Nail Biting - Should I Be Concered?

My daughter did this and has grown out of it with some gentle coaxing from me. When i would see her doing it i would offer to cut her nails and sometimes paint them. I would tell her how pretty they were when they were straight from cutting not jagged from biting and if she didn't bite her nails they would look like a princesses nails. she eventually stopped without me really noticing until she would ask for her nails trimmed and i would see they were long.

It maybe just a habit. And yes trying to break it now will be a good thing for her. Of course within reason. I am a adult who chronically bites my nails. I have always done it...not sure what age it started though, but very young I am sure. (only my fingers) I could NEVER break it no matter what I tried. It can also be a form of anxiety and many other "issues". So...it could be a good thing to talk with a professional about. Possibly some behavior modification issues. I certainly would be VERY careful of getting any diagnosis or medications so looking for the right practicioner would be important.

My son is 4 and has a cousin that is the same age as him. The cousin bites his nails a lot. I don't know if my son picked up the habit of nail biting, by watching his cousin but we tried to take care if right away before it became a big habit. I had a friend that bit her nails so much that she just had a sliver of a nail. I didn't want that to happen to my boy so we talked about nail biting. He told us he bit his nails because they were long and he wanted them shorter. I told him to let me know when they were too long and I'd be glad to trim them instead of him biting them. That really didn't work so we did buy thum-for nail biting and thumb sucking. It had a slight hot taste to it which he didn't like. After applying it a couple of times he quit. I don't know all the history as to why your daughter is biting her nails but hopefully my experience can help in some way. Good luck!

break it now, there is so much potential for nail fungus or infection with that behaivior that is why we say DONT BITE YOUR NAILS. Plus who knows what she is putting in her mouth!!!

My daughter bit her fingernails when she was three. I told her if she stopped I would paint her nails. That was incentive enough, and she stopped. When she was almost 5, she started full day school and started chewing again. I couldn't find anything to inspire her to stop until her three year old brother started biting his nails. She decided on her own that he had copied her and she felt bad, so she stopped chewing. Unfortunately, this did not influence her brother to stop, and I don't know what his motivation might be.

I think there is a lot of pressure on three year old children. They are no longer babies but don't have the skills to do what the older kids can and they are frustrated. In addition, they are feeling pressure to be big kids and not have potty accidents, behave, and even start classes sometimes. It's enough to make anyone seek an outlet. I wouldn't recommend punishments or aversion therapy like bad tasting spray. I would wait for a time when stress is lower, when she won't need the behavior as much, then give her incentives and positive reinforcement to quit. I think I would start with the toes first because they are easier to keep inaccessible by keeping shoes on or wearing slippers or even better footy pajamas. Once she has stopped that you might be able to find inspiration to stop fingernail biting, if not, at least that habit is not quite as nasty.

My daughter bit her nails all day, every day until just before her 5th birthday. Sometimes I would hound her for it and sometimes I wouldn't. My husband bites his to the skin and always has and it drives me nuts. Then one day she just stopped. One day I looked at her hands and was like, "Oh gross I need to cut your nails they are long!" Then it dawned on me that she must not have bitten them in at least a week - I hadn't had the need to cut them in like 3 years so I had never even seen her nails look like that. She told me she just stopped. I praised her for it and shes never done it since. I tried to figure out why she may have stopped but really there was no reason other than the fact that she just did.

My youngest son who is almost 5 bites his fingers and toes...has for ever, I seriously can't remember ever having to clip them, only when he was itty-bitty!

I asked his Dr. About it and he said "There are worse habits to have..." but then he held out his hands and said he bites his too, so I don't know?

I have decided to go the route of letting it go and not bringing any more attention to it then necessary...however my mom bit her nails as a child (and an adult) and she has nothing but horror stories of all the things my grandma did to her and her nails to get her to stop...

One of my daughters used to bite her nails at bedtime...she'd even rub her fingernails back and forth on her teeth. I think it was a soothing thing for her and helped her fall asleep. She did this when she was about 3 and 4 and outgrew it by the time she turned 5. I just kept praising her when she told me she didn't bite her fingernails. And she always wanted her nails painted like her big sister and I told her we couldn't do that if she was biting her fingernails because we wouldn't want nail polish to get in her mouth. So in our case it was nothing to be worried about and she did give up the habit on her own. Good luck!