Nail Bitter - Rochester,NY

Morning J.,

I definitely must suggest discussing this with your Pediatrician if you haven't already. The two usual reasons for nailbiting tend to be nervousness or anxiety and anemia. Even when adults and children are eating as healthily as possible some people do not absorb iron into their systems well or aren't getting enough. You may want to have the Dr. check your daughters iron levels in her blood. Even if she tests within the normal range and does not have anemia, if she is on the low end, her body probably needs more.

I would suggest introducing spinach and broccili into her diet if you haven't already. Another option if you are already doing this is to give your daughter Juice Plus. If you haven't heard of this, you can check out pathasjp.com for more information. It is fruits and veggies dehydrated into capsules for adults, chewables for children and gummies for little ones. I give my sons the gummies and they absolutely love them. They are healthy, have better bowel movements, have energy that isn't unnatural coming from sugar, etc.

I am the anemic one and I take Juice Plus myself. The benefits from having more fruits and vegetables in my diet from the capsules has regenerated by body. I don't crave junk food, I rarely eat fast food, and most of the time my body wants healthier foods that I was traditionally not eating.

Good luck J.! :)

Hi J.~ My daughter was a nail biter. for some reason she listens to everything her pediatrician tells her like it is a law. Maybe try to enlist their help in helping your daughter stop. It is worth a try. We talked about it in one appointment and she stopped.

Another idea is to take her for a maicure. I take my daughter to those nail shops once in a while for a treat. They paint her nails and put designs on them for 5bucks. Her friend went with us once and she bites her nails. the nail lady told her how bad it was and told her that if she grows them she could come back for a free paint job with designs. good luck

I'm with you on this......my son not only bites his nails until they bleed, but his toenails as well. I've tried everything also. I no longer make a big deal out of it just remind him not to do it very casually. I assume this will not last forever.

If you don't put a stop to it now, you will oneday have a 38 year old adult child with nubby nails, who's always embarassed cause she looks HORRIBLE but can't seem to stop. I speak as that 38 year old who's mother didn't take enough action to stop me. And Mom tried that sally hansen stuff with me too, didn't work, I'd seriously lick off that nasty tasting stuff and keep on biting. Or wash my hands and keep biting, either way. I don't know what it's like to NOT bite my nails, or to actually be able to 'scratch' an itch like the rest of the world does. The two times I somehow forced myself to let them grow... because the skin at the tip of my fingers wasn't covered in nail, it's become puffy and now when the nail grows, it grows UP from my finger instead of down, so they look BIZARRE, this direction also causes them to get snagged and tear off easily. From years of biting the nail matrix has also become weakened, so the nails that do grow from my fingers are nearly paper thin. Sorry to scare you, but... I think my mom should have taken me to a shrink while I was a kid to get me to stop. Had she done that I would have normal nails and not be embarassed about how ugly my hands look. Do whatever you have to, don't stop until you've got her to STOP!!!

I read the other responses and I really like the idea of you painting her nails. Sit down and do it together, make it fun, be sure to complement on how pretty her nails look. When she starts to bit at them tell her something like "oh no! What happened to your pretty nails! That’s to bad they looked really nice" Make her want to have nice nails. Kids learn by example, you might also what to try to make it a big deal for you to keep nice nails, and be sure she sees the extra effort your putting in to keeping them nice.
She could be biting them out of anxiety, or boredom too (I've never heard of Anemia causing someone to bit nails though) If its anxiety help her find a way to deal with it other then the biting. If its boredom, you can always encourage her to do something else when you see her biting them. . . like get some paper and crayons, or what ever she likes to do. Just have a back up activity on hands at all times so you can distract her from biting her nails.
Hope this helps a little, good luck!