Nail bitting 4 yr old

[jollygreenmama]

Any tips please as our dd is making herself really sore & has caused herself to bleed on a few occasions. We've tried having a code word each day to say if we see her doing it, tried rewarding if she doesn't. Don't want to try painting that horrible tasting stuff on. Should we just ignore it and wait until it passes?
I used to nail bite as a kid bug not this young, my mum says I made myself so sore that I just stopped.
I think she does it when concentrating, thinking, but it now a definate habit.
Thanks in anticipation ;-)

Conscious children are generally motivated by 'pleasure' or 'pain'.

To motivate by pleasure - rewards when she doesn't do it. A hand massage/kiddy nail varnish/draw around her hands and then design 'pretty nails that you can win', a toy which keeps her hands busy.

To motivate through 'pain' - discipline when she does do it or use of aversion (making the idea of nail biting so disgusting that she does not want to put her fingers in her mouth - toilet poo under your nails or something equally vile, nasty (but safe) coating on the nails, covering her fingers with plasters, pointing out how her nails may look to others). Obviously this one has to be metered towards age and her sensitivities.

I think you are right to draw her attention to the fact that she is doing it. If she already has her nails in her mouth before she is aware of what she is doing - the process could be a lot more difficult.

Some kids just get to a stage too when they just do not need to do it anymore.

Good Luck

When does she do it? My ds bites his at bedtime so try and get him to bed with little time before he falls asleep. Otherwise he'll lie there and chomp them.
Perhaps give her a little soft toy to fiddle with instead? Something with tags or something?

Thank you both, we've decided to distract her when we see it & not mention it otherwise. Me & dd have planned a girlie afternoon which will include nail painting. She used to love having her nails done but I've stopped because of the biting thinking 'if I say we'll do it when nails grow back' that would help her stop. I now think making them pretty might help.
She does it when thinking but not doing anything, when listening to a story etc. she used to have a dummy which got replaced with nose picking.
Hopefully this is just another phase.
We're trying not to draw too much attention to it which do far seems to be working. Fingers crossed & thanks again for replying :-)