Hi, my son is 3 and he has, in the last 6 months or so, become a terrible nail biter. He will actually bite his nails down until they hurt. I've tried the stuff that goes on and tastes bad and he just eats that too. It's starting to get pretty bad, he's been biting his toenails (I hate to even type that, it sounds so gross to me). Any advice from anyone who's had this type of problem would be greatly appreciated.
Wow, I never even thought of the fact that an infection is possible. So far when he does hurt himself he comes to me and wants a bandaid. So I usually put Neosporin on at that point. I'm gonna try the Cayenne Pepper and nail polish. If it's non-toxic I'll try it. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks for the advice.
Take or leave this advice...I haven't tried it yet myself for my 3 year old who bites her fingernails. But my husband keeps telling me to try this. This is what his mom did for both him and his sister when they were young. She combined cayenne pepper and some clear nail polish and put it on their nails. Ouch when they tasted it! I haven't had the heart yet, but he said it worked quickly so maybe I should. Just thought I'd share.... :)
I'm also looking forward to seeing the advice you get because my 2.5 year old son does the exact same thing. Finger nails & toe nails. He has done it since he was about 20 months old.
Hi! My daughter started biting her nails when she was about three also, she is almost 4 and no longer does it. I asked the doctor what to do, and why she was doing it because I was concerned that she would get sick from putting her hands in her mouth. The doctor said she was most likely doing it because she was going through some stressful transitions(preschool, sleeping in her own room, etc,). She said not to worry about it too much, that she would stop on her own, but when we noticed her doing it to tell her to stop. It must have worked because she doesn't do it anymore. Oh, and she used to bite her toenails in bed also--we thought it was gross, but pretty funny! Good Luck.
I'm looking forward to seeing what advice you get too. My four-year-old has the same problem....even the toenails. Yuck. He even had to go on anti-biotics for a staph infection he gave himself from it.
The only thing I can think of, and it's only marginally successful so far, is to tell him to stop, the second I see him start. This has managed to keep him from chewing his toenails. I've also gotten really good about making him go wash his hands after he bites a nail too, so he doesn't get the staph infection back. I would advise you to also make your son wash up after biting his nails too, so you can avoid the infection too.
Hi A.,
My daughter did the same thing (even the toes) children usely repeat what they see, is anyone else around your child doing this? I didn't even realize my husband was biteing until my doc. told me to watch & see if others were biteing. She is 4 1/2 now and stop when she about 4. I started keeping her nails clipped short, asked for her help with her daddy biteing his nails. It took the focus of her & made her feel good by telling daddy every time he did it that it was not good for him & he could hurt himself if he keeps doing it. She also told him once that mommy wouldn't give him a band-aid cuz he was a boy & boys can't wear princess band-aids. Any way by keeping her nails short & taking the focus off her by giving her a possitive action seem to work for us. I hope with all the answer you received something worked. Keep us posted.
:) D.
Well I think it's just habbit and once he tried it now he can't stop! But if he's making himselfe bleed then that's not good at all! So maybe try giving him somthing else to byte on! But my experence with this is that usually you can't stop them! Try talking to him and telling him that it's not good! Try making up a lie, like if you keep doing it you'll be in the hospital or you'll die or somthing! But like I said usuallly no matter what they don't stop!
