7 year old son has been chewing on his nails & surrounding skin about 6 weeks ago.
How can I get him to stop?
His poor little fingers look red and sore.
I’ve tried what I can think of. I’ve even tried the nail polish. We’ve talked about it. I try to Ignore it. But it’s driving me insane! It’s gross and I feel sorry for him.
Hoping someone knows of a way to make it stop!
Thanks
6 Replies
I used to rub bepanthon (thick nappy rash cream) on my sons hands. It protected his hands from the moisture in his mouth, and didn’t allow his teeth to get a grip on his skin or nails as easily.
I’d also look into the WHy of your child’s behaviour. Is he particularly worried about something at the moment?.
Gloves/mittens. But I agree... The bigger issue is why is he suddenly doing this if it's causing him pain? Anxiety?
My daughter did the same. I got her a sensory chew necklace.
From another point of view, I’m 26 and have been biting my nails since I can remember, and still do. It helps me when I’m feeling nervous and uncomfortable.
Might be something to look into, or could just be a bad habit!
My mum used to put Tabasco on my fingers, as well as all the creams and polishes you could use that we’re supposed to stop the nail biting.
I do this then I get acrylics so that I physically can't do any more damage.
Maybe something similar, band aids, medical tape. Mostly he needs to want to stop though of hell find a way. Then it's just a few days of changing the behaviour to break the habit. So first of all he needs to want to stop so that he's on board with figuring out how to, and you're just supporting not nagging.
Try helping him to replace the behaviour, it's a nervous thing needing to do something with your hands. Instead of biting nails he could cut up carrot sticks and chew them, could make it fun with peanut butter or chocolate dip. Drumming, knitting, building models, Lego, chewing gum.
And ps once I've started chewing it's hard to stop because there's always a bit that doesn't feel right, but when they're healed, if I keep them the right length and file them so they're smooth then I won't bite them. Get him a nail file and show him how to even off the bumpy edges, biting makes it worse.
I did this, for me it was anxiety. I'd bite my nails right down to the nail bed and then would chew off the skin on the tops of my fingers until they bled. Nothing worked, not hot sauce, not the polishes, not gum and it was impractical to try to keep gloves or mittens on. I stopped in my 20's (nothing like a job in a meatworks to keep your fingers out of your mouth) and once the habit was broken (and the main cause of the anxiety removed) it wasn't too bad to grow my nails back out - there's no lasting damage or disfigurement from all those years of mutilating my fingers either. Sometimes now I slip up under high levels of stress but it's few and far between, I choose a sacrificial nail and go to town on it, get it out of my system and grow the nail back again.