DS constantly picks at his face

[trillian11]

Sweet guy is 2.5 yrs old, and he's developed a habit of absentmindedly picking at little bumps on his face until they bleed and scab (rinse, repeat). He's usually got like 3 little homemade bandaids covering his booboos on his cheeks so that he can't get at them, but he'll even rub the bandaids in his sleep. As soon as we take the bandaids off, he picks at a new bump. And I can't keep his fingernails short enough.

I know it must be a soothing habit, and he gets so sad and angry when I remind him to stop, to use the pads of his fingers if he wants to rub, etc... But he's starting to get little scars and I hate to see it happen!

Any suggestions? I used to love picking at my blanket when I was a kid...any other ideas for great loveys? Or anything like might work for kids who have sensory processing disorders? (I don't think he does have this, but I can imagine that there might be something nubby enough or whatever that he might like...)

Thanks!
Carey

[lelabeth]

Hi Trillian -

I am not a scientist and don't know anything about sensory processing disorders - other moms on the board may have experience - that might make sense to look into.

However your post reminded me of a line from Susan Allport's book on Omega-3 fatty acids, called "The Queen of Fats." Omega-3 fats, found in green leaves and in foods from animals who eat those leaves, tend to be grossly deficient in our modern diets. Instead we tend to get too many Omega-6s, found in seeds and grains, since we eat lots of grains and the animals we eat tend to be fed primarily grain in feedlots. (Neither is "bad" or "good", it's just important to eat a balance of both. Apologies if you know all this stuff already.)

I don't recall exactly, but it was some sort of experiment done with animals where they were fed primarily omega-6s in their diets and no omega-3s, and several of the animals developed abnormal self-picking or scratching disorders.
I think there is a lot yet unknown, but what is known for sure is that Omega-3s are vital to brain development and function, and a lack of them is linked to other brain ailments such as depression.

It's really really easy in our society not to get enough Omega-3s, since most of the nutritional advice we hear has to do with eating low-fat, which doesn't address the imbalance at all.

Obviously I'm a mom on an internet board who is neither a) a doctor/nutritionist or b) someone who has ever met your family, so I could be wildly off base. But as someone suffered from both major depressive episodes and skin picking myself, and who has really noticed a difference in my mental function once I started paying more attention to what kind of fat I eat, I thought it worth at least mentioning.

I hope the best for your son!

[trillian11]

Wow Lelabeth, that's really interesting. He eats a vegetarian diet at this point and I don't think it can hurt to try to up the o-3's. He is certainly getting more o-6's, so the ratio isn't equal.

[lelabeth]

Best of luck!

[MountainMamaGC]

They have a DHA supplement made from algae if you dont want to use fish oil. Flax and walnuts are also a good source of omega-3 but some people are not efficient at breaking down the omega 3 into DHA. Definitly try to include wahtever sources you can. I give DD 1000 mg fish oil (Carlsons orange flavored chewable capsule) and 1 tsp of flax oil into her yogurt everyday.

I hope you can help him resolve it.

[trillian11]

Lydiah, how old is your DD? I started giving him some fish oil gummies a couple of days ago, so it's still too early to tell whether it's made a difference.

I did find some very cool "calming fidget" toys here, so I'm going to give a couple of those a try too:
www.therapyshoppe.com

Carey

[MountainMamaGC]

She is 2 and a half. I found the Carlsons fish oil capsules to be more bang for my buck AND she is getting less sugar that way.

My DD doesnt pick but she is "Spirited" and DH and I have schizophrenia in our family, my dad is and his uncle. So I really want to make sure I build her brain the best I can. Vitamin D is also good for the brain, I give her 1000 IU each day.

Give the oil a couple months to do their magic.