Tips to stop nail biting - 4yo girl

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amother

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 6:26 am

Except the bitter nail polish, what else can you recommend we try to implement? DD is 4yo and her nails are bitten all the way down...

Happydance

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 7:28 am

Had this issue too
Now she is 10 and we still have this issue Sad

I feel like if I would medicate for ADHD and anxiety, it would go away, but until then…

amother

Chocolate

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 7:31 am

Does she want to stop?
Why not bitter nail polish?
Would gum help?
Or a fidget cube?
Red nail varnish.
Gloves.
My DD bit her nails so low, it looked horrible. She had a keyboard teacher who couldn't bear to look at her fingers - my DD noticed her grimmacing.
When did she stop? When she started dating and she was embarrassed about how they looked.

My brother used to bite his nails so low - once when he was in college, a nail got infected and hurt so much that he could not hold a pen. Then he stopped.

lesson learned -. you need to really want to.

amother

Maize

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 2:15 pm

I would find a very pretty little ring that she could have as an incentive to stop biting. It worked for me. But in the meantime, you might need something to keep her hands busy such as the recommendations above.

amother

Begonia

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 2:26 pm

You need to replace it with something else, whether it's a fidget toy, ring, bracelet etc. Will power alone won't stop it. At least that's my experience.

amother

Coffee

Sun, Sep 03 2023, 3:00 pm

We tried a ton of things. Some things worked but only temporarily. Constitutional homeopathy is the only thing that actually stuck.

amother

Offwhite

Mon, Sep 04 2023, 5:08 am

We promised nail polish if she could manage it, and that was incentive to stop first and then also not to bite when the nail polish was on because it would ruin the look.

In parallel, cut her nails very frequently, like every few days if you have to. If there is nothing there, there is nothing to bite. We also gave dd a nail clipper and she started clipping her nails herself every time she wanted to bite them, so that also helped her stop.

Orange42

Mon, Sep 04 2023, 6:31 am

When you find something that works, please share. I’ve tried doing nails together and encouraging positively that if you don’t bite your nails, we’ll paint them again and have some more one on one time together. But if you bite it, I won’t simply because I don’t want you eating more and more nail polish. It has helped.

Orange42

Mon, Sep 04 2023, 6:32 am

I also bite my nails, so I speak to my daughter about it and we formulated a plan to help each other remember not to bite our nails. It’s absolutely an anxiety thing for me at least. We make it a team effort.

hodeez

Mon, Sep 04 2023, 6:43 am

My 5 year old son does this.. is it so bad? He doesn't seem particularly anxious

Orange42

Mon, Sep 04 2023, 6:59 am

I don’t always seem particularly anxious either. And sometimes I don’t realize it. But when things are going well and I don’t have anything on my mind, I don’t bite my nails. When there’s anything else going on, my nails are super short.

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