When Caillin was 3 she attended Occasional Care one day a week. This was for
her benefit, not mine, as I preferred her company at home. Caillin is a
very sociable little girl and needed to interact with others her own age.
She had no trouble separating from me on her weekly visits. One day when I
went to pick her up her teacher called me aside and showed me a great clump
of hair which they had found on Caillin's pillow during rest time. I
decided to keep an eye on her, but not mention it. The next week the same
thing happened. I asked Caillin if she liked Occasional Care and she
replied brightly that she did. However the hair pulling continued and
became worse. I would find clumps of hair hidden in all sorts of places at
home, including behind cushions, curtains and under her bed. I asked her
why she was doing this but she didn't know. She was only 3 after all! I
went to our family G.P. who suggested I go to a Pediatrician. By this stage
Caillin's behaviour was quite erratic and hard to manage and she had very
little hair left on her head. All this happened in the space of 2-3 weeks.
After consulting a huge medical book, the Pediatrician advised me that
Caillin had Trichotillomania and explained that this meant hair pulling. He
didn't know much about it but said it was a behavioral disorder and said
that the behaviour Caillin was displaying at that very moment was indicative
of the disorder. I reluctantly turned around to see Caillin sitting
underneath the examination table crumbling a rice cracker everywhere that
she had taken out of the rubbish bin! I chastised her and got her to sit on
my knee but as usual this didn't last long and she was vibrating around the
room again. The Pediatrician said that discipline and perhaps Ritalin were
the only things he could suggest but that he was reluctant to put someone so
young on Ritalin. (Not to worry, I had not intention of going down that
road!)

Now we had a name for our daughter's exhausting behaviour and the hair
pulling that went with it. We had always thought that she was just
energetic!

My husband, Craig, went on a web search and found many sites but we were
drawn to Neomie's, thank goodness!

We read all we could on the subject off the site and e-mailed Neomie who
gave us some suggestions, some worked, some didn't : everyone's different.

But it was the diet which turned Caillin around. She calmed down, stopped
pulling and was a different little girl. We have had lapses along the way,
and the road has been tough for all. But now we understand, Caillin
understands, and we can see the ready to pull signs when they appear. If
Caillin is stressed she strokes something soft, feathers, her ornamental
cat, anything soft. This is especially useful when she is watching TV or
sleeping during times such as illness. (Caillin has been very ill on three
occasions since her 3rd birthday and admitted to hospital. ) It's times like
these she starts twirling and then pulling.

I cannot stress enough, the importance of diet. Caillin is now 5 1/2 and
looking forward to starting school next year. She has been totally pull
free for 9 months now. Prior to that she only pulled in times of stress.
Now she doesn't even twirl!

This is our story
Deb, Craig and Caillin