Why wont he stop rubbing his face?

[mariekitt24]

Does ANYONE know why my son keeps rubbing his face? Especially his forehead right between the eyes. I have seen other mothers ask about this around the internet and gotten no solid answers. He does it constantly so I really don't think its just his being tired. I wouldn't worry except that he does it so much that he bleeds, and despite our best efforts to keep it covered with a round band aid, he rubs it off and it never gets the chance to heal. He's 7 months old now and not showing any signs of slowing down. We've tried different creams but nothing will stop him. He rubs his face with his hands and if he cant do that he rubs it on anything near him like my chest or the bed or the floor or my shoulder.

[texaspeach]

well I can only speak from experience, it doesn't mean it's true in your case, but ds rubs and rubs and rubs his eyebrows and between his eyes when he is itchy because I ate a food he has an intolerance to. A few days ago I ate a canned soup and didn't read the label carefully enough and it had hidden dairy. Today DS's eye brows are red and he has been rubbing them.

Maybe he's itchy. Does he have excema there?

[kismetbaby]

My 3 month old does the same. . .always rubbing his face, eyes, nose and he scratches himself while doing it.

Not sure exactly what is causing it, but I am currently eliminting dairy from my diet (my DS is EBF) b/c of other signs of a food intolerance. I'll be interested to see of the rubbing get better too. He doesn't have visible eczema on his face though.

[mariekitt24]

A food intolerance huh? That's very possible. I would have a hard time eliminating dairy from my diet, but I'd love to hear if it works for you, Kismetbaby. What are other signs of food intolerance?

[sunshynbaby]

"If a breastfed baby is sensitive to a particular food, then he may be fussy after feedings, cry inconsolably for long periods, or sleep little and wake suddenly with obvious discomfort. There may be a family history of allergies. Other signs of a food allergy may include: rash, hives, eczema, sore bottom, dry skin; wheezing or asthma; congestion or cold-like symptoms; red, itchy eyes; ear infections; irritability, fussiness, colic; intestinal upsets, vomiting, constipation and/or diarrhea, or green stools with mucus or blood."

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...nsitivity.html

[kismetbaby]

The signs of food intolerance that led us to start a non-dairy diet are: primarily-- green, mucousy (with occasional blood) stools. Also restless sleep, a lot of spitting up and gassiness.

So far no change in any of these (the spitting up might be a bit better actually), but they say it can take two weeks just to flush out the remaining dairy proteins in your diet. So I am going to give it 3 weeks before deciding if it has helped. He has still been really itchy. . .woke up this morning rubbing and rubbing his face.

It could be something in the bedding too I am thinking. . .detergent or dust or something. Still trying to figure this out. Sigh.

[texaspeach]

Originally Posted by kismetbaby

The signs of food intolerance that led us to start a non-dairy diet are: primarily-- green, mucousy (with occasional blood) stools. Also restless sleep, a lot of spitting up and gassiness.

So far no change in any of these (the spitting up might be a bit better actually), but they say it can take two weeks just to flush out the remaining dairy proteins in your diet. So I am going to give it 3 weeks before deciding if it has helped. He has still been really itchy. . .woke up this morning rubbing and rubbing his face.

It could be something in the bedding too I am thinking. . .detergent or dust or something. Still trying to figure this out. Sigh.

if you have soy in your diet you may need to cut that too

we elim'd dairy after we saw blood in his poop. our ped suggested it. in retrospect we also had allergy ring, rough raash on face, itchy eyes, congestion and serious vomiting. ds still gets dark under his eyes and sounds congested but we haven't been able to figure that one out. I think it may be corn or wheat.

nak

[kismetbaby]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

if you have soy in your diet you may need to cut that too

we elim'd dairy after we saw blood in his poop. our ped suggested it. in retrospect we also had allergy ring, rough raash on face, itchy eyes, congestion and serious vomiting. ds still gets dark under his eyes and sounds congested but we haven't been able to figure that one out. I think it may be corn or wheat.

nak

By allergy ring do you mean around the bum? Cuz we have that too and some rough skin on the face and dry skin on his legs. He often has a stuffy nose in the AM also. Spitting up but not serious vomiting IMO.

I'm starting with dairy b/c I am already a vegetarian and am scared to get to the point of not being able to eat anything! But yes, I was told that soy and wheat are next on the list if things don't improve on the non-dairy diet.

It was suggested to me that it might not be that my son is intolerant, but rather that I have leaking gut/intolerance issues and thus are just passing on the undigested proteins to him in BM. Sigh.

What have you cut out and how long did it take to improve your son's symptoms?

[moongloe]

my lo would rub his face back and forth on our chests. drove us insane! we didn't even think it was a food intolerance, but apparently it was. other symptoms arose which led me to eliminate food from my diet. once i discovered all the foods that bothered him (legumes, nightshades, wheat, corn) the face rubbing disappeared with the other issues.

dairy is the most common allergen, but that doesn't mean if it's not dairy it's not a food problem. my lo didn't have a problem with me eating dairy (or eggs), but he did to tons of other things.

i'd do an elimination diet of the top problem foods (soy, wheat, dairy, corn, eggs), and see what happens.

good luck.