3 Yr Old Bitting Her Nails

Fancy nail polish, hot sauce or thumb-sucking remedies, and thinking about stress she may be feeling/talking with her about it or helping her to play it out with dolls etc.

Just wanted to add to Laurie G's post below. My 3rd grade teacher was teaching us about germs one day and she wanted us to see how they actually grow. She passed around a slice of bread for the whole class to handle. She then put the bread into a glass jar and she had before hand had cut small holes in the screw on cap. With in one week that piece of bread was so green, I quit all my bad habits as every day we could see that bread getting greener and greener. Needless to say it was a very good learning experience for us back then.

There is nail polish you can buy that has a bitter taste that you can try. If you have a Sally's Beauty Supply by you, they probably carry it. Here's an article I found with some other tips,

http://www.livestrong.com/article/22524-stop-nail-biting-...

If you find something that helps, let me know. My daughter is 17 and still bites her nails. She started around 3 or 4. She used to chew on pens, pencils and lots of other things too. That is better, but she is still a nail biter. That is I find her on the soccer field these days, just look for the one with her finger to her mouth.

do something .. my daughter started around 2 or 3... and still does it.. it is such a dirty thing.. i tried tabasco ... just rub it a little on.. it will help... the no bite stuff didn't work for us... i hope the tabasco helps.. we are trying it soon... i don't want my daughter biting them anymore.. she is not 12.. and they look so bad...

This has come up before. Let her be. I am fifty three, bit my nails since forever. If it isn't hurting her, then I wouldn't try anything. What motivates me now and for years is putting polish on and chipping it off. Clear polish has helped people, but that is not good for anyone really. Reminding her, telling her to stop only shames children. As she gets older she may stop because she notices that others have beautiful manicures. Or it may hurt her. I fought the battle my whole entire life. You wouldn't know it because I do have nice nails just about all the time, but it is a habit and somehow weirdly gratifying (who knows why? I heard it can be related to disorders, but I guess I'm not weird enough to be institutionalized). Relax and just enjoy loving her.

There is this nail polish called No Bite. Its supposed to help someone stop biting their nails, but we used it to get our daughter to stop sucking her thumb. It worked! And quick too! Its a good idea to get her to break the habit now while she's still young.

my daughter started that, and as soon as she started, i knew it wouldn't be good come flu season! we had so many colds last winter, that last thing i needed was her putting her fingers in her mouth more that she already does! I just kept on her, telling her to stop, stop, stop. every time i saw her do it. we talked a lot about how it is not good because of germs, etc. she stopped after a few weeks, but i think i caught it before it became a habit. good luck! no to get her to stop sucking that thumb...

I did the same thing, even at her age. From all that I have read in my attempt to stop.. :) it would seem that it runs in family.. It's also , although not quite the same, but apparently in the same family of habits such as hair pulling..(ones own hair ) << Tricotillomania..

In which case, it's not as easy a habit to break. I have had people tell me for years.. esp when young, STOP BITING your nails.. they would get so upset with me.. yet, I did it without even realizing I was doing it.. To this day, if I am nervous or stressed out.. I will start in on my nails..I then have to take a deep breath and talk myself out of it.. it sounds like a simple habit to break.. but believe me.. it's not as easy to break as some might think.. esp when you've done it since you were a kid.
I find that diet plays a huge role for me. things such as sugar and caffeine, because they are stimulants can really set me off and cause me to start in on my nails. Therefore, I have to limit them.
I wish you the best.