Nail biting...how to stop it??

lismog

My DD is 3 1/2 and she is CONSTANTLY putting her fingers in her mouth/biting her nails.  How do I get her to stop?  I'm always telling her "get your fingers out of your mouth", she likes having her nails painted (with Piggy Paint) but I tell her she's not going to be able to have them painted if she's going to keep biting them, but she continues to do it.  I think it's just habit for her now and she doesn't even think about it, just does it but I have no idea how to get her to stop. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. 

unraveled

My brother (now 37) was a terrible nail-biter. Our pedi advised my parents to get some sort of bitter solution-- NO IDEA what the name was, at this point, but they put it on his nails, almost like nail polish, but IIRC, it disappeared- wasn't even clear, but when he put his fingers/nails in his mouth, it tasted horrible, apparently... 

It took him a while, but it stopped his habit. I'm sure there must be something comparable out there today! GL! 

FutureMrsDenman

I was a nail biter.  MAJOR NAIL BITER.  My fingers would bleed sometimes from it.  It was bad.  I started when I was really young and kept doing it until I was ~32 years old. 

I HATED it when my Mom told me to stop.  It irritated the crap out of me.  And sometimes I would leave the room and do it more just to spite her. She tried all kinds of things to get me to stop, but nothing worked.  I think that is because it was more than "just a habit" for me, but who knows. 

My biting was somewhat absentminded.  I could say that it was out of boredom - something to do - something to keep my hands and/or my mouth busy.  And from that I could recommend having her do things that keep her hands busy or that give her other forms of oral stimulation ... like a "chew tube" (my daughter has one that I use to distract her from her hands sometimes - we got it from PT/OT when she was little for other reason, but it works).  BUT ... I KNOW that a lot of my nail biting was tied up in general anxiety (unconsciously - I didn't know that was what was going on).  I stopped biting my nails at a time when I changed my life direction and met my future husband.  Things were finally falling into place for me.  It wasn't a conscious decision on my part.  It just happened.  And one day I looked down and noticed that I HAD FINGERNAILS ... and that they were decently long and sturdy!

I guess I say all this just to point out that there can be a LOT of reasons for it (habit, anxiety, distraction, etc.), and that stopping may only require the polish that tastes bad, but it may take something else. 

As a Mom and a former nail biter (and as a biologist who understands germs, etc.) I now appreciate my Mom's attempts to get me to stop, but while I was growing up I resented it.  BIG TIME.  Especially as an elementary school and junior high school aged kid.  Those years were the worst in terms of my relationship with my Mom over it.  I hope you find the cause an solution before you get to the point where it is driving you mad as a Mom and before your daughter builds up an attitude like I had!

 

iteachk

Listen to the previous poster.  There pretty much is no way to stop it.  My DD does it, and I don't think there's any way to stop it.  I try to keep her hands clean and ignore it.