D.
Hi K.,
I bit my nails most of my life until I was old enough and had enough money to get acrylic nails. Since that is out of the question here, this is what I know about it. Many children who start biting their nails, or chewing their nails have a deficiency of some sort. Mine was calcium. If your son is getting his RDA + some of calcium, he may need magnesium. Try magnesium taurate. It comes in 125mg capsules, and you can split this in half and mix it into a bite of something he likes (not a calcium-rich item though). Natural ways to get magnesium are certain nuts, avacados, etc. Check out an article at coldcure.com for other foods. Nail biting is a symptom of a mental neurosis or nervous condition. Many perfectionists bit their nails as children, and those were obsessive compulsive tendancies. Everyone has a degree of some behavior abnormality, so do not worry too much about this. The worst thing about it is the pin worms. The eggs get underneath the fingernails, and if the child bites his nails, he will get pinworms. It is just the most irritating thing in the world for him and the Mom too. So, if you have the magnesium taurate, not only will it help a deficiency, but it will also help the obsessive compulsive behavior causing the problem. THEN you can start trying to break the habit and have hopes that it might work!! Giving them gum to chew for the oral fixation is good. Putting bitter things on the fingers is good for a while, but if the craving is still there, they will just get used to the taste of it. There is a special product for this. One time I relapsed a bit, and I wore latex gloves to break the habit. For some reason, putting the plastic glove to my mouth was enough to break the habit again. Braces do the trick too - you can't bite the same in braces. I hope this gives you some new things to try. The most important thing is to not punish the child for this behavior - he really can't help it at his age, and the punishment could scar his little psyche worse than the nail biting. Once he is older, it will be unpopular at school, and with his buddies. I had a great science teacher when I was in the 6th grade who bit his nails so far back his fingertips went way up past the ends of his fingers. I remember thinking "at least I am not that bad about it." Another bright spot - kids who bite their nails also are usually highly intelligent and have the potential to be very successful in careers later in life. Good Luck!!
