My 21 Month Old Bites Her Nails Constantly -- HELP!!!

[smzapalac]

For about 2 months now, my 21 month old has been biting her finger nails constantly, and occasionally her toenails too. How do I stop her? I've tried a nasty flavored nail polish, but I think she now likes the taste of it. She is biting her nails so much that there really isn't much nail left on any finger. Do you think she is doing this because she is getting her 2 year molars, or it could be a nervous habit??? I don't really know. I am slightly embarrassed to call her Dr. about it because it seems so strange. Does a 21 month old have that much anxiety? I really don't know how to help her. Any ideas would be great. Thanks!

[Wife_and_mommy]

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[Piglet]

I think I am of no help - I still bite my nails when I am stressed or if they are bugging me (if they are too long or if they are jagged). The only things that work for me as an adult are 1) keeping them nice, clean and short and 2) manicures. Could you try to give her a little girl manicure and paint her nails with some light coloured nail polish? It might be enough of a deterrant that it keeps her from picking up this habit (which is SO hard to break... trust me, I have tried everything).

Now if anyone has any suggestions for my thumbsucking 5.5 year old... that is another thread!

[crAbbymom]

I'm sorry, I have no advice...I just totally feel for you. My dd#1 (now 6) has done it since she was about that age and STILL does it! She would bite her finger and toenails, her baby sister's toenails, furniture, pencils, even her hair looks professionally angled from the biting. She pretty much stopped everything except her own fingernails now, but she does it enough that her thumb got infected. She had to go on antibiotics for it.

I did talk to 2 different pediatricians about it.

The 1st: "Just tell her to stop!" Ummm yeah, I never would have thought of that.

The 2nd: "Put a bit of antibiotic cream on her fingers and bandage them all up." That actually helped. We did this after her 5 yr checkup. It took about 2 weeks and it seemed to work. I think it made her more aware of what she was doing. Unfortunately, she started again within 6 months.x(

[JBaxter]

My mom said I did that from about 18 months on. Mine was stress ( same month she gave me a brother took my bottle and potty trained me) They tried the nail polish but I was allergic an broke out in blisters every placed I touched myself. I wold call the ped.

FYI I still bite my nails during scary movies!

[newnana]

Thanks for posting this. My DD is 18 months old and just started this 2 weeks ago. It is driving me nuts. Last week I cut her fingernails super short so she couldn't bite them (didn't stop her from trying) and now she ALSO picks at the skin around the knuckle of her thumb, tearing it off.

She won't wear a band-aid, she seems to be terrified of them. Neither DH or I do either of these things, so I have no idea what to do.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any advice!
Michelle

[Fairy]

Uh, yeah, I bit my nails from, oh I dunno, maybe birth, till I was 18. Down to the quick. It's a nervous habit that just happens and it's hard to predict not only who's gonna do it, but what sets it off and when or if one's gonna stop. One day, I was laying on my bed in my dorm and looked down at my fingers and said, ya know what, I'm not gonna do this anymore. Haven't done it another day since (other than times I can't take the hangnail and am without a clipper). Sooooooooooooooo sorry. Truly. Good luck.

-- Fairy

ps -- Toenails she'll probably grow out of, as it gets really uncomfy to contort to reach your toes . . .

[newnana]

Thankfully our DD hasn't found her toes yet, unlike the OP. Dh and I both are freakishly flexible, so there would never be a time when it would be uncomfy for her to reach her toes. I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll just count my blessings that it's just her fingernails!
Michelle

[smzapalac]

WOW, I am so happy with all the responses I got to this post. I feel better knowing I am not alone out there. It sometimes feels like my child is the only one biting her nails at this young of an age. I think my little one is just stressed out and that's why she is doing. Concerns me a bit that my 21 month old is already stressed out. How will she be when she is in school??? Oy vey! I think I am going to try giving her a manicure, if that doesn't work I will go with the antibiotic cream/bandage suggestion. This may be something we have to live with. Good luck to all of you who have children going through something similar.

[TraciG]

My DD pick's her cuticles , so I can understand a little , I think it's just something we can't control unfortunately !

[Puddy73]

My DD went through a phase where she constantly picked at her cuticles until they were a bloody mess. I asked her ped about it and he said that "tics" like this are common in toddlers. They often are not even aware that they are doing it, but it is sort of a primitive self-soothing behavior. On his suggestion, we gently redirected her by moving her hands and giving her something fun to do with them, such as coloring or play-dough. It did reduce the behavior. HTH!

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle 9/08/03 & Finn 10/31/05

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffett

[smzapalac]

Thanks for all the feedback. When we go to my DD's ped I am going to ask her about it too. I really think it is soothing for her to bite her nails, but her fingers are such a mess and I worry about the hygene issues. Just bothers me that my little one is stressed out at such a young age.

[mum1day]

My 32 month old bites her nails and sometimes her toes. My DH and I are both fingernail biters, for no other reason than just having type A personalities.

I have tried to put polish on her nails, to no avail. She still chews them. In fact, when we wrote her letter to Santa, I put in the letter that she was still biting her nails, even though she was trying to stop and you know what she told me?

"Mummy, it's okay, tell Santa not to come because I am still going to bite my nails!"

So cheeky! (God, I love that kid!)

[smzapalac]

Your santa story is too funny. I will have to share that with my DH. I have a feeling our DD is like your DD. Thanks for sharing.

[hcsl]

Let me preface this by saying that ds (3 1/2 y.o.) is allowed to watch only 1 hr of TV per week- Bob and Thomas on Sunday mornings, with occasional special things, like Charlie Brown Halloween, Christmas, etc.

Two weeks ago I told him that there would be no tv for him if he didn't stop picking his nails. He had been picking for at least 5 months- to the point that they were almost bloody a few times. It was driving me crazy. I had been told all the things everyone else listed (they don't know they're doing it, etc.), but could not watch him mutilate his hands any more. I got the Cars movie dvd on a Monday and told him that if he had fingernails growing on Friday he could watch the movie, but if he did not have any fingernails there would be no movie and no Bob or Thomas until we could see some 'whites' on his nails. I reminded him sporadically during the week, and on Friday he had nails and got to watch the movie. I still remind him about no tv if he picks.

I generally don't like bribery for behavior modification purposes but I was at my wits end and had truly tried everything else. It's scary that the tiny amount of tv he watches is such a motivator. So that's my advice: Tell them no tv until there are whites on the nails and stick to it. It won't work if they think it's an empty threat.