Baby scratch himself to bleed

[ELT]

my 3-month old is always scratching himself on the scalp. I guess he doesn't have full control over his own hands and strength yet so sometimes he scratches real hard and I mean hard... he actually scratches himself to bleed!

He also has cradle cap which comes and go but not very severe.

I don't know if it's dryness / cradle cap / something else that drives him to scratch so I keep putting vaseline to make sure he doesn't get too dry. I also cover his head and hands so his nails can't get into direct contact with skin. The whole family also watch him all the time to make sure we stop him as soon as he has his hands up towards the head direction, but all these can't solve the problem as but we can't keep an eye on him 24/7 -- he could hurt himself in split second!

Do your babies scratch themselves?

What's causing him to scratch?

What can I do to prevent him from hurting himself?

 

[bekyboo44]

My little one also went through a phase of scratching himself, he's almost 3 months old. It's just bad co-ordination, he never scratched himself or on purpose or for a reason, he just didn't know how to direct his hands.
I didn't cover his hands though because he loves to touch anything and everything, and is one of the main ways he explores and learns at the moment.
I found keeping his nails as short as possible was one way to stop him scratching himself badly- still too nervous to use scissors on his nails, so midwife suggetsed biting them off.
Since have kept his nails short he hasn't scratched himself once, may also be that his co-ordination has improved.