DS (6) has in the last month or so started to sniff his fingers and hands. It started out as an occasional sniff, but now he sniffs throughout the day. Sometimes, he will sniff, and then repeat the sniff. I have found that I will also sniff my fingers if I touch something (never realized it until I became aware of his constant behavior). I don't do it all of the time, and one sniff is sufficient for me. For DS, he seems compelled to sniff. If he touches something, he sniffs (mostly just finger tips, but sometimes his whole hands go over his nose). I started looking around on the web tonight because it does seem to be getting worse (more constant and repetitive). At first, I was frightened because the top discussions on hand sniffing were Aspergers, Tourettes, or OCD. I am leaning more towards OCD, but thought I would throw it out here for you ladies. It is something he does and he doesn't realize he is doing it. If I draw attention to it, he gets angry at me. Have any of you experienced a child who feels the constant need to sniff their hands? He has also always been a clean eater who will keep at least one hand clean no matter how messy the food is (i.e. ribs). He then has to wash his hands immediately after getting food on them. He as no problems getting dirty or messy outside or with crafts, but does want to wash right after. Today, we were at a party and a toddler was walking around covered in ice cream. DS was almost terrified that the kid would touch him. I plan on keeping an eye on habits and such for the next few months to discuss at his next dr. check up. Any advice as to what I should be watching out for, keeping notes on?
It sounds OCD to me, but I'm no expert. Now my Reagan is most likely an Aspie, I have never seen him do anything quite like that. He is very loving, very sensitive (if he gets upset about anything he just shuts down instantly), and very pig-headed.. if he wants to do something he isn't going to take no or not now for an answer (if you watched the show parenthood, when the aspie boy flipped out while his cousin was in the hospital after the car crash over something as silly as he was promised to go for pancakes and it had to be delayed to stay with the family.... that is my Reagan).
The clean parts sounds OCD to me the the sniffing I think would be more of Tourettes. Especially if you bring it to his attention and it upsets him. To me that says he doesn't realize he is doing it and no one likes to be corrected for their "bad habits" I tend to pick my fingers and I do it without realizing and when someone tells me to stop it makes me mad. I only reason I say Tourettes is my best friend sons deals with that and when he gets fixated on something that is what he does. It does change over the course of time. Her son also stress out with eating habits as well. ie: "ribs" he has to leave the table if someone isn't clean. As he has gotten older he can for the most part handle the situations better but when he was younger it was much harder on him...
It sounds like OCD to me, but I am no expert. My son has OCD and he used to smell a lot of things. He still does sometimes, but not as noticable. I started noticing his problem when he would wipe the dust off of a toy repeatedly.
Thanks ladies. I talked with dh about it last night, and he agrees that it sounds like OCD. Dh has never been diagnosed with OCD, but feels he has some tendencies, and he was on an anxiety med for a few years. Well, that meets the genetic stuff I read about. I plan on reading a few books from the library to get suggestions on how to proceed from here.
