Biting at thumb

[tlangley03]

My son is 11 months old and has LOBPI. He was 11lbs 6oz at birth. The Dr. completly paralyzed his left arm and broke his right humorus. The trauma killed him, he was born with no heartbeat and no breathing....they did CPR and Intubated him. He spent 2 weeks in NICU.
He had nerve grafting surgery in May and has since his surgery has gained some movement in his arm. He is able to lift the shoulder some and take the elbow from a bent position to straight and we are now starting to see tiny movements in the finger tips.
My concern is that he keeps biting his thumb on that hand. I keep the hand covered when he is laying down or when my eyes are not on him constantly. But he somehow manages to work the covering off. I am worried about this. I have heard stories about children with BPI that have done this that have had to have thier thumb amputated....


if you have any suggestions...........please pass them on.

[jmar]

5 people in my family have actually got a self-mutilating disease called lesch-nyhan syndrome. this disease is horrible. i know how you feel when you see your son hurting himself all the time. there is a mitt you can buy that it is too thick to put in the mouth but soft enough that it wont hurt him. check with a medical supply store. you may have to order it because it is not a common item. it has mesh on one side so the skin can breathe and really thick padding on the other. you can see the hand through the mesh. without this mitt my nephew would have no eyes because he would poke them out. he cant bite his hands because his teeth had to be removed at a very early age. we cannot even look away while his mitt is off and cannot even let go of his hand. i hope this helps. i will try to find out the exact name for them and let you know. good luck and sorry you have to deal with this. i know how horrifying it is. another thing you could do is put a brace on his elbow so he cant bend his arm enough to reach his mouth and he would still have the freedom to use his hand. you could alternate between the two. you can get a script from the doc for your OT to make him an arm splint.

[Carolyn J]

tLangley,
Previously There have be several posts on "Thumb Biting". I will try to find the Topic Thread for you & Bump it up. FYI, if you type a subject topic or phrase, in the Search Forum box at the top of any Forum page, all of the posts should come up for you.
Carolyn J
LOBPI/ age 72...[plenty of time to surf]