My Son Won't Stop Biting His Nails.

I am a former nail-biting-child. Do nothing is the BEST advise! By the time I was in my 40's, finally my family stopped (not hubby just other family) bugging me bout my nails. That's when I quit. Took me a couple months to realize both. I started when I was 2 yrs old, so my nails were very very tiny. Now they look great and get compared to an aunt who had the most beautiful hands!

Hi C.-
There is a product called THUM that has pepper in it.
You paint it on like fingernail polish.
Won't help pickers- but will help biters.
Try rewarding him when he doesn't do it- check his nails every other day and see how's he's doing, then praise him if he's successful and give him something in return to work for that he likes- reward the good.
It took us about 4 mo of that- now my daughter- who by the way was more of a picker- rarely does it.
Good luck-
About me: 47 yo med. prof in Mpls/St. Paul, wellness coach, mom of nearly 7 yo twin girls

B. J

I still bite my nails and my son bites his nails. My daughter doesn't. Nothing I did would help my son stop. When he got braces at age 12, the nail biting did slow down, but as he's adjusted, I'm seeing that he's starting back up again. My brother has also been a nail biter over the years. He's 42 years old. I wouldn't make too big a deal over it. Choose your battles...

My daughter did the same thing (she is now 3) She has outgrown it. I started putting nail polish -you could do clear- and that seemed to help alot. Maybe reward him for however long he can keep the polish on his nails.
I bit my nails as a kid and outgrew it when I was about 10. Its a hard habit to break.

Everyone has some good suggestions. For me I did nothing and now he doesn't bite his nails anymore. I started by doing the same things you are doing and it just seemed to get worse. I looked it up on another website and it said that the more you point it out the worse it will get and also to distract him with something else everytime his nails go near his mouth, so I started to ignore it and within a month he barely bit at all then within a few months it was history. He is 25 months old and hasn't bit his nails in 2 months thank god. I wish I could say the same for myself : (

I know that avon used to sell a polish that was used for bitten nails. Years ago my mother used it. It doesn't harm the child it just gives them a nasty taste in their mouth when they put their fingers in the mouth.

Try a product called "Thum" sold at most Walgreen's in the baby section. It's mildly hot and supposed to taste nasty to the child.

I used it with my son and it did work at first. However, with time, he just decided to eat the nasty stuff anyway.

I then resorted to using non-acetone nail polish remover...the kind where you dip your finger in the jar which has a sponge with finger holes in it. Any brand will do (we used Walgreen's generic remover), and all put something called "Bitex" in the solution to make it bitter tasting so kids will be naturally discouraged. It's incredibly nasty. It definitely will discourage nail biting.

However, keep in mind, nail polish remover is not safe to ingest. So use sparingly and when not using it, keep it out of your child's reach.

For us, the Bitex is so bitter tasting (I tried it myself), after one session of dipping my son's finger tips/nails in the solution and letting it dry on them.. he took one taste and that was the end of that. He hated it. I only used it a couple of times to get the point across. He doesn't bite his nails anymore.

Since this isn't the intended use of the product, and it is a chemical, maybe use a q-tip and swab a little on his nails rather than dipping his fingers. Most important Keep it out of reach of your child, though it's so nasty he'll more than likely avoid it anyway.

Maybe if you just keep his nails really short he will get frustrated that there isn't enough to bite and quit.

When I was 3 years old my mother used THUM on my thumb to get me to stop sucking it. I wound up biting my nails instead. THUM is ABUSIVE!!!!! It tastes like pepper, makes your eyes water, your throat burn and won't go away for a LONG time. PLEASE do not use this tactic.

Do a google search on studies about nail biting. You will find several studies that indicate that the sensory information going to the brain from hand to mouth habits like nail biting is actually soothing.

Nail biting (take it from a life-long nail biter as the result of an abusive childhood) can become an awful habit when the child is abused around it. I have two kids who both bit (past tense) their nails. I did not make a big deal about it and they both quit when they got into their teens.

I bite my nails when I am under stress. What is stressful in your home C.? Is your son exposed to loud television or radio on a daily basis? Is he carted from here to eternity to places that are unnatural to him - shopping malls, amusement parks, etc. Children who have stress syndromes like nail biting need calm surroundings. What can you do to help with this?

Then, give him a children's multivitamin every day - a good one - that contains plenty of B12 and B1. These nutrients calm the nervous system.

Nail biting is truly not a "habit" at the age of 22 months. Use it to guide to you to find the answer to his stress level. It could as simple as his diet... perhaps it is rich in filler foods and he is not getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables.

Think through it ~ don't try to stop it as much as allow it to inform you of WHO your son is and HOW you will need to live your life to meet his sensitivity needs.

They make a stuff you paint on their finger nails for thumb sucking, and we used that when our one of our sons had a problem with biting his nails, and it worked great.

I know this might not work for a child his age but if he doesn't stop as he gets bigger I'd just be terribly honest with him and explain that he could get really sick and end up in the hospital with needles. My Grandma got salmonella from biting her nails and was very sick and in the hospital. As soon as I told my daughter this I've never seen her do it again. One thing I did to keep my son's hands out of his mouth was show him his fingernails and how dirty they can be after playing outside. And when I clip them I show them all the gross stuff under there. Worked like a charm :o) Sometimes you just have to be graphic to protect them because things like this just don't occur to them until it's explained :o)
Hope this helps,
J.
Mom to 4, soon 5 through another adoption and hopefully more :o)