HELP!!! My Two Year Old Pulls Her Own Hair Out!!!

This is a self-soothing thing. For comforting themselves.

Does she have a "lovey?"
If not, get her one.
A stuffed animal that she can stroke or twist around.

Babies and kids, often self-soothe by doing certain things like this.
And yes, they do it when tired.
Have her nap.
And get her a lovey, to keep with her and sleep with.

My son, from 6 months old, had a lovey. And he rubbed its ears, often, and slept with it etc. It comforted him.

My neice used to wrap her finger around her hair and twirl it so hard that it came out. My SIL finally had all the hair in the front cut very short. So I suspect that you need to cut your daughter's hair so short that she can no longer get it around her fingers. I would give her back the paci when she is tired so that she has something to help her soothe herself. OR give her a soft small towel or something that will help.

If you keep her hair short enough (even if it looks bad) to help her break the habit, she will not do it anymore when the hair grows back.

Good luck~
Dawn

I don't know about this specifically but my experience with compulsive habits (and I have a few) is they need to be stopped in their infancy, or they become so ingrained that they become almost impossible to stop (she says as she violently chews on the inside of her mouth).

And since you really don't want her pulling our her hair, you should do whatever it takes to stop this habit before it becomes fully ingrained. I once knew a girl who had trichotillomania, and her bald spot wasn't attractive, and the hair that grew there was so ruined that even if she managed to stop it would never grow properly again.

If it were me, and I couldn't stop it, I would cut her hair so short that she couldn't do it, and let it grow again when she had stopped. She's only 2, so it doesn't matter if her hair is really short.

Maybe that's overreacting, but good hair is important on females, so you definitely want to end this habit now.

I would cut her hair so it is too short for her to wrap it around her fingers or pacifier (if she's still using it) and get her a lovey to comfort her when she is tired. It's important to get her to stop however you need to, and you can grow her hair back slowly (keep it short awhile) and hopefully she won't go back to doing it. If you see signs she's trying to get it around anything you'll know she's not ready to have it grown out.

These things can be so nerve wraking. My daughter now 4 would twirl her hair to self soothe at that age. She never pulled it out but it would get knotty. I use to get nervous that she would have "tric" because I thought the twirling was obsessive at times. To break the habit we gave her a doll with long hair. I layed down with her at nap and redirected her to rub and twirl the dolls hair. It helped alot. She still twirls sometimes when she is overwhelmed. Once of my best girlfriends constantly twirls her hair and she is 37.

My daughter used to do this too....she is a thumb sucker and a twirler. It is her way of soothing herself and, around age 2, when her hair got twisted it would knot and she would pull it out. It is very alarming to see your child pull their hair out and then to see the resulting bald spot.....I know, I've been there. And our horrified response can actually makes it more "interesting" for them because kids like to do things that get a reaction.
I also found the Dr's suggestions didn't work for my child. I found that my daughter didn't want a doll or a silky blanket or any other distraction....she wanted her hair and nothing was going to change her mind.
I actually cut my child's hair into a short "pixie" style so she couldn't twist and pull at it and that helped tremendously. I also coated that spot with a bit of vaseline and combed it through so that when she played with it it wouldn't knot up. But most of all I tried not to make a big deal of it- especially after her hair started growing back and we'd have a relapse (ie. she'd hand me a chunk of hair after nap or something. ACK!). It took awhile but we started seeing impovement around age 3.
My daughter is now 4 and she still twirls her hair but she's learned to twist it so it doesn't knot up. I still keep her hair fairly short though to minimize tangling.
Please understand that this is a phase and how you react to it will help determine how long she finds it "interesting". Try to be quietly proactive- either cut her hair short or pull it into a ponytail. And try not to pay it too much attention- gently redirect her to something appropriate and leave it at that. It will get better!

My daughter did this when she was little (10yo now). She would twirl her hsir into a knot then pull it out. She gave herself a bald dpot over her right ear. I couldn't bear to cut her hair so instead i made her hair super slick. I used a deep conditioner everyday and then put in a leave-in conditioner. It became impsible to pull out. Since her hair wouldnt do what she wanted she eventually stopped twirling.
Good luck!

See whether you can find any other behaviors or habits your daughter has on this checklist – if so, she may have some sensory issues. They are common and usually not earth-shaking, but once parents know what's going on, they can often help the child deal with a need for more-intense or less-intense stimulation. Lots of info on this site: www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-di....