hailey feels better soon!! A coworker’s child also just came down with hand-foot-mouth and it was just going around Seth’s daycare too (luckily, we managed to esacape it although he did get a bad throat infection which in retrospect, I am wondering if it was a milder strain of it). I think it is more prominent in the early spring and fall for some reason. BTW, were you able to continue with the part-time work (if so, I don’t know how!)? Hang in there, things have to improve soon!!

Mom2Seth2006-10-13 10:18:54

[Anonymous]

Tiffany,

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I am still working part-time. I’m enjoying it, though I do find that sometimes I’m just so tired from the sleep deprivation that it can be hard to concentrate. I’m glad that Seth didn’t get the hand/foot/mouth. Our doc told us that it’s very obvious what it is by looking in the mouth- the blisters have a distinct appearance- so if someone looked at his throat then they probably would have been able to diagnose it.

[Author]

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