My dd (almost 3) has always had a thing about my shoulder length hair but she has progressed from twirling it to pulling it to now eating it. She also grabs her own hair and pulls out a bit and puts it in her mouth. To me there is nothing more annoying than a piece of hair in your mouth but she seems to gain something from it? She has always grabbed my hair as a self-regulatory thing.
As a substitute I have tried giving her rubbery balls with strands to play with but she manages to pull the strands out and ingests. She still puts lots of stuff in her mouth. What else could I try? Maybe a dolly with hair?
Also, her baby hair is finally coming out and she has a lot of new growth on top of her head but I don't know how much pulling she's doing at night in bed when I'm not around.
A word of caution..as a nurse,
I have heard of a kid that did this & required surgery to remove a huge hairball that was stuck in her bowels..sounds crazy but true!
I would try to redirect her as much as you can and watch for sx of loss of appetite, nausea/vomiting.. swollen stomach or tenderness if touched on her belly..if it is hard and swollen I would get her to ER asap..not to scare you but just wanted you to be aware that this could happen. Is she getting any ABA therapy..they are good at changing or redirecting behaviors.. Good luck!
Chewing jewelry (made of eatable stuff) ? I hear that helped with mouthing. You need a OT to figure it out. Maybe fruits, crunchy ones. She might ingest the plastic hair from the doll .... Ocupational therapist or ABA should fix that.Trichotillomania is the official name for the hair pulling.
The behavior in your daughter's case probably has a sensory origin. It will probably be helpful to fill out this checklist to identify hypo and hyper sensitivities in the various senses, so you know what you're dealing with and kind find alternatives that give her the sensory input she craves in a socially acceptable and healthy way.
Here's the link to the checklist:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html - for identifying sensory symptoms
Good luck with everything.