My 2 year old.. and HAIR

Okay, so I have a 2 year old daughter. She is just as normal as she can be in every other department, except eating and hair. She doesn't like to eat. She practically NEVER eats. I have to feed her so that I can be sure she is getting at least a little bit of nutrition. My 5 year old went through the same phase but grew out of it. Anyway, my concern is that she eats hair. Any little strand of hair she can find, she eats. I'm so worried that its gonna cause problems in her intestines or something. She twirls her own hair on her tongue until it comes out of her head and then she swallows it. she'll find hair anywhere and wrap it around her finger then eat it. If she finds a hair brush, she'll hide and eat the hair that she finds there. She will even pull my hair off my head and eat it. Its always 1 strand at a time. I have cut her hair so that it won't reach her mouth. I keep my hairbrush clean, i try to keep my hair in a pony tail.. nothing has seemed to work. I have been finding her eating hair since she was around 6 months old. I'll even find the hair in her diaper, and as gross as this is, sometimes, she can't go poo because there is a hairball stuck... the hairball eventually comes out, but i am SO SCARED that there are gonna be bigger problems later. Please, Please, help

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

This behavior (i.e., eating non-food items) is called trichotillomania. At her age there is nothing you can do about it with the exception of managing the behavior, and you are doing that. Be sure to have her examined by her pediatrician. Occasionally such behavior is prompted by nutritional deficiencies. While this is not a likely explanation, it is worth ruling out in light of her reluctance around eating. Some children simply do not take in much food and they do fine nonetheless. The pediatrician will guide you about this. As long as she is growing and developing and not losing weight it's OK.