United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My almost 1 yr old son is getting his molars and has been gnawing on his fingers on his injured side. I know that he has decreased sensation, and he may also be getting re-innervation, in addition to wanting to use his fingers as a teether. I have tried all kinds of teethers, but he is interested only in his fingers. I try to keep him disracted from chewing on them, but I can't possibly do this all the time.

He has a splint that his OT made him to cover his one finger which he chewed almost to the point of infection. The splint was originally designed to be worn only at night because he was mostly chewing when he fell asleep --that has changed now that he's teething. He now has some skin breakdown at the top of his finger (I'm guessing from wearing the splint more).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to put on his finger where the skin is breaking down? Has anyone else had this problem with a baby chewing on their injured hand? What did you do? What kind of splint/glove works?

Thanks for any suggestions. I also put a call into his OT.

Hi Kathleen,

The problem of chewing on the affected hand and fingers is one that we seem to hear about quite often. There are a lot of ideas that have been suggested for the reasons why this may happen, including increased sensation causing "tingles" or nerve sensations that bother the kids, so they bite on their hand to stop the sensations.

My son has gone through several spells where his fingers are bloody and raw, it is very distressing. Other parents have also posted here about their similar experiences with their children. It can be very serious. I hope some of those people who have posted on this issue in the past will post again now to share their ideas.

I tried just about everything, what worked best for us was wrapping his fingers with the self-stick gauze (lightweight and doesn't stick to the skin) and then taping over that so that his fingers would have a chance to heal without him chewing on them. I also became very attuned to his behavior and we worked out a system where I would say "doughnut" every time I saw him chewing his hand. This helped him to remember not to chew without being embarrassed in front of others.

Sounds crazy but it did work for us. Watch for infection, and hang in there. Hope others can share their methods too!

Take care,
Bridget

We use pressure points during teething. Our acupuncturist showed us the point to press on the webbing between the thumb and index finger. We thought it was strange and questioned it's ability but when it calmed Matthew down and the drooling stopped it was hard to question. We did not explore these treatments with our daughter and her teething experience was aweful. With Matthew going through acupuncture treatments half of the time we didn't even notice a tooth was coming in until it was popped through.

I've really experienced a lot of this in the year since my mod quad. I have no idea if it is similar to what children experience. There is an incredible itching that is deep, it is not a surface itching, it must be deep in those tiny muscles in the hand and fingers that are getting new impulses from the nerves. The natural instinct, subconscious even, is to touch that area. I imagine in the little ones, this means hand to mouth, and if they are teething at the same time, well they are working on two areas at once, quite clever!

I found myself at times even slapping my hand without realizing I was doing that.

Sometimes there is also a burning sensation, and a buzzing kind of feeling. It is there one day and not the next, comes and goes.

What I have found that helps me is to massage the hand. My therapist also recommended anything that would increase the sensation and that seemed to help, rubbing a dry washcloth over the hand and fingers for instance seemed to help.

It is hard to ignore, that feeling.

I also must have had this happen to me as a child because I have a life long habit of chewing on my hand. If I am stressed that is what I do.

I love Bridget's idea of using a word to remind the child that they are doing this, one that does not draw attention to others. Because we need reminders, again it is a subconscious action and it takes determination and distraction not to self-mutilate.

Nancy

Michaela used to pull her nails out by the roots and leave nothing but a bloody nail bed.Her O.T. at the time gave me a simple solution.Go to a health food store and get a bottle of Clove Oil.It's a natural antiseptic and it's safe if your child gets it in his or her mouth.It also has the added benefit of being very bitter,tastes terrible! Just put one drop on the tip of the finger and nail and massage it in. Do this every night after bath time for a nighttime chewer. It really worked for Michaela. I think they bothered her because of the reinnervation after primary surgery.At fisrt she couldn't even feel the alcohol I used to clean the bitten , bleeding nailbed, but now at age 5 she can feel the sting, and for the first time ever since her Mod quad she tells me her thumb itches and has me rub it.
Also, if you wash their hands alot during the day you may want to apply it again. It worked for Michaela to keep her LOBPI hand out of her mouth cause it tasted so bad.
I don't know if any of you remember, but dentists used to use cloves for dry sockets in the mouth b/c of the antiseptic and blood clotting and tissue shrinking qualities. Hope this helps ! LeeAnne

I also forgot to add we used to buy Hylands Teething Tablets for Michaela. They're homeopathic and help control the drooling and the crankiness, and gum irritation. You can find them at the health food store too, or at any Target, K-mart or Winn Dixie. LeeAnne

Thanks for the replies. I will ask the OT and the ped about putting something yucky tasting on his hand. And if I can't get the wound to heal or the splint continues to irritate his skin, I'll have to try wrapping in gauze.
Bridget, you were right to watch for infection. I actually noticed some pockets of pus on his hand yesterday, and sure enough, the ped said that it was infected and prescribed an antibiotic. He also gave us a cream to help the excema that has developed from the biting and the splint.
Hope he's on the mend now.

my son didn't chew on his fingers, he bit his fingers to the point where he almost always broke the skin. I cant remember what we did, but it finally stopped