Anyone know of a suggestion for stopping nailbitting

[wantingagirl2b#4]

My 5 yr. old wants to stop bitting his nails any suggestions?

[Mosaic]

How funny, I was just reading Dr. Sears talking about that this morning. He recommends coming up with a substitute, like rolling a marble in your pocket or getting a squeezy stressball. So that when he wants to bite or when you see him biting, you remind him of something else he could be doing with his hands. He also mentioned making sure that there's nothing else causing the habit, like stress, etc.

I wish someone had helped me quit nailbiting as a kid. I still do it from time to time and I'm ALWAYS trying to quit... ugh!

[One_Girl]

There is a nail polish that tastes really nasty that you can put on the fingernails. I haven't used it and probably wouldn't without my child's consent if she really wanted to stop and truly didn't mind having it on. I usually tell dd to stop eating her body parts and then she laughs and stops.

[NolaRiordan]

I was a nail biter. My mother tried the nasty tasting stuff you put on your nails. I got used to it and it didn't taste so bad to me. Nothing really worked until I was a teenager and I went to get fake nails put on (I think for a homecoming dance or some other event). I had the fake nails on for maybe a week or two, and when they finally came off I had been broken of the habit.

[karen ann]

The nail polish has cayenne pepper in it IIRC. I ended up using it with my DS a couple of years ago. He was biting so much and so often that he had open wounds and the beginning of infections on both hands. I treated and bandaged the injured fingers and discussed using the polish on the uninjured ones. DS agreed to use it. It took a lot of redirection even with the polish to get him to stop biting. I think the redirection was a bigger help than the polish.

[pigpokey]

There is a Berenstain Bears book

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bea.../dp/0394873408

I find it really annoying. Oh well, my kids love these books.

Mother Bear gives Sister Bear 10 pennies every morning and she has to give back one penny for every nail she nibbles during the day. That's what worked for the fictional first grade bear who wears the same pink overalls every day.

[boysmom2]

When I figured out that we needed to switch my 5yo to half day kindergarten, he suddenly stopped biting his nails on his own. So, if there is a reason, I would say that fixing that could definitely help.

[EyesOfTheWorld]

I'm 28 and still trying to quit!

The nasty tasting polish is probably a good way to go if he really wants to quit. It's a constant reminder. I know I personally would do it so absent-mindedly that it made me stop and realize what I was doing.

Then I'd start again.

Good luck! It really is an incredibly difficult habit to break.

[KaraBoo]

I posted about this a few months ago. Let me see if I can find the thread and give it a bump because I got lots of good advice.

[SpaceAngel401]

Originally Posted by EyesOfTheWorld

I'm 28 and still trying to quit!

The nasty tasting polish is probably a good way to go if he really wants to quit. It's a constant reminder. I know I personally would do it so absent-mindedly that it made me stop and realize what I was doing.

Then I'd start again.

Good luck! It really is an incredibly difficult habit to break.

Me, too! The polish doesn't really work for me; I am not a good painter and get it all over my fingers, then EVERYTHING tastes bad. And I really don't want foul stuff on my fingers, I serve food to my kiddos at daycare everyday (I wear gloves of course, but the idea of serving them their food with that stuff on me, I just don't like it).

Sometimes I do really well, sometimes it is just my thumbs that are all bit up, once in a while, I can get the pointer fingers to grow. Right now, they are actually not too bad. Sometimes they get quite raw (I pick my cuticles/skin, too) and sometimes they are bitten so far down, they throb for ages after I wash my hands. So, if you get any advice that works, I might steal it!

[PaxMamma]

my ds is a nail biter, too. i tried redirecting w/a squishy lizard. he loved it, but just ends up putting it in his mouth, too, and it's from china so i worry about the lead. we did ask him if he'd like to wear socks on his hands to bed (b/c that's when he bites the worst) and he said sure! he thought it was hilarious to have socks on his hands. it's helped a lot, though not cured.