Nail Polish Wont Stay on Daughters Nails???

you are right, it is oil in the nail beds, there are some tricks to try to get polish to stay on longer, but honestly I have troubles with it even as an adult. There are some base coats that are made that make nail polish stay on longer like Creative Nail Design Stickey Base Coat. I don't know how "kid friendly" it is, but it works. If you give something like that a try I will warn you that it never dries and that's why it keeps polish on so long. Revelon has a similuar type polish set in the Colorstay line with the same premise, only the color itself doesn't dry and the topcoat does.

Try lighly going over the surface of the nail with an emory board before polishing. I do mean lightly, too much would weaken the nail, but just roughing them up should give the polish a surface to adhere to...

aren't you lucky to have such a healthy little girl that her nails are naturally moist and oily? :)

make sure their is absolutly no lotion on her hands!
Use nail polish remover first to make sure that you have removed all the oils from her nails/beds. Then wash her hands really good and you should be set!
Hopefully this helps!

Maybe her body rejects it because it's toxic.

I believe you are absolutely correct... Her nails are too oily. My daughter has the same issue and that is what the nail tech told us. I don't have a solution though but I will have her try Joanne T's suggestion.

She's 4, couldn't nail polish wait until she's a little older.

That happened to my daughter when she was little. Now she's a teen and that doesn't happen anymore but I did her nails one time and she went swimming. The whole nail polish lifted off and they were floating in the pool.

It could also be that the regular nail polish is made for grown-up fingernails, not young children--especially since young fingernails are so much thinner and fragile (tear more easily, etc) than adult. I've heard of nail polish made especially for very young girls, but I personally have never used it on my daughter.

This happens to my 3 year old daughter and my niece too. I just don't think it sticks to nails that young. Maybe over time the nail changes and sticks when they are older.

Same thing happens to my 4-year old. It drives me absolutely nuts. I hate painting her nails as a result. While Rachel's thought is valid, I don't buy it for a minute. I can't imagine that the kids are that rough that it would cause the polish to peel off. I mean, I could understand if it chipped off but not peel off. I too think it's either a result from oil or even just something in the nail that isn't soaking up the polish like a lot of people's. I don't know. I too am looking forward to seeing the responses.

Try to brush on some vinigar on the nails first. It degreases the nail and makes it slighly "rough" so the polish sticks better.

Glad you asked! My 5 and 7 year old daughers are the same way. I contribute it to the fact that they are much busier with their hands and thinking about 'taking it easy on the mani' far less than I would. I think we think about it more, so we take better care of our hands. With my daughters, I give them touch ups almost daily, and let their nails go 'nude' on the weekends to let them breathe. Really looking forward to some other reponses though!!