Any Ideas for Helping a 9-Year-old Boy to Stop Biting His Nails/hands?

I have a nine year old boy too, he bites his nails constantly. I finally was told about a polish you can put on his nails.It is called Bite Free. I found it at Long's Drugs. It works for my son but you have to remember to keep putting it on because It will wear off and you'll find him biting again. Good Luck

Figure out what his currency is. In other words--what reward would best motivate him to stop? For example, maybe he has been wanting a bike. If so, take him to the store and find the very bike he wants. Tell him that when he has gone 30 days without biting his nails once, he gets the bike. It doesn't have to be a material item either--maybe he wants to do something special with you instead. The important thing is to make something he REALLY would like.

Then--let him conquer the problem on his own. Just check in with him every few days and say something like "are we going to be able to get that bike soon?" or "how are you doing with your goal?"

My 8 year old had the same problem--we did this with him and it worked like a charm. Best of luck! And don't forget to give him LOTS of praise even for small accomplishments! My son stopped biting his nails about a year ago, and every once in a while I remind him of what a great job he did and encourage him not to start again!

Hi Pamela,

I suggest you either take him to a hypnotherapist, which might be too much for a 9-year-old, or buy him a hypnotherapy tape/CD. Hypnotherapy has been proven to work really well with issues like finger nail biting. Our mind works on two levels, the conscious level and unconscious level. We make decisions and act with our conscious mind. Our unconscious mind is in charge of our habits, beliefs, and automatic behaviors. In the relaxed state called hypnosis, we can make very powerful changes in our habits and beliefs and re-train our brain to have different responses to different situations (such as anxiety, stress, etc).

There is a a great website called www.wendi.com where you can buy hypnosis CDs for different challenges. I think she has one for nail biting as well.

Good luck!
J.

hi pamela,
i was a terrible nail biter up until college. my parents and grandparents tried everything to get me to stop...bribes, the yucky tasting sally hansen polish, and even tabasco sauce! all of these solutions were very short lived (and i developed a taste for tabasco!). i wouldn't say that i was an overly anxious child, or that there were other underlying problems. it was just a bad habit. but i finally stopped when i was in college. and i believe i was able to finally stop because i was mature enough to have the self control, self awareness and discipline to do so. and i finally WANTED to stop because i realized what a yucky habit it is. i now have very healthy nails (no permanent damage) and i am a pretty normal, mellow 31 year-old mom :)
i know i drove my parents crazy for too many years with my nail biting, but we just laugh about it now. perhaps bribes will work for you all. for example, i really wanted my ears pierced when i was 9 years old, so i stopped biting my nails for 3 months in order to earn the right to have my ears pierced, but a few months after my ears were pierced i started nibbling again. so, stopping IS possible, but it may not last. perhaps my parents should have threatened to take my earrings out if i kept biting! who knows?
good luck to you and remember that this habit will not last forever...

I have no idea if it would be related to anxiety in any way, but perhaps you could check with him what's going on daily at school or with friends if you were worried about that. What you can do to keep him from biting is wrap his fingers in bandaids and tape, generally it would keep him from unconciously biting his fingers (seeing as bandaids don't taste good or feel like fingers at all). Good luck!

My 9yo also bit her nails. A side effect of getting braces is that she no longer bites them. Not for everyone, I know. Nail biting is a very hard one to stop.

I was a terrible nail biter, and still am to some degree, and I'm 50 now. I remember trying so hard when I was 12 to stop, and I really couldn't, I wanted to bite them so bad. (I actually could stop biting them now but they are always breaking and I don't want to spend the time to make them nice.)

If you are a nail biter it is EXTREMELY hard to stop. My oldest bites his nails and his cuticles also and he can't stop either. I think it's a bit of an anxiety related habit, but other people have other anxiety habits (biting the inside of their mouths, for example) so having a habit of some sort is common enough. No good ideas, only time and maturity helped me. Don't worry about it, he just won't have lovely hands. (But they can get pinworms from nail biting.)

Hi Pamela!

My 5th grade boy began biting his nails last year. I have no advice for you, sorry. It's not an easy habit to overcome, which is why I constantly have my own nails done :o)

I find that the busier he is, with sports and all, the less he bites on them. He does seem to do it more during homework and watching TV. When I visited his class he does it during instruction, as well.

I don't know if there is anything to prevent this. And, in my case, I'm not sure I am going to do anything about it. It's nervous energy (which boys have alot of) and I'm waiting for it to resolve on it's own....which could be never.

We begin the next season of sports next week, and i know he will do "less biting" because of it.

Anyway, I will be reading your respones this morning to see if there is any advice without making my son "insecure" about his hands.

I just wanted you to know that there is another mom out there bothered by this habit :O)

N.

My son is very fidgety at school (he is 11) and the reading teacher gave him some silly putty to keep his hands busy so he could stay more focused on the task at hand. Perhaps something like that would work for you. Maybe he just needs something to keep his hands busy.

Hi Pamela,

I was a foster mom too for awhile before adopting my son. None of us can diagnosis if your 9 yr. old has anxiety. But, because he is a foster child, Social Services should be able to put you in touch with a professional who could help. Who knows what he experienced before he came into your care; and maybe he's still working things through that he needs help with. They should do this with no cost to you!

That said, my son had similar trouble, and I was told to get him things he can fidget with, with his hands when he's not engaged in something else. Things that have textures to them (ie. squishy, rough, soft, multi-layered, etc.).

The best to you,
Deb

Hi Pamela! Happy First Day of Spring! I hope this helps some.....! My mom had the hardest time with both my sister and I doing this until we were 11. She finally asked the doctor, ( he said to go to the pharmacy, and the pharmacist recommended something that you can put on any ones nails that it tates so bad when they start to bite them, that they start to automatically stop:). I don't have the name of it, but I do know it worked within 2 days for my sister and I, and that was that....LOL. Hope that helped some! Good Luck!

Have you tried Mavala Stop? It is the best thing I have found for nail biting/thumb sucking. It doesn't come off and it tastes horrible!
Best of Luck.

Hi there... what a wonderfull thing you are doing for these kids!
Here are my two tips on this. I had a bitter and it was due to stress and then became a habbit.
Stay on top of him all day long as soon as you see those hands go up make a sound like nope... don't go there.
And I also sugest positive reinforcement. At the end of the day have him come to you for him to show you his nails. And ask how many times did he bite his nails. Give him a qurter the first day and then increase the amount, or what ever reward you decide with every day he bites his nails less and less... its a daily things...

good luck with you and all your children...

My advice, although I haven't been through this myself, is to talk to your son's pediatrician and find out avenues you can pursue regarding the anxiety aspect. Sounds like he's anxious and will express it one way or another. If not a nail biter, he could become a hair puller/twirler or use other means to comfort himself. No use trading one bad habit for another. You need to get to the root of the problem and find an acceptable outlet for his stress/anxiety. The nail biting is a symptom. My older boy, a teenager, is a nail biter but only does it sometimes, so we've just let it be. If it was constant, then we would worry more about his anxiety level and deal with it with advice from his doctor, researching online, etc. Best of luck!

I too have a 9-year old and he also has an issue with biting his nails, we have found that having him wear mittens or gloves has helped with the biting, we also have him chew a piece of gum sugar free. I hope this helps.

S.

The brand 'Sally Hansen' used to sell a disgusting tasting liquid you could paint on the fingertips to help curb biting. But you said you don't think that would work.

Personally, unless he's showing other signs of anxiety, I wouldn't worry about it. Nail biting is a pretty mild habit.

Our 4 year old did it every night for about 1.5 years - it was his way to soothe himself to sleep. It drove me nuts, but I knew life could be a lot worse than worrying about him biting his nails to fall asleep.

I was going to ask if he was a thumb sucker and then you said at the end that you broke him of thumb sucking. I'll bet the fingernail biting started after you broke the thumb sucking. While anxiety may be playing a role, the more likely thing is that he has high oral sensory needs. Does he also like crunchy snacks? Some children need a lot of oral stimulation and you need to find other ways for him to meet this need. It sounds like he does it when he's bored. A lot of kids also do it when they're stressed or challenged -- it helps them calm themselves. It also gives their system the stimulus it needs to stay at an appropriate alertness. We all do something--tap our fingers, play with our hair, doodle, pick at our fingers, some small movement to help us stay at the right level of attention. It's not just a bad habit. They're are squish balls to give him something to do with his hands. Celery and carrot sticks are healthy ways to give him oral stimulation. Gum works, too. There are also vibrating sticks that occupational therapists use to help kids at school. If you have an OT at your school, ask them to help you with suggestions. Hope that helps. BTW, I have TWO oral sensory seeking 8 year olds!

Maybe you could get him a worry stone that he can rub in his pocket (they sell some really polished stones with a little scoop out of them- or you can find any smooth stone to be his worry stone)- He can keep it in his pocket so it is always available. Maybe a squeeze ball- like a pressure ball (I can't remember the proper name right now) that he can squish and play with. You could also try getting him the Chinese Chime balls that you roll in your hands- they are about the size of raquetballs. One more suggestion, also related to keeping his hands busy, is to get some of those metal brain teaser puzzles that you have to take the pieces apart. He could also carry those in his pocket. Since he wants to quit, maybe having something in his hands will help. Whatever you try, I would talk to his teacher about it and ask that he be allowed to have one of these items at school so he doesn't get in trouble for playing with toys when he's supposed to be working. I imagine he probably chews and bites subconciously while he's concentrrating on school work...

Good luck!