Scratching himself

Posted: Sat, Sep 10 2011, 10:10 pm Post subject: Scratching himself

My 5 month old has lately been scratching himself. About an hour ago, he really clawed his face and made himself bleed (it was right on the site of a healing scratch, so now it's worse). I cut his nails just yesterday, and anyway, when he can't get a good scratch, he just rubs until he's raw. I put a band-aid over the bleeding scratch, but he pulled it off and put it in his mouth- b'h I caught it. I put socks on his hands about 30 min ago, but he won't go to sleep- screaming, trying to get the socks off, and still rubbing his face. What can I do to protect the cut, and his face in general?

Gold Member Joined: Jun 29 2011 Posts: 1210

sounds frustrating. I found that the only thing that helped was putting socks or gloves on the baby's hands. Good Luck!

Platinum Member Joined: Feb 20 2009 Posts: 7648

Why dont you find out why he's so itchy? I would also protest if my face was itchy and someone put socks on my hands. Have him checked out by a dermatologist. My ds always rubbed his face at that age, and he had eczema because of food allergies. The sooner you deal with it, the happier everyone will be. Refuah shelaima!

Posted: Sat, Sep 10 2011, 10:32 pm Post subject: re: Scratching himself

He's going for a well-visit on Tuesday, and I'm definitely planning on bringing it up. But between now and Tuesday seems like forever. Also, this only came up in the last week or so. Putting ointment on face works for a while, so I just put it on a million times a day, but there is always that period of time between when the soothing effects wear off and when he starts scratching again...

Moderator Joined: Aug 14 2005 Posts: 4549 Location: Ohio

What Ma BelleVie said. My food allergy baby at five months felt like an alligator, not a baby. We covered him Aveeno baby lotion, gentlest soaps out there. It was food allergies. Cutting the allergens and a little topical steriod cream, good as new.

Besoros tovos!
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Posted: Tue, Sep 13 2011, 5:15 pm Post subject: re: Scratching himself

UPDATE: It's eczema, though doc does not believe it to be allergy-related. Using cortizone cream, will see how it goes the next few days.

Gold Member Joined: Mar 14 2006 Posts: 1879

Thirding the allergy thing - my exclusively breastfed baby was forever scratching, I cut his nails every 5 days, he wasn't sleeping well, etc. He's allergic to eggs, nuts and dairy, and was off soy and wheat as well for a while, and while we treated his skin at the same time as cutting out the allergic food, he was so much happier!

Platinum Member Joined: Feb 20 2009 Posts: 7648

IME, pediatricians often know nothing about allergies, but pretend they do. If it doesn't clear up, or you find that you need repeated doses of cortisoid creams, I would suggest having an allergist evaluate.