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can you bribe her with some special toy she is wanting if she doesn't go it for a certain amount of time? maybe it will become a habit if she can stop long enough to get her reward. on the other hand. my kid was a nail bitter I told her if she quit for a year I would give her 100 dollars. she did quit for a year and as soo as she got the hundred she started chewing again!
Usually in young children nail biting is anxiety related then becomes habit. I know you've posted about lots of upheaval in your and your child's personal life. This could be linked to it, potentially or maybe it's just a bad habit. You should speak with her doctor.
Personally, I was a terrible biter well into my 20s. Getting my nails done weekly has totally stopped the habit for long stretches. Then one day I find my finger in my mouth and the it starts again.
I'm worried its linked as she started seeing her dad again 3 months ago and since then started with separation anxiety from me and now the nail thing. But on the face of things its all been really good so I don't know why she could be anxious. I wish she could talk to me.
My 5 year old won't stop biting her nails, and I just found out it is worse than I thought as she's scraping them up from the bottom with her teeth which is making the entire nail come off. It must be really painful but she says she can't stop doing it. I've got her fingertips wrapped in plasters today but that's not a long term solution really, and I'm worried about why she is doing it, if its anxiety or something.
My Mother tried everything. Can't count the times I got an infection also...Didn't stop me...
Reading your last post...It may be due to the anxiety you say....Maybe a chat with a therapist?
You can wish & hope but its plain anxiety that must be solved at the root cause. Nail biting is just an outward sign right now. Habitually, it is a soothing habit. Take it from a 60 year old who knows. Yes, I stopped when I had gel nails & paid upwards of $100 every 2 weeks. I loved the look BUT still wrecked them when I HAD to. Still do, despite the embarrassment of it all.
Natsku, nail biting ain't the problem you should be worried about -- it's just the visible manifestation of the problem.
I was a biter right from 5 years old well into my 20's or 30's. I don't blame it on anxiety at all. I can still remember why I started: One day my brother was chewing on one of his nails and my mother said "don't chew your nails" Just the suggestion got me started.
I chewed right down until they bled and hurt so badly that I put bandages on them. What worked for me was deciding which ONE nail to leave alone out of all ten. I chewed all of them but that one nail. Then I decided on a second nail to leave, chewing on the rest. Eventually, I was down to one (it took months) and I finally tapered off on that one.
Let your daughter decide which nail she wants to start on. Make sure it's one of her healthier nails and keep applying clear nail polish on it to remind her not to chew that ONE nail.
MOST important through this process is: keeping the growing nails trimmed with clippers and filed so they are short and have NO snags. Snags are a trigger and I still find myself (now in my 50's) putting it into my mouth if I get one. I stop myself by letting it dry, then clipping the snag off with a clipper.
The most embarrassing part of chewing when you're an adult is if someone put something tiny like change on a counter, especially dimes, and especially if the counter has a lip. It was so hard picking up those flat little dimes with no nail. The girl at the check out would be watching me, and the people in the lineup behind me. Not a funny situation at all! I learned to get a dollar bill and slide it under the dime to pick it up.
Good luck! I hope my system works for at least some of you biters out there!!! It takes years to lose the craving, if ever... (LIKE CIGARETTES)
Last edited by gouligann; 02-27-2016 at 07:36 AM..
My mother was a nail biter and it didn't matter if her hands were dirty or not, they were in her mouth. I was so grossed out by it and thankfully I never developed the habit.
Those three crazy girls in my life are all nail biters and I'm constantly telling about the nasty things under their finger nails. It grosses them out for a minute or two and it's right back to doing it.
I have two grown friends that can't stop doing it either. I've asked them to research the nasty things that live under our nails and visualize what they're putting in their mouth as a deterrent. Nothing works. I'm afraid sometimes these things are just a habit for life.
I just had a vision of someone biting their toe nails, and yes one of my friends does it. EEEWWWWWW. She also wears gloves in the house as a deterrent, yet she removes them to chew anyway. Maybe I'll buy her a pack of gum and encourage her to chew on that instead of removing the gloves?
You can wish & hope but its plain anxiety that must be solved at the root cause. Nail biting is just an outward sign right now.
... Natsku, nail biting ain't the problem you should be worried about -- it's just the visible manifestation of the problem.
I think anxiety is the problem Hope the doctor can see us this week. Any advice on how to help her until then?
Do you try to get her talk about how she's feeling at all? There's many age appropriate books you can use to get her to open with how she's feeling. She's very young, iirc? Can she do any simple sight word reading yet?
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Hope the doctor can see us this week. Any advice on how to help her until then?
