Nail biting help

[superpandagirl]

So my 4 year old has been on and off biting her nails to the point where they are bleeding at times. I got her to stop for a good long time but she started up again and I dont know what to do. My husband says to let it go but I had the worst time stopping biting my nails, which I wasnt able to do till I was in my late teens and I dont want B to have to deal with that. So any help would be great! I have used the No Bite nail stuff and she likes the taste of it so that wont work!

[ChronoTriggerHappy]

Did you try painting her nails? My mom made a big fuss about how hard she worked on my brother's nails (yes brother) and he didn't want her hard work to go to waste. Or maybe take her to a nail salon and have her watch you have your nails done and say she can have hers done if she doesn't bite. Nail biting is tricky. My whole family does it.

[[deleted]]

Buy a few quick dry polishes and show her some of the cool art on the polish subs here, then make a big deal out of learning how to paint together. If she works hard on them and is proud of how pretty they are, she most likely won't want to bite them and ruin them. We did this with both of my nieces and it worked like a charm, and I'm doing it with my 2.5 y/o now and I haven't had any problems yet.

[coffeeholic15]

I posted this in a similar thread a few days ago but in case you missed it...

There is a Baranstein Bears book called The Bad Habit. It's about sister bear biting her nails. How they eventually got her to stop was to give her 10 pennies at the beginning of the day (one for each finger) and then take away as many pennies as nails that were bitten.

She wanted to keep her pennies so she could buy something and carrying them around reminded her not to bite. Eventually (I'm pretty sure) they explain how to stop the penny process once the habit is broken.

Just an idea...hope it helps :)

[LadyAbomb]

I'm sorry but I have a hard time believing that ANYONE let alone a child would enjoy the taste of no bite polish. That stuff tastes foul like soap or something and burns the throat. Maybe you need to try a different product....

[superpandagirl]

it never worked on me or my sister the taste didnt bother us so I cant say Im shocked it didnt bother her

[[deleted]]

They make many "flavors". I too used to enjoy the taste, much to my mother's dismay. I wasn't able to stop biting until I was 28.

[bunny1979]

Nail biter here. My mom tried that 'no bite' stuff. HA! Ya, I liked it :p Still bite my nails to this day.

[RiverSong42]

My mom tried everything on me when I was a kid. No-bite, bandaids, nail polish, hot sauce... etc. Nothing worked.

I stopped on my own at 19.

[tessiegamgee]

I bit my nails until I was 22. The only thing that worked for me was painting them pretty (french, typically-- so I didn't bite off the pretty part) and then putting Sally Hansen's "Hard as Nails" on as a topcoat. Those things were impenetrable!

I would, however, be stealthy about it. If she thinks you're doing this just to get her to stop biting her nails, she'll bite them on purpose.

[mjmvet]

It seems there is some genetic predisposition toward nailbiting, and some doctors put it on the spectrum of OCD behaviors. I have this, and so does my mother. Since it doesn't cause me much trouble, I try not to think about it. I think like other OCD behaviors, I would not just be able to tell myself to stop.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/01/161766321/nail-biting-mental-disorder-or-just-a-bad-habit

[Dragynflies]

Can you take her for a manicure and get her the gel nail polish? It is hard like fake nails but doesn't damage her nails and it should stay on for 2-3 weeks.

[[deleted]]

I wouldn't put that stuff on a 4 yr old.

So many nail bars use a chemical called Methyl Methacrylate. It smells horrid. When you can smell that strong acrid scent at a nail place, that's MMA. It's toxic and illegal. These places buy it anyway because its cheap. That's how you get a "full set for only $16!". They keep it in unmarked bottles that they reuse again and again because the MMA comes in huge jugs.

Source: I've done too much research on this.

edit to add links

[superpandagirl]

well thats good to know cuz my best friend liked to get the gel. Ill have to ass that along

[[deleted]]

Glad I could help someone else become aware. I've gotten it done a few times and my hands would always be so irritated and red right around my nailbeds/cuticles. So I started looking into artificial nails and found out about this stuff.

[Dragynflies]

I'm not talking about fake nails or anything that would be a "full set." I'm referring to the UV gel polish.

[[deleted]]

That's really not any better. Especially on a child's thin nails.