Nail biting 7 year old

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

How do I get her to stop, her nails are Awful, sore and really dry all round her nail bed. We have tried gloves at night and stop n grow but we are stumped. Thanks in advance. X

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

Anyone?

[holeinmyheart]

It is impossible for her to stop. If she could she would. There is nothing you can do to stop her and if you go on about it, pulling her hands away, complaining about her doing it , etc, you will make her even more anxious.

What you may have here is an anxious nervous child. Drugs would help her, but obviously you can't put a child on drugs.
If it is any comfort, not all children who bite their nails continue with it into adult hood. It is a habit of most children and they grow out of it by the time they are around 15.
Some never stop though.

What do think is her problem that she needs to comfort herself by tearing at her fingers? Awful as it looks, it is comforting for her to do it, and also maybe at this time in her life necessary, that she nail bites.

Does she talk to you about what is troubling her and are you able to take her seriously and listen?

When she is older she can have gel nails applied and then maybe she will stop. But without extensive counselling and maybe drug therapy she will not be able to stop as she is getting something from nail biting that she can't do without.
Sorry .

[AmyElliotDunne]

Now she's 7 you can use that stuff that tastes horrid to try and put her off or offer her the reward of having them painted if she allows them to grow.

My ds (aged 15) is a terrible nail biter and has been since he was little. He made a valid point the other day, that he is addicted to biting his nails, but unlike cigarettes or drugs, it is even more difficult to give up, as they are right there at the ends of his hands. He said that if cocaine were free and available at the the end of your fingertips there would be a lot more drug addicts!

It is an awful habit and drives me up the wall, but nothing we've tried with him has helped. Like most things he will need to make the decision to stop himself. Fwiw, both xh and DP have managed to stop nail biting as adults by just deciding they aren't going to do it any more!

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

She is an anxious child we talk about anything and everything I always listen as her concerns are usually rational and we work through any issues together.

What I can't deal with is the worms or the constantly cracked and painful finger tips, I bit my nails for a long time and eventually stopped- purely because I was bored and needed to keep my hands busy so took up a hobby. I have tried this tactic but it hasn't really helped.

I appreciate your opinion though thankyou.

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

A nail file of her choosing and minion nails would prob swing it, she is desperate to paint nails. I concur with what you say about the slighted rough edge being like crack I remember that myself

[pookamoo]

Watching with interest. DD1 is 6.5 and an awful nail biter.

[holeinmyheart]

Further to my reply.
I utterly sympathize with the biters, because I bit my nails as soon as I had teeth. It was so bad that I got nail bed infections and had to have intravenous anti - biotic injections because all my fingers were infected.
However I needed to bite them because it was such a comfort. I would go into a frenzy of biting when I was very anxious. My parents were Toxic though.

Anyone who has never bitten their nails does not understand, WHY anyone would do it. I was always getting lectures about it being disgusting. I was a child with above average looks and was always getting comments about how stunning I looked until they got to my nails. Then it was 'yuck'

I grew up to have a very stressful job and I always hid my nails. Princess Diane bit her nails ( look at her engagement photos, she has her fingers bent over when she was showing off her ring)
I grew up to be an anxious adult.
Ten years ago I started to have gel nails put on and I bit them off, but gradually as I persevered with them, I stopped.
I consider it one of my life's achievements as It is incredibably hard. I have a friend who is 70 odd who still bites.

I now have shellac on top of my real nails but I still put my fingers in my mouth.

Funnily enough none of my children do it. My daughters have nails to die for.
So my advice, as a hardened biter is, yes, by all means try bribery but please don't moan and slap fingers as it just makes the biter more anxious.