OUR BALD BABY



Spoiler alert. This one's a real downer.

I don't think making the photos black and white did me any favors. Black and white's just make everything seem so much more dramatic. But, I guess seeing pictures of a Daddy shaving his daughter's hair doesn't help either... its all very depressing. Black and white or not.

I pondered for days how I was going to write this post. I planned on putting a funny spin on it.

That's just in bad taste, because there is nothing humorous about having to shave your daughters head to help prevent her from pulling out her own hair. It started with her gently playing with her hair when she was tired but within months she had bald spots. We started finding broken pieces scattered in her bed, covering her clothes when we took her out of the car seat, and tangled in her fingers all throughout the day. Initially we would tell her nono but that only resulted in her doing it more often and then simply handing us the hair as a pardon.

It was heart breaking to watch and we could tell that she did it instinctively. If she was hurt, sad or sick she would just sit their yanking strands out and it became unbearable to see. She was working through something and obviously she didn't know any other way to express herself. Brad wanted to shave her hair from the get go, but I figured it was all just a phase that she would grow out of and I didn't want to cut off all her hair if we didn't have to. I still believe it's just a phase but I also know a habit is hard to break, especially if you have access to the habit all day, every day. I'm looking at you cheese in the fridge.

So my MIL kindly crocheted Harlyn little blankets from a yarn with hair like fibers and we give those to her whenever she's tired or upset. They have become sort of an alternative and they seem to be working quite well.

Her pediatrician believes hair pulling to be a comforting technique for her and a means of handling the stress brought on by weaning her from breast feeding. There is a condition known as trichotillomania that involves the irresistible urge to pull ones hair, but her doctor doesn't think an impulse control disorder can affect a baby this young.

Only time will tell.

Until then we will just have to spoil this girl with love and help her to work through this situation as best she can.

Sad post over.