Suggest Treatment For Itching On Lips In A Child

Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2016

Question: My 3 & 1/2 year old daughter is constantly biting, touching or licking her lips. She says they are itchy. Her lips are getting noticeably worse. She is still reliant on a pacifier, she uses it at home at night to sleep and perodically throughout the day. We would like to get her off the pacifier, but its been very hard. I am curious if the condition on my daughters lips is serious, what we can do to treat it and how we can get her off the pacifier.

Thanks for your help.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (13 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
The lips are not in a bad condition. Moisturizers and lip balms will help.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have checked the attached images. The condition of her lips is not serious. All you need to do is to apply some moisturizing lotion like aloe vera or gycerine.

About getting her off pacifer, my suggestions would be:
* Start by removing the pacifier in "zero-distress" situations, like when your child is home, happy, and playing. Once she's used to not having her pacifier at home, eliminate its outdoor use.
* Introduce a star chart wherein a star is awarded for each day (and night) without use of pacifier. Give her a small non-food reward once she achieves a certain number of stars. Gradually increase the target.
* Near the holidays, you might tell your child that XXXXXXX collects all the pacifiers for new babies and brings toys for all the big girls. You have to be willing to put up with a few really bad nights, but most kids soon find other sources of comfort.

Let me know if I could help further.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (2 days later)

Thanks. My concern is that she is complainingn of itchiness. Would an infection from her pacifier cause itchiness? Just want to be sure its not something more serious such as HSV-1.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Could be due to an allergic component

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back.

The itching is likely to be due to an allergic reaction. Taking cetirizine should help. You need not worry about HSV. Hard to comment on the role of the pacifier.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar