bitting

[Tisha]

My daughter Tabitha has no feeling in her hand and she keeps bitting it. Does anyone have any suggestions because I am afraid that she will bit one of her fingers off? She is only eleven months old. Her therapist does not want her to wear her brace all the time either so she gets to feel different things with her hand. Please help????
Thanks,
Tisha (Tabitha's Mom)

[Brenda]

Hi Tisha, My daughter, now 1.5 yrs, did the same thing. We just had to ride it out. It wasn't fun, especially when she would come close to drawing blood.
Her dad and I would always tell her, "Be nice to Lefty, don't bite her" sounds funny I know, but after about a month she stopped doing it.
A therapist of Tara's did say they could make like a rawhide mitten to cover her hand if it got really bad, and we thought she would bite her fingers off. But she never did.
Good Luck!

[Cliff]

Hi Tisha,
Have you tried this... give her some good and heart felt eye contact to convey that you want to tell her something important, then kiss and gently rube and/or pat her hand. If she tries to bite it nod "no" very slowly and with eye contact if possible. Hopefully she'll get the message. You might have to try this idea more than once. I hope this works for you. Good luck!

[kzd02]

My daughter Zoe has done this also. She is now 14 months and has been bitting for several months. She did actually bite the tip of her thumb off at one point and at another time bit her thumb nail off. Her pour thumb is so mutilated by it. We have tried mittens and trying to devert her attention to something else. These things worked for a while, but she continues to bite. I think it is something that will just take some time to out grow. I hope anyway!

[admin]

I remember reading awhile back that some parents said rubbing clove oil on the hand would stop kids from biting it. I believe that the taste of clove oil is not very pleasant.

[Joshua]

Our 8 year old daughter started biting and picking at the loose skin and cuticles of her right fingers when she was about 2 years old. She has no sensation in her right hand. We have tried everything and the best we have been able to do is to prevent any infections. She hasn't had any nails for at least 3 years and has made a bloody mess of her clothes and sheets countless times. We have taken her to therapy to make sure that this behavior is not one of self mutilation or anxiety and have decided that it is just a habit that she can't help. We have used every type of store bought and home made foul tasting barrier, liquid skin, 15 different types of tape and have finally decided that the best we can do is to apply bandaids 3 or 4 times per day (2 bandaids per finger). She will even put on her own bandaids if we remind her. We are waiting for a lycra glove but don't hold out much hope for anything except for keeping her fingers clean until she decides to stop. She also picks off the scabs that she gets on her arm and it sometimes takes 3 months for a small scratch to heal completely.

Some doctors would like to try psychiatric drugs but we have decided to just keep doing our best with bandaids, pep talks and various rewards for not picking or biting.

Joshua