Need Advice on How to Stop Nail Biting

Updated on August 21, 2008
M.M. asks from Savoy, IL
15 answers

My 3 year old has just started biting her nails. She has never done it before, but now she bites them so short that they hurt her and she is getting hangnails. This started about 2 weeks ago. I keep catching her with her fingers in her mouth and telling her "no," but I think she's mostly biting when she's in bed.

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K.J.

answers from Seattle on

You can buy this nail polish like stuff called "Thumb" at Walgreens. It is not toxic and is for this axact reason, to get kids, people to stop chewing their nails. You see it is really strange tasting and that will keep her from putting her fingers in her mouth at all. Eventually the habit should pass. :)

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M.H.

answers from Seattle on

My daughter (who is 6) didn't bite her nails but she sucked her thumb. She wanted to stop but couldn't because it was so hard. I heard about this product called "Mavala" and I found it online at amazon. It is made to stop nail biting and thumb sucking. It was only $6 plus shipping. And if I were you I would go online and order it today!

She stopped sucking in 2-3 days. It tastes terrible and doesn't wash off when you wash your hands. I was so happy with this product I would be their spokesperson if they asked me to. :)

Good luck!

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C.B.

answers from Portland on

M., Hangnails are a result of the cuticles getting dried out. YOu can help to fix that by putting a small drop of cuticle oil on them at night and rubbing it in. If you notice a hangnail cut it off at once and don't give her the chance to pull it off, if she does this will make it worse. Just a short not from your lisenced mani!!!

C. B

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J.M.

answers from Portland on

get a polish from a salon, that is for this purpose, to stop nail biting. it was the only way that i could get my daughter form sucking her thumb. it has a very bad taste and they won;t want to put fingers in mouth.

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J.L.

answers from Medford on

Hello,
Have you tried nail biting nail polish? They have a nail polish that is clear and when you put it in your mouth it tastes horrible. I used it on myself to stop biting my nails. I think it is made by Sally Henson Polish. You could even just try painting her nails and pretty color and tell her that if she bites them they won't look at pretty. Who knows, it might work. Good luck!

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S.W.

answers from Portland on

Is she stressed out? Even as an adult I go back to nail biting when I am feeling under pressure. Find a good way to unwind at the end of the day-- coloring, snuggling up and read, dancing, swimming, or painting. Figure out if nail biting is a symptom.

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N.D.

answers from Portland on

as a 10-year thumb sucker whose parents tried everything (and failed) to get me to quit, i'd say you can give those nasty things a try but if it doesn't work, just leave it alone cause she's not going to quit anyway and you'll just make her feel bad about herself that she can't quit. it is an addiction. some kids can quit quickly and others cannot. i wasn't able to until i was 10 and got my braces put on and had no choice but to quit.

my daughter also became a nail biter (toes too) when i took away her pacifier. she also cannot quit tho i tried the nail biting polish. it seems the oral fixations run in my family so i don't make a big deal out of it.

peer pressure might make her quit at some point. amazing what they will do for friends that they won't do for you.

I.W.

answers from Columbus on

I can relate to your daughter's woes. I started biting my nails when I was 2...and then I started biting my toe nails when I was 3...no kidding. I'd drop down in the middle of the sidewalk in front of our house and pull off my shoes and start tearing into them.
Thankfully I don't do that anymore, but I still obsess over my toe nails and pedicures and I bite the daylights out of my nails. It's a real bummer. I've tried manicures and fake nails, both gels and acrylics. I've tried the bitter-apple nail polish that tends to deter most 'normal' people from biting--again, I don't care about the taste, I just care about the nail. It's a terrible habit, but my mother taught me that if I'm going to do this I better wash my hands because of all the stuff I touch throughout the day goes into my mouth. And so I wash my hands a lot, but not obsessively. But she also scolded me a lot about my nervous habits, which in turn made me an even more nervous and shy child.

I do think though, if my mother took me out to have manicures every other week I'd probably have a whole new appreciation for my nails and self-care. The temptation to bite them might have been swayed into the temptation to keep them neat and pretty. I love neatly manicured nails still today and envy women and men who have them. So, I recommend from 30+ years long of nail biting that you continue to support the good behavior with rewards like nail polishes and manicures and if she bites them, just let her know she'll need to wait until her next manicure to have them fixed.

Good luck!
I.

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A.B.

answers from Portland on

I had this problem with my dear daughter and since I bit my nails for about 20 years, I didn't want her to go through the same embarassment, so I had to do something. I bought this terrible tasting "Nibble No More" and put it on her fingertips. It worked! I tried the drugstore stuff, but it didn't....

http://www.jessicacosmetics.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=...

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C.C.

answers from Eugene on

The bitter nail polish will probably be your best bet! My son didn't (doesn't) bite his nails but he was a thumb sucker. We bought the nail polish at Walmart and within 2 days he had quit sucking his thumb! Good luck!!

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J.F.

answers from Portland on

My daughter bit her nails too for a while. Down so far that they would bleed. I tried to tell her that she was going to get an infection, that princesses (she so wanted to be one...) don't bit their nails, and I even asked the pediatrician what to do. He told me it was a phase and she will get over it. Then I asked a girlfriend who went through the same thing. She told me to give her a necklace or bracelet that she can play with to keep her mind off of her nails. I then promised her a mommy/daughter day where we would go get a professional manicure. She has a twin brother, so getting alone time with mommy is very special. It worked! We had a daytime necklace and a nighttime necklace. I got my husband and his parents involved and we all made very positive comments on her progress. The day of the manicure she felt like the queen bee! We even went shopping after for a dress for a wedding we were attending.

Good luck!

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C.H.

answers from Atlanta on

You can try a product called "Stop", made by a company called Mavala. You can find the product online by going to Folica.com and typing in Stop in the search field. It is made to stop nail biting and thumb/finger sucking. It has a bitter taste and will definitely make your daughter think twice about putting her nails in her mouth!! I have used it to help my daughter stop sucking her thumb and she hates the taste!

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K.M.

answers from Seattle on

I'm not sure about putting bitter solutions on the fingers, it may not deter. As a former nail biter for many years, the only thing that broke me of the habit was learning to play guitar. Over time, I simply forgot about nail biting and actually had to focus on making sure my nails were short enought to play the strings correctly. So... perhaps some sort of activity that uses the hands that will distract from biting? Good luck!

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S.J.

answers from Eugene on

I don't have any advice, but I can commiserate with you! My daughter started this when she was around 2 or 3 years old. She became a chronic nail-biter and i didn't have to trim her nails for years. She's now 9 and still has this habit! It's especially bad when she's nervous, anxious, upset, etc... This past month we took her to have a professional manicure and <<<<she didn't bite her nails for 2 weeks>>>> As soon as the polish came of...nibble, nibble off the nails came. She was so proud of herself for not chewing that she wouldn't even let me file or trim them so they wouldn't get raggedy.

<<SIGH>> I guess I'll just have to take her back for another manicure! I've heard that you can get nail polish that tastes awful so they keep them out of their mouths. My niece used this for thumb sucking, but it gave her a rash around her mouth. I never tried it.

Good Luck!

S. :)

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S.B.

answers from Portland on

I don't know anything about the stages and phases of nail biting. What I do know is that I started biting because I was stressed at that age. When I calmed down I stopped.

S.

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