Try A Bit Of Bitter Gourd
Bitter gourd is a vegetable commonly used in Asian cuisine hailed for its naturally bitter taste.
Also known as bitter squash or bitter melon, this vegetable is very potent when used on its own.
Its bitter taste is sure to put you off biting your nails, leaving a gag-worthy taste in your mouth if you choose to get nibbling.
You can either crush bitter gourd, apply the juices on your nails and leave to dry, or find a pre-prepared bitter gourd nail-biting treatment in the shops.
The Rubber Band Method
A method which often works for older children and teenagers who want to stop biting nails is or them to wear a rubber band loosely around the wrist. Loom band bracelets work well or just a normal rubber band. Remember not to have it too tight, as it can cut of circulation!
Simply teach your child to snap the bracelet against the wrist each time nail biting occurs.
The idea is that your child will begin to associate nail biting with a little bit of pain, and it will discourage the habit.
The rubber band method makes your child personally responsible for controlling his or her habit, and will bring a sense of achievement when the habit is kicked.
Onyx Professional Stop The Bite Polish
With its bitter-tasting formula, the Onyx Professional Stop The Bite Polish curbs nail-biting and thumb sucking in both adults and children. Formulated to be worn alone or as a base coat, this top-rated nail deterrent polish also helps repair your nails so theyll grow back healthy and strong.
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Or Simpler Reusable Press
These’ll be especially great for the initial stages of your anti-nail biting journey when you’re simply trying to break yourself out of the habit. If you do like the polish or the press-ons, then these could also help reinforce those protections.
Promising review: “I bought this to avoid biting my nails and it works perfectly. You can keep doing everything including using your phones screen. My daughter was also delighted with these since shes an esthetician and they are awesome for her while working on extractions and facials.”
Get them from Amazon for $5.29+ .
How Can I Get My Child To Stop Biting Her Nails
Nail biting is a common habit, but usually not a serious one for most children. Most children who bite their nails eventually lose the habit, but some may continue well into adulthood. In more serious situations, nail biting can lead to health concerns. There is no prescription to stop nail biting, but it can be addressed. Dr. Cindy Gellner talks about the reasons why nail biting occurs and offers suggestions on how to help your child stop biting her nails.
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Offer A Healthy Substitute
Your toddler may be biting their nails simply because he or she wants something to do. Toddlers tend to believe that anything that they pick up is destined for the mouth and when there is nothing in their hands, then the nails will do. Offering a substitute can be a simple solution to stop nail biting. Give your toddler some healthy snack that they can chew at any time they feel the urge to put something in the mouth. A carrot stick or crunchy celery can be a great substitute for the toddler. However, it is important to avoid using sugary snacks as substitutes.
How To Stop Your Kids From Biting Their Nails
Suzie is a busy mom with three energetic kids. She loves finding and sharing activities and solutions to help her fellow moms stay sane.
Pixabay.com KHeinz46
Is your child biting his or her nails? How can you stop this habit?
Nail biting in children is a very common habitone they usually grow out of but can take into adulthood if it goes unchecked.
Most of the time it is just that…a habit. It’s something a child unconsciously does when bored or anxious.
Occasionally it can be a sign of more serious, underlying problems, such as real anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder . Don’t worry though if this is the case, there will be other signs, so nail biting on its own is not a major issue.
Mostly it’s just a simple activity that the child isn’t even aware he or she is doing. Usually, the only result is that the nails look ugly and can develop sores around the fingertips and cuticles, plus it can be a bit unhygienic if nails are dirty. In extreme cases, newly developing teeth can be weakened, but again, this is unusual.
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What Should You Know About Toddlers Biting Their Nails
First of all, lets address the fact that nail-biting is a very common habit. Around half of all children between the ages of 10 and 18 do it at some point , according to C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital. Statistics for toddler nail-biting arent readily available, but we know it happens. Weve seen it.
For many people, toddlers included, onychophagia thats the fancy medical word for nail-biting is a coping mechanism for dealing with stress: both the good and bad kinds. Toddlers might also start biting their nails out of boredom, because they see a family member do it, or because they think their nails could use a trim and decide to take matters into their own hands .
How To Stop Your Child From Biting Their Nails
Parents should never be punitive or insulting about their kid’s nail-biting habit. “Often, calling attention to the behavior, especially through ridicule or punishment, will cause it to worsen,” says Dr. Montez.
Instead, if you’re disturbed or distressed by nail biting, you can try habit reversal training, which uses positive reinforcement. Most people are unaware of their habits, explains Dr. Hill, so the first step is bringing it to your child’s attention. One way to do this is sitting them in front of the mirror as they bite their nails and saying, “This is what it looks like and feels like when you’re biting your nails.”
Or, if your child is old enough, you can simply ask them about their nail biting. “When you gently bring it to their attention, you can say, ‘Do you feel better when you do that? Or are you just bored?'” says Dr. Chavis. “Kids can give very insightful answers to simple questions.”
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Why Do Kids Bite Their Nails
So why do kids pick up this strange habit anyway? Just like in adults, nail-biting is done for many reasonsusually unconsciously. Your child may gnaw at his or her fingernails out of curiosity or boredom when trying to pass the time.
An infant will often suck on his or her thumb to self-soothe, and as they grow this habit changes slightly. Fingernail biting is a modified version of thumb-sucking, which can feel like a soothing action many times.
Nail biting can also be a sign of stress or nervousness in some children. Some common stressful triggers for children include:
- Fights between family members
- Relocating or moving to a new place
- Bullying
- Pressure to perform in school or sports
If you find that your kids are biting their nails so much that they draw blood or have sore fingertips, you will want to consult your doctor and work together on a plan to figure out how to get kids to stop biting their nails together.
Lastly, nail biting can be picked up from someone else around them. If you want to figure out how to get kids to stop biting their nails you will need to conquer the habit first, and model the appropriate behavior.
Why Use Nail Biting Polish To Stop The Habit
Buying nail biting polish is a great way to ensure that you or your child stop biting nails. With a transparent, bitter-tasting formula, this nail biting polish prevents the habit of biting your nails or sucking your thumbs. The main reason to use it is to repel you from putting your fingers near your nose and mouth, but some polishes also work as a nail conditioner that makes them stronger and healthier.
While these products are usually made with bitter-tasting ingredients, they can also include vitamin E, aloe vera, or other additives to help calm your cuticles. Anti-nail biting polish may include some harmful chemicals, but most of the producers pride themselves on being free of formaldehyde, xylene, and others. Depending on the type of nail polish to help stop biting nails, you can choose one with a matte or gloss finish. You can buy nail polish providing healthy advantages to your nails, but the main reason is to end the habit of nail biting.
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Strategies To Keep Your Children From Biting Their Nails
17 August, 2020
Not biting your nails can be more complex than you might think for two reasons. First, habits, when ingrained, are often difficult to change. Second, nail-biting can be a way to express emotions.
Of course, all hope is not lost and its always possible to find strategies for your children to stop biting their nails. Read on to discover them!
Get Help From Friends
You should not be afraid to ask for help from your friends or relatives. Let them alert you the moment you start chewing your nails. And if you manage to grow your nails without biting them, dont be afraid to show off. You can also take some photos of your new nails. Its also a good idea to join a social group where people are trying to stop the habit. This method will give 95% chance to break the vice.
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Reasons Why Children Bite Their Nails
Medical science calls this addiction onychophagia, while boys are more prone to biting their nails. Most often, the violation in question is of a psychological nature and is by no means a flaw in the upbringing of parents. To understand why a child bites his nails, one should consider the motives associated with physiology and psychological and social orientation. In the first case, the following should be noted:
- a tendency to neuroses and other problems of the central nervous system
- diseases of the cardiovascular system
- the presence of parasites in the body
- early weaning from breasts or nipples
- irregular hygiene procedures.
If we talk about violations of a socio-psychological nature, then in this case the reasons will be as follows:
- psychological trauma and stress due to sweat of close relatives, etc.
- severe fright
- a sharp change in scenery
- great psychological stress and excessively increased demands on the part of adults for the baby
- weak employment of the child then nails bite just out of boredom
- bad example from relatives and friends
- sleep disorders
- low self-esteem.
Give Them An Object To Hold
Some of these objects are obvious, such as stress balls, fidget spinners, or fidget cubes. These products are designed for people of all ages and will work great to distract from nail-biting. They can also increase focus.
If your child is in school, make sure that the classroom allows these objects during class time. Many schools banned items such as fidget spinners, so before you send your kid to school with one, check their school rulebook or contact their teacher.
Worry stones are also a great tool to use. They are small stones cut into an oval shape with an indent in the middle.
This indent is made to put your thumb on, and you can rub your thumb across the worry stone for a calming effect. Worry stones might be great for older kids because they are more subtle. They could even hold their worry stone in their pocket, and it would still distract from nail-biting behaviors.
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Is Nail Biting Genetic
The answer is no, and while there may not be a nail biter gene, kids are likely to bite their nails if their parents do. This is because kids are likely to follow their parents behavior. Between nature and nurture, nurture plays a bigger role in evoking nail biting tendencies. Kids absorb your emotions and the energy of a household, and if its a stressful one or youre constantly uneasy, your children will feel it.
Keeping The Child Active
Sometimes, keeping your child active can be the best solution to stop nail biting. A bored child will resort to fidgeting, nail biting, and other habits. Toys can come in handy to entertain the child. Something as simple as play dough can keep the child occupied as he or she learns to enjoy the texture of different items. However, you must make sure that all the objects that the child plays with are as clean as possible. The truth is that many of the objects that your toddler gets will go through the mouth test.
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Resort To Few Tried And Tested Creative Techniques
You could put bandages on your child finger tips or if its a girl, paint the nails with multiple coats of nail polish. Some also use bitter tasting polish to make biting more of a challenge. While some experts claim these to be ineffective as children, consider them as a type of punishment, there is no harm in trying it if all other methods fail and you are convinced about what you are doing is rightHope the above mentioned 10 Tips To Get Rid Of Nail Biting In Children is helpful for you.
Remember To Be Patient
One of the most important things you can do for your child is to be patient. When your child bites their nails, this is likely a habit that they have formed.
It takes a long time to break a habit. Think about a time when you had to change one of your habits, such as eating less sugar or watching less TV.
It probably took you more than a few days to be consistent in the changed habit.
If you arent patient with your kid, they will just end up being stressed. This could make the nail-biting worse, but it could also damage your relationship with your child.
Make sure that all of the ways in which you are addressing your kids nail-biting habit are coming from a place of love and care.
If you are patient with your kid while you are working with them to break their nail-biting habit, it could strengthen your relationship.
This is a way to show your kid that they can trust you with their problems and that you are there to help them and not to punish them.
It may seem small, but being patient as you address your kids nail-biting habit will benefit both you and your child in the future.
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Avoid Making It Worse
Calling too much attention to your childs bad habits is likely to backfire and their nail-biting may get even worse. Punishing your child or embarrassing them for biting their nails also wont be effective in helping them change his habits.
Help your child manage their nail-biting but dont get too wrapped up in making them stop. Yelling or telling them that they’re gross wont help.
Skip the lengthy lectures about all the reasons why putting their fingers in their mouth is disgustingthat isn’t likely to work either.
Helping your child put an end to biting their nails will be much more effective if they’re on board with the plan. If they’re not particularly motivated to quit, your efforts aren’t likely to be successful. So, be patient with them and if they’re not interested in stopping, you may need to wait until they are.
You might broach the subject from time to time by saying something like, “I notice you bite your nails a lot. Do kids at school ever seem to notice?” Mentioning that other people might see them doing this might make them a bit more aware of others perceive them.
Similarly, you might ask them, “It looks like your fingers get sore sometimes when you bite your nails so much. Do you ever wish you didn’t do that?”
Talking To Your Child About Nail Biting
When you try to help your child stop biting their nails, make sure that you are patient and kind.
If you make them feel embarrassed or ashamed of biting their nails, it could cause stress. This is especially important if the root cause of your childs nail-biting is that they are stressed or anxious.
They might begin to feel bad about themself or they might become self-conscious.
If you are too angry at your child for biting their nails, they could just start biting their nails more in secret when they are alone.
This only makes the issue worse because you wont know when its happening, and it will be a lot harder to help them break the habit.
Make sure that your kid knows that you are there to help them. If your child is old enough to understand, explain to them that nail-biting could cause lasting damage to their fingers and teeth.
This will help them see the importance of learning not to bite their nails.
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Create A New Healthier Habit
Like every habit, nail biting is a tough one to quit, so replacing it with a healthy one can be a good tactic!
Try introducing regular snacks of crunchy carrot, cucumber and apple sticks as they can replicate the crunch they get when biting their nails.
A small stress ball or some silly putty can work in the same way, giving your child something else to focus on when theyre feeling fidgety or worried.
