Ridges on ds's fingernails

[bitzermaloney]

I noticed today that ds (8 months old) has a lot of vertical ridges on some of his fingernails - about half of them; the others are smooth. Having googled it I can only find that in adults it might mean some kind of nutrient deficiency. But he's only 8 months old, breastfed and eats a reasonable amount of healthy food too... Anyone know anything about this? Is it something I should get checked out?

Ditto. Are they kind of vertical yet fanning out as his nail widens? I hope someone can answer this. My DS is 8 months too.

what's a reasonable amount of healthy food?

Twirly - In my case it's a breakfast of something like Weetabix or Readybrek. A lunch of fish/chicken/lamb/lentils (not all together lol) with veg followed by yoghurt and fruit. Then a tea of some kind of homemade soup with a little bread or a rice cake, or maybe mashed banana/avocado or cauliflower cheese. So a good diet of protein, dairy fats, carbohydrates and veg plus around 16-20oz of formula (basically as much as he will tolerate).

How about you bitzermaloney?

Twinkle - yeah, that's it.

TwirlyN - um, well... a typical day would be, say, breakfast of wholemeal toast (a couple of fingers) with pureed apricot spread on it, plus maybe half a banana, lunch something like chicken or fish followed by fruit, tea might be veggies, cheese... kinda thing.

Have read a bit more and one suggestion is it might be genetic... but neither dh or I have the ridges.

He does stick his fingers in his mouth the whole time... would that have an effect ?

bump (things are moving fast tonight). Come on people, someone must know!

My ds2 also has fingernail ridges, but as he has alot of food allergies, I just presumed it was a deficiency of some kind. Sorry, not much help really! Still, this will bump your post

You do get ridges in the nail, depending on the level of nutrition. This ridges usually follow line the growing edge, rather than what I think you mean by 'vertical'.

It happens because there is less nail 'material' laid down when the body is coping with other stresses, causing a 'dint' in teh nail. As it grows out you can feel it as a ridge. DD3 had some a few weeks after she had a severe tummy bug where she lost lots of weight. They disappear as the nail grows and the 'dint' essentially falls of the end of the nail. Sorry - don't know how else to describe it.

HTH

Thanks for the responses - SlightlyMad, what you describe sounds like ridges running the other way... ds's run from cuticle to tip rather than across the nail iyswim. He's not had any troubling illnesses, just a couple of colds. In himself he is very happy, cackles away all day .

Yes I thought what I was describing was the other way...nevermind....I like typing LOL!!!