Please help: nail biting child.

[belledechocchipcookie]

They look so sore and it makes me cringe. Any tried and tested tactics? Please

Tried various things nothing works so far so watching with interest. There is a horrible tasting varnish that you can paint on but upset dd and then got used to taste! Tried gloves in holidays and constant watching in holidays but impossible to keep going for longer than a few hours max.
Tried promises too and dd really tried but failed.

Nooooooo!

They look so sore. There's practically no nails left and I know some have been bleeding.

Anyone out there know of anything that works?

So far nothing..
Succeeded with 1 out of my 3 by showing on internet germs/disesases one can catch from germs etc and he stopped- he's 8 but big on facts and figures.
The other 2 didnt listen...so no effect!!

So trying another tactic now- every time I catch them (and its lots!!) I send them straight away to the bathroom to wash their hands "as they might as well do it if their hands are spottessly clean". It's doing their head in this method, so hopefully I ll win (esp when I interrupt their favourite programmes )

I am interested too in any ideas..

Hi Ziggiz,

May I ask how old your child is?

I'm a 34 year old biter, my nails look horrible. I also bite the inside of my cheeks, check your child's. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not bite my nails, think it started when my parents divorced when I was about 2, but my mum doesn't really talk about it and never sought help when I was young.

I have to say that I have tried everything bar hypnosis. The bitter stuff doesn't work, I have had acrylic nails 'till my own had grown, continued biting when acrylic nails removed, etc. Here would be my top tips:

-older child, buy them a nail grooming kit and interest them in caring for their hands, even a boy, girl, perhps some nail varnish/bracelets etc?

• don't make a negative issue about it, don't be nasty/shame your child, my mum did this, I think it made it worse
• I bite when I'm stressed/anxious/bored, even though it hurts, as if I have to, almost compulsive, it's kind of soothng, iykwim. Reading that back sounds terrible, but it's true. Did something happen to trigger it? Is your child particularly anxious? I'm not anxious on the outside, I kind of channel it by biting my nails, if that makes any sense.

The best result I ever had when trying to stop was when I repaced the imuplse to bite with something alse. I always kept a bottle of hand cream with me, and when I wanted to bite, I applied a tiny drop of cream to my hands and massaged my nails instead. Best cream is Vaseline Intensive Care Hand and Nail, I found that it's the only cream that also strenthened the nail, and I went through LOADS of cream. My nails are very thin as I 'peel' the layers off too... don't ask. That worked best, managed to have 'long' nails for a year using that method. But I suppose it really depends on how old your DC is. How about installing a game on a phone or something, and if he/she wants to bite, to play the game instead? You need to replace the urge to bit with something else.

And praise praise praise for even the slightest sliver of white nail.

Wishing you all the best, very difficult habit to kick.

I was thinking of putting plasters on his fingertips but I can see that's mean. He's anxious about school, he's always been a nail biter but it's got worse since he started secondary school. The teachers are great and very supportive but he's found it hard to fit in.

DD is another. I've tried everything from micropore on the ends of her fingers to gloves. She just can't stop. When she has the minutest sliver of white, she gets all excited then bites it off. She even bites her toenails.
My delightful DD is 9.8
She did stop when she had worms, I had shown her on the internet that the eggs can get down the nails and then be ingested. Once the worms cleared up the biting started again.

I am a 45 year old nail biter, and you can do what you like, apply what you like, plead and implore but the only person who can change this is your DS. And he may well not rank it a priority.

I think you should leave him alone!

I've not tried anything to stop him or nagged him, I've brought it up twice over the past week and all I've said is that his fingers look sore. I don't think this is too much. I would like to help him though.

IwishIwasafrog thank you for taking the time to write up all that for us. My own child is 14 been doing it since 10/11 I think very much aggrevated by nervousness and secondary school IMO bit like belle....cookie it may seem.

I'm a nail biter too (am 37) - and I always was as a child too, whether because bored or anxious I don't know - I do it when driving alot so I think boredom does come into it.

I often ended up putting plasters on my fingers as they'd be so sore - am not quite as bad these days but my nails currently look crap :(

The only times I've managed to grow them is by having falsies put on - which doesn't help you. I'd bite through the taste of that varnish you can buy, even though it's gross!

I think you have to let him grow out of it himself really - although it never did me any harm when my mum always said "stop biting" - I usually didn't realise I was doing it! lol. Maybe always have a nail file to hand - I'm terrible if I get a rough bit/split as I then start nibbling at it!

x