nailbiting

[di]

has anyone out ther managed to either conquer their own nail biting or successfully helped their little 1's to?Daisy has bitten her nails since she was about 21\2 shes now 6.we managed to break the toe nail habbit(a friend told her of the day she had to take her son to docs with a poison toe & have it lanced~did the trick!)but have tried so many things to stop her biting her finger nails;if she stopped biting when the nail had gone it wouldn't be a problem,but bless her she carries on to the skin around her nails & they get really sore!HELP,some1 out there must hold the secret of success!!

[zazen999]

My OH has this habit bless him. He's 43.

I shamed him for a while by buying him a baby rattle; but when it started up again we tried the nasty nail paint stuff. He didn't go near them for ages. I would get his daughter to paint it on for him.

Have you tried it; you need to use it long enough to break the habit though.

[di]

it's the only thing(i think!!)i havent tried!I still have memories of my mum doing it to me when i was 11 to stop me sucking my thumb~i didnt give up til i was 20!!but i think it may well soon be time to be the "cruel to be kind mum",at worst the skin all round her nails is raw!she is a nrvy little girl but i think it is more to do with habbit than nerves~we'll be laying reading her fave fairy books & i'll hear her munching!so she does it in stress free moments as well as those that cause her worry,~think she's inherited her mummys worry genes!

[everdream78]

I bit my nails something terrible for donkeys years - we've all done it in our family and I remember my nanna saying that she stopped when she met the love of her life, my grandad. In fact, everyone in my family said that they stopped when they found "the one".

Never believed them until I met my OH, now I'm paranoid about breaking them! lol

Nailbite never worked for me - I just used to suck it until it wore off or I was sick, then carried on with the biting.

tbh, I bit mine when I was stressed - have a chat with her, there may be something going on under the surface. Perhaps someone's calling her names at school, perhaps she's struggling in a particular subject, perhaps she's getting a bit of peer pressure for some reason.

Apart from that I don't know what to suggest as it becomes an unconscious compulsion, so I bet she doesn't even know she's doing it half the time.

However, the best thing I've discovered for beating the soreness is good old fashioned Smith's Cremolia (you can get it from Boots) - takes the sting right out overnight!

[squashysu]

i used to bite mine so so so bad, every now and again i have a nibble because they get caught and gardening is hell for the nails, but i didnt stop till i was 35 and hubby promised me "a rock" if i did and i got one a year later!!

my 3 kids all bite their nails and 2 of them do their toes as well (nice not!!) i cant stop them either, i have tried everything, mustard, stop&grow stuff, but nothing, i think when my 12 year old meets her first real boy friend she may try harder to stop.

The worst think i do is nag!! it doesnt get us anywhere just stresses us all, have you thought about a competition to see what she can do without biting for a week and giving her a reward, 6 year olds love this, i know mine would x

[di]

thought we'd got it sussed a couple of weeks ago;she was soo excited about making a daisy chain but realised she couldn't without nails!the novelty wore off & shes decided mud pies are as much fun! she used to do her toes also,sometimes making them bleed,but as said story from a friend stopped that!,,,if you need to borrow the story feel free! the worst yuk factor is when you tell her at lottie not to bite them because of germs & she goes on to show you how clean they are!!!still doesnt beat the day when ash was 3 & 1 minute he was holding a grubby worm...next minute it was clean!!he was really proud of himself!

[Flummery]

My sister used to bite hers. She stopped when they took nail scrapings to look at under the microscope for O level biology! Horror! She went on to do a degree in microbiology at university so it put her off nail-biting but not off science!

[HeyWayne]

Someone once told me that there are more germans under your nails than there are in the average toilet bowl.

That was enough for me.

[Flummery]

Someone once told me that there are more germans under your nails than there are in the average toilet bowl.

That was enough for me.

But some people have to see it to believe it!

[Headfry]

I bit mine.... then just grew out of it at about 16 or so... If i get stressed, even if i dont realise it, I know because I will start to pick at my nails! even now in my 40's
I must say my nail are long and lovely now, they seem very strong! most don't believe I sail and garden! someone once said
Treat you nails as jewels not tools..... sadly mine get treated as TOOLS all the way!

Try the nail paint stuff, but also give her time.