3 year-old biting finger nails

Anyone in the group have experience dealing with a young nail biter? My son
has been doing this for a couple of months now, and I am looking for more
ideas to help him stop. We have tried the positive reinforcement route - a
small treat in the evening if he hasn't bitten his nails that day - which
has only worked on random days (so I guess it hasn't really worked We
have tried explaining that his fingers are dirty and he might get sick, and
we've tried giving him small things to play with in the car or while reading
on the couch to keep his hands occupied, all to know avail. We haven't yet
tried the nasty tasting stuff you can put on fingernails - my son is great
about washing his hands every time he uses the bathroom, so I don't know how
well it would stay on, anyway.

The Amer. Academy of Pediatrics has an article that says to ignore it and it
will eventually go away, but my parents did that for me and I bit my nails
until I was 32. I wouldn't have any huge objection to it, except that he
bites them down so far sometimes that they get sore - he isn't making the
connection, though, that he made them sore by his own actions and can
therefore make them better by not biting. At what age can they reason that
kind of thing out, anyway?

He also picks his nose a lot, but most kids his age I know do, too, so I
don't know if that is related or not.

Just wondering what worked (or didn't) for others.

Kat

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:24:31 -0500, "D&K Condron"
wrote:
Anyone in the group have experience dealing with a young nail biter?

My 7 year old has bitten her nails from an early age. (she used to
bite her toenails!) I never did anything but remind her to wash her
hands. The worst thing about it imo is the dirty nails (eww but I chew
mine too!). I don't really think all the other tricks work. You hear
of people putting tabasco sauce and things on the kid's nails but I
wouldn't do something so mean.
Marie

In article ,
Marie wrote:

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:24:31 -0500, "D&K Condron"
wrote:
Anyone in the group have experience dealing with a young nail biter?

My 7 year old has bitten her nails from an early age. (she used to
bite her toenails!) I never did anything but remind her to wash her
hands. The worst thing about it imo is the dirty nails (eww but I chew
mine too!). I don't really think all the other tricks work. You hear
of people putting tabasco sauce and things on the kid's nails but I
wouldn't do something so mean.
Marie

I would only do something like that if the child was old enough to ASK
for help in stopping a bad habit. My oldest asked for something to help
her stop sucking her thumb, for example; I got some of the nail biting
stuff, but she developed a taste for it . . .

She eventually shifted to nail biting, and still does that.

I bit my nails until I was pretty old, and my father still does. Since
he's 72, I doubt he'll ever stop.

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"D&K Condron" wrote in message
...
Anyone in the group have experience dealing with a young nail biter? My
son
has been doing this for a couple of months now, and I am looking for more
ideas to help him stop. We have tried the positive reinforcement route -
a
small treat in the evening if he hasn't bitten his nails that day - which
has only worked on random days (so I guess it hasn't really worked We
have tried explaining that his fingers are dirty and he might get sick,
and
we've tried giving him small things to play with in the car or while
reading
on the couch to keep his hands occupied, all to know avail. We haven't
yet
tried the nasty tasting stuff you can put on fingernails - my son is great
about washing his hands every time he uses the bathroom, so I don't know
how
well it would stay on, anyway.

The Amer. Academy of Pediatrics has an article that says to ignore it and
it
will eventually go away, but my parents did that for me and I bit my nails
until I was 32. I wouldn't have any huge objection to it, except that he
bites them down so far sometimes that they get sore - he isn't making the
connection, though, that he made them sore by his own actions and can
therefore make them better by not biting. At what age can they reason
that
kind of thing out, anyway?

He also picks his nose a lot, but most kids his age I know do, too, so I
don't know if that is related or not.

Just wondering what worked (or didn't) for others.

Kat



I bit my nails as a child and no amount of nagging nor ignoring by my mother
helped me quit, not that I wanted to. She eventually bought the
nasty-tasting nail-polish-like stuff and that made me quit. I was 7. Back
then, it was a product called stopzit. Nowadays, it's Thum. You can use it
on a 3-year old if he doesn't rub his eyes.
Peggy

Have a look at the Nail Biting information on this site.

http://www.onychophagia.com/

John