Nail biting

[Qd]

I am having the same problem with my 3 and a half year old. Did the nail-biting liquid work, S? Is anyone else having the same trouble? I have bought some liquid but didn't want to use it 'til the holidays. They are now here so I think I'm going to have to give it a try....

Qd, is it a boy or a girl? My eldest started this, also at about 3.5. We managed to stop it by allowing her to have nail polish on any time her nails grew beyond a certain length (not long, just enough to show she hadnt chewed them for a few days) and it seems to have worked. She's now nearly 6 and we have to clip them. Doubt if it would work for a boy though!
Oh, we also explained about the germs you can get under your fingernails, and suggested that she make sure she washed her hands thoroughly before she chewed her nails. It may have had something to do with that.

The nasty-tasting stuff didn't stop me or my daughter! Especially with her at school: it only lasts for a few hours so by lunchtime she could nibble without even having to nubble the taste off first. I'll give the nail-polish idea a try, Debsb.

My 3 yr old daughter doesn't bite her nails - she picks them, so can't use the nasty tasting stuff or the nail varnish trick. I have put nail varnish on & told her to keep it nice, but picking her nails is a habit now & she doesn't even realise she's doing it. She does it when watching television, listening to a story, nervous, etc. so I've tried keeping her busy in other ways, but she still picks when she can. She will go & pick them in a corner or even behind her back sometimes, as she thinks I can't see her! She's had quite sore fingers as a result with minor infections sometimes, especially if she picks the skin too. I really don't know what else to do as telling her off all the time isn't right. Any suggestions?

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Just to add a bit of humour here... I thought that someone at nursery was regularly cutting my daughter's nails. Since I am much too stressed the whole time I thought they were giving me some extra service. However when we had been on summer holidays for three weeks and the nails were still short I found out why :-)