I am needing assistance on trying to get my 20 month old to stop bitting his nails. One day he was watching his dad and figured out that he would do it as well. He has only been doing it a month or so, but it really frustates me to see them both bitting their nails. Not attractive. HELP!!
I would just recommend that what ever you buy to try, please try yourself. When I was young they would try such things and I remember, I couldn't eat any finger foods (grapes, popcorn, chips, apple slices etc) w/o tasting the bitter nail stuff! It was horrible! Things are probably better now!
Good luck!
Purchase some Hoof Stop the Bite from Walmart. It worked for my daughter to help her stop sucking her thumb and then later biting her nails. Good Luck and God Bless.
Nail biting is very hard to stop. My husband is a lifelong nail biter and he just about six months ago was able to stop - because he put his mind to it and realized it was an outlet for anger. He dealt with his anger issues and the nail biting ceased.
It is a really nasty habit and it can ruin his nails permanently. He may not be doing it for any other reason that he saw his dad do it, but he may have found some satisfaction in it, which will cause it to become a habit. If dad is doing it, it's really hard to get your son to stop. Why should he? Your husband is going to have to make the effort stop - at least in front of your son. This can be a father son thing they conquer together. I'd consider putting some nasty tasting substance on their fingertips - something that wouldn't be harmful to ingest, but just alerts their brains that they really don't want to do this.
It will probably be easier for your 20-month-old to stop that it will be for your husband.
Good luck!
I am a nail bitter and my 4 year old son started doing it as well...right after he turned 2. I have not been able to stop it...I just notice when he does it and try to tell him to stop. But my parents couldn't get me to stop and I have no idea how to get him to stop. I just tell him to quit every time i see him doing it. It has seemed to slow down and I try to keep his nail cliped short so he doesn't have anything to bite.
Sorry I know it's not much help!
My son used to bite his nails as well. I used some over the counter product called "Thumb" (I think) which looks like a nail polish bottle. It is actually used for children that suck their thumbs, but I just painted this on his nails. It has a bitter taste, so the nail biting stopped pretty quickly.
