nail biting

Jsthomas618

My 4yo DD has been biting her nails recently. It broke my heart yesterday when I looked closely and saw just how low she had bitten them. I told her that when she lets them get nice and long we'll go to the spa for a manicure, but any tips for helping along the way? Has anyone tried the bitter stuff to put on nails?

sschwege

DD started doing that recently.  It's an improvement over her last nervous habit, which was nose picking, so I guess I'm happy about that.  I don't know, unless she's actually hurting herself, like making herself bleed, I'm not worried.  I would be interested to see what everyone else says though...

sschwege

there is a Berenstain Bears book that talks about nail biting. I think its called the Berenstain Bears and the bad habit

VTbride05

My son did this for 7 months last year before and once he started PreK. He just started to do it again So many days he bit them down to blood. I hate it. It's dirty and he gets very very sore fingers. Not much worked for us. I would sometimes give him something to hold instead so his hands were busy, or have him put his hands in his pockets.

lite-bright

My DD1 went through a phase of picking her fingernails and toenails down to the nub that, thankfully, seems to have passed. ::crosses fingers:: I'd put bandaids on when they were really bad, and I told her I couldn't paint her nails until they were a little longer. She loves getting her nails painted, so that was motivating. When she would leave one of them alone for a few days, I'd go overboard congratulating her. 

I also showed her how to use a nail file and offered her one when she was picking at them, and offered to clip them whenever she needed/wanted. Once she backed off a little, I made a huge deal about painting her nails and how nice they look. 

I picked my nails for years & years and it's a super hard habit to break. My sister to this day has nubbins for nails, her habit is so bad. I was so sad when DD1 started.