According to Kids Health, nail biting is one of the most common habits that kids have. Kids may outgrow the habit on their own. There are several reasons a kid should break a nail biting habit. Biting and chewing nails can cause the skin around the nail to break, and germs can enter the breaks and cause infections. Also, germs reside under the fingernails. When kids bite their nails, they're putting their nails in contact with their mouths, introducing germs there.
Step 1
Explain to the child why biting nails is an unhealthy habit. Use a tone that is matter-of-fact so as not to increase the kid's anxiety level.
Step 2
Offer rewards for the kid to stop the nail biting habit. Rewards act as positive reinforcement for changed behaviors.
Step 3
Clip the nails on the kid and point out how well they look when properly trimmed and not appearing chewed. This can help a kid to want to have healthy looking nails.
Step 4
Instruct kids to wiggle their fingers for 30 seconds when they find themselves putting their nails to their mouths to bite. This may become so boring for the kids that they will stop.
Step 5
Check for a pattern to the nail biting. There may be a situation, such as teasing by a sibling, that provides an automatic trigger for the nail biting habit. Help the child to resolve the situation if there's one triggering the nail biting.
Step 6
Apply a nail polish designed to help people stop biting their nails. This polish generally has a bitter or unpleasant taste and can help kids to break the habit of biting their nails.
Step 7
Put a mouth guard into the kid's mouth so that the nails cannot be bitten. You could also try gloves on the hand, though this may be impractical.
Step 8
Continue to try to break the kid's habit by providing positive reinforcement when periods of time pass with no nail biting.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep the kid active, which will keep the kid's hands busy and may help to prevent nail biting that result from hands that are idle.
- Punishing or threatening your kid because of a nail biting habit may backfire, increasing the child's anxiety level and increasing the urge to chew nails.
Things You'll Need
- Nail clippers
- Nail polish
- Mouth guard
- Gloves
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