Help with Nail Biting

From an adult who still does it....I don't know that there is much you can do about it, honestly. And as long as she isn't doing it to the point that she is harming herself, I don't know if I'd fight that battle...I think it will be a losing one.

Unfortunately, my almost 4 yr. old daughter picked up this NASTY habit from me...I'm a nail biter, have been much of my life. I CAN stop, IF I put forth a very concise effort too. When I noticed that she was starting to follow my footsteps...I stopped...it was actally pretty easy to stop at that point, considering I knew she was modeling my behavior. I DO still notice I put my fingers in my mouth and "play" with my nails, but haven't been biting them. Anyway, my stopping and her seeing my nails get longer has motivated her to "have pretty nails like mommy." And I told her if she lets them grow, we will go to the "special" nail place to have our nails done together....she's EXCITED about that. BUT...she's still biting them, however, she seems to be aware when she's doing it...because often times she will say, "mommy, I'm biting my nails, I don't know why." So to try to "help" her stop I went and got a product at ULTA, called Bite It...it goes on like a polish (clear), but taste NASTY (I tried it myself to see) :) I just applied it yesterday so not sure if it will help, but so far, I haven't seen her with her fingers in her mouth at all. Not sure if she's attempted or not, because she has yet to say anything about the awful taste. :) I figured I would try it, at see what happens. I had a similar product growing up, that was suppose to taste bad, but to me tasted like bananas...so it didn't help me at all, I LOVED having it on. :) I'm hoping we have better luck with this one, as this one is AWFUL. Good Luck to you...and like some of the posters mentioned, it may not be anything that we (as parents) can control...it might be something that she will have to decide to stop on her own.

Our 3 year old had the same problem. We used a cream called Control-It. You put it on and it tastes pretty yucky, but I think it's pretty much all natural ingredients. We used it for a while and she quit biting. You can find it on line but a lot of sites sell it in quantities of two or three. We found it cheapest on ebay and you can buy just one container. You only use a tiny amount so one should last a while.
Good luck,
S.

Nail biting is usually because of nerves and the reward system is not going to work for something that is triggered by nerves.
Here is a website on toddler and child nail biting.
http://stopnailbiting.net/articles/toddler-nail-biting.html
http://stopnailbiting.net/children-nail-biting.html

Here are some products that you could use. See website:
http://stopnailbiting.net/products.html

Will she still bite her nails even if you paint them with a couple coats of polish? I would think that would taste bad.

Good Luck

At Sally's you can get a clear nail polish that is for people that bite nails. It has some kind of bad taste so when you go to put your fingers in your mouth you will not like that taste and won't bite your nails.

I think the first place to look is the reason WHY she's biting her nails. It's a nervous habit. Is there anything in her life that is causing her stress? Change in homelife, school, family, friendships? I don't think any of the creams/polishes are going to do anything except cause the stress to go to another of her behaviors. I think you need to explore what's going on instead of trying to treat the results of it.

When my 7-year-old was that about that age, she bit her nails. We found out that she bit them when she watched TV. We limited her TV, and she stopped. She seemed overstimulated by certain shows, and I think she bit her nails to calm herself.

I am a life long nail biter although I haven't really bitten them in many years. I put nail polish on all the time and pick that off. Not sure if that is a good idea for a little one. It's not really something that you can just stop. I can't so I keep my nails looking pretty good a couple of days and reapply the polish and off I pick again. Pretty sad, but true. Clear works best. She is so little. I don't think this is one of those 'choice' things that you can decide to stop until you are older and find an alternative. I have a son who stopped by using the clear nail polish trick. No idea why but it feels kind of good to people. It is listed in some books part of the group of 'obsessive' compulsive things. Not a terribly bad thing, but doesn't look good and when they are bitten down to the bottom of the quick ouch, ouch. Good luck. From me as a mom and me as a nail biter. I was very ashamed and didn't know what to do either for myself or my children. That's about all that worked for me.

Hi Debbie,
My husband is a nail biter and I bought a clear paint that tastes disgusting. He is a nail biter no more! We have used it on our nephew too... He calls it "vodka" and fights us when we try to put it on, so we paint his nails when he is asleep! You can buy the paint in Walgreens,
Good Luck,
L.

I am not sure you can do anything about it. I stopped putting my fingers in my mouth for good once I took a look at what was under my fingernails when they were clean! Did that in high school biology class but she is too little to really understand that! My youngest does not bite his nails, he picks at them. My oldest bites and picks at his too. Mine are boys though so clear nail polish on their nails would certainly get them beat up and I do not want that.

Good luck to you! I hope you find a solution!