Nail Biting - Folkston,GA

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I started biting my nails when I was very young and I haven't been able to stop to this day. (I'm 39 now.) My husband says I even do it in my sleep. I've been told it's a nervous habit and I can attest to the fact that it's REALLY hard to break. Unfortunately, my 5 year old daughter started doing the same thing around the time she started walking. When I tell her to stop, she does. However, I think she might bite her nails in her sleep too because I never seem to have to trim them. If you do get any solid advice regarding how to make it stop, please share it with me! We would be most grateful! Good luck :)

You can't completely ignore it. She CAN get an infection from that. You don't necessarily have to make a BIG deal out of it... Just find things for her to do that require the use of her hands when you catch her doing this. My daughter did the same thing... still does unfortunately and she's 8 now. It doesn't just go away on its own.

I let mine chew gum to keep them out of her mouth. It worked for awhile. Then I had to bribe her with a slime lab. It worked for a while.. she is back at it again. It is a VERY hard habit to break... so nip it early and try to find other things to keep her hands busy.
Good luck.

p.s. I do it myself and have since I was a child.

My husband is a nail biter and unfortunately my daughter started to take up the habit. I was able to break both of them of the habit by pointing out how often my husband was sick, AND by applying a product that I bought at Wal Mart. I tried it out of curiosity, and it still tastes nasty after washing your hands, so it works all day. I found it near the nail care products, the bottle has a black and white label and it's called " Kick the Habit, Stop the Bite". If I remember it was less than $4 and my daughter is so proud of her "little girl" nails now. She's only 5 and doesn't have LONG nails, but they do come off of her fingers just a touch, and I shape them with an emory board, a much nicer look than little chewed up nubs it makes her proud that she was able to kick the habit. Good Luck!

Nail biting is a symptom of lack of minerals, esp ca, and not absorbing them into the tissue( you could be making sure she gets them but if they aren't where they need to be the body still sees as lack of-
refer to Weston Price Foundation for what you need to do, and as soon as she has all she needs she'll stop- magic-k

When I was young my mother used a red colored liquid that she got at the department store after consulting the pharmacist. It tasted terrible so it's worth a try. Unfortunately I am now 60 and still bite my cuticles (get pink and whites to keep from biting nails down to the quick!). This habit drives my husband crazy plus it requires touch-up makeup for formal events. Bummer! If you can break her of this habit soon she will be forever grateful! Wish I could be more helpful. No one knows better than I what a pain this is. Please let us know what worked. Maybe I'll try it.

Well good luck, my 23 year old daughter does the same thing. Well actually she doesn't bite her nails. She bites her cuticles. I was told it is because she is so smart. Who knows. She has graduated with a double major from USF and will be going on to Med school to become a doctor. I broke her of this habbit a couple of times but it always seems to come back....If you find a solution please let me know.

P. - I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!

I was never a nail biter, but as a teenager I was a cuticle picker. I think it stemmed from boredom or nerves for me.

I have 3 children and my oldest (12) is a horrendous nail AND toe nail biter - It disgusts me to even write that uugghh.

She has had - green puss - infections in her big toes before
and STILL cannot manage to stop. It used to drive ME insane. I tried punishing her, slapping her hand when near her mouth, the bitter tasting nail stuff, bandaids, taping cotton gloves to her hands, SHE has even taped socks over her hands at night - nothing works - NOTHING. We have tried major rewards from getting a kitten to MP3 players to special trips just for her. She just cannot stop herself, it is an unconsious habit especially when watching TV, or in bed at night. The only time she eases up is when playing the DS or on the computer.

Now I did make her a diversion when she was about 7 or 8. I discovered that she was fantastic at undoing knots in shoe laces for everybody. I make her a "Picking Toy", with her name on it. All I did was find random pieces of ribbon, a split ring (for keys) and 2 small squares of fabric and fabric paint. Cut all the ribbon to similar lengths, bunch them up at the top, sew the 2 squares together encasing the ends of the ribbon and make a loop to attach the split ring. Then I just knotted and braided all the ribbons into a "nest" of knots and gave it to her to pick at while she watched TV etc. I worked well for a while, now she feels she is too big for it.

The sad thing is "she" says she wants to stop, and she really tries from time to time. I have basically decided not to pick this battle (excuse the pun) as bigger ones are always around the corner.

Good luck
M.

Hi P.. My daughter was a finger sucker. Our pediatric dentist, Dr. Duga, in Tampa, recommended Mavala Stop, and it worked like a charm!!

It is a clear nailpolish that tastes REALLY bad. Most children hate the taste and will be discouraged from nailbiting or finger/thumb sucking.

Dr. Duga sells it at his office for around $15 a bottle.
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If you can't get it there, they could probably recommend where else to buy it. I never had to use more than a few applications!

Good luck!

You can get something to put on her fingers to get her to quit biting nails but i dont remember what but you could ask around it supposed to work.and she needs to not do that nail biting because of germs.more germs under fingernails than any other part of the body.i heard that as a child and have kept my nails very short ever since.i dident want germs in my mouth.she will understand that as she gets older.C.