Nail Biting 2 Year Old

Mavala stop worked for us. My son started biting his nails when he was two. We painted on the Mavala stop (a nasty tasting clear polish) and it stopped immediately. Hope this helps!

For me (a nail-biter by heredity, I think), the best solution is to get up and move, do housework, play, go for a walk. I believe most nail-biting kids have a lot of pent-up energy and unconscious tension that they must control to "fit in" to whatever is going on around them. Even if they look relaxed, their bodies could be begging for movement. In fact, they could look relaxed BECAUSE they are using a coping behavior.

I started biting my nails early, and tried to stop for many years after I was old enough to be embarrassed by it. I even bought my own stop-biting liquid, and tried every technique I could think of, including giving myself manicures as I got older. I finally – mostly – broke the habit in high school, but it was not because I used any tricks, but because I really, really wanted to quit. For myself, not for my mom or my teachers. And I began working on the anxiety and tension that prompted this coping response.

I hope that if you have really strong feelings about this, you will work to reduce your own anxiety and negativity. Intensity from you could inadvertently increase your child's stress. I think my habit was aggravated by an over-involved and very controlling mother. In my experience, embarrassment, shame, scolding and nagging not only do not help, they probably increase my need to nibble and tear. And fingernails are handy! Encourage your daughter to keep her hands clean if she's going to put them in her mouth, and maybe help her find something else satisfying to bite, or fiddle with with her hands. Help make physical activity possible as often as possible.

If you can somehow "force" her to quit, which I doubt you can if the biting is rooted in anxiety or tension, she is likely to substitute some other habit that will help her deal with the underlying causes.

By the way, other moms have asked similar questions and got quite a few interesting responses. (This was my response to an earlier request, too.) You might want to check these out:
http://www.mamasource.com/request/8031309387765121025 and http://www.mamasource.com/request/recent/97013/1202607294/85

Do you know why she bites her nails to the quick. My granddaughter, at 7, still bites off her nails but never so short that they bleed. And she only bites them when they need to be shortened. She has just exchanged the nail clipper for biting. At 2 your daughter's nails are soft and easily bitten or even torn off.

I can think of a couple of possible reasons. One is that she's bored and it's something to do. Perhaps, when you see her start to bite you could ask her to help you with something or give her something to do that will distract her.

In my experience most of the people I have known who bite their nails have also been nervous or anxious. If that's the case with your daughter you could try to find out how to help her relax. And maybe find a different monotonous something for her to do to relief her tension.

And a third possibility that just came to mind is that it's possible she doesn't feel the pain of biting to the quick. Does she feel other sorts of pain?

I would also try just ignoring it and see if she stops on her own in a few weeks. Biting her nails may be one way of showing her independence.

HI H.,
My daughter bites her fingers and toes really bad too. For her it is a sensory issue. I am not sure I remember all the Occupational therapist said about this kind behavior, but I would recomend calling some and asking them about it. IT may be that she feels it is something she can control at her age? Best of luck!

I posted this same similar question.....You should check it out. I got lots of help.

try filing her nails instead of clipping. If she is a "princess and the pea" like I am then she may need to have really smooth nails, any snag at all may irritate her. Do crooked socks bug her? I feel every peice of anything in my bed (gain of sand, lint balls). I have trouble sleeping with blankets that are not smoothed out. I didn't bite my nails, but I think I figured out early that it would bother me more if I did. If she is not suffering from being nervous,stressed or too much energy, then she just may be a bit of a perfectionist and trying to get rid of those snaggy edges. I may be totally off, but it is a quick and easy thing to find out. Just file them everyday for a few weeks and see if it helps. And also observe to see if she is stessed or nervous about anything too.
Good luck.

It's true, nail biting is usually from anxiety about something. My son is 32 and still bites, but he has always been a nervous boy, no thanks to his fighting parents, and I am sure it was instilled in him to stay. See if you can figure out what may be causing her to be nervous and help her that way.

I have three sons and the two oldest nail bites to the point of bleeding. At times I have caught them toe biting too. I don't remember the last time I had enough white nails to trim since they are always biting them off themselves. I have bought a clear nail polish to built strong nails it worked for a bit then another nail tincture you can ask from the pharmacy but it is over the counter called THUM. You do have to reapply that one and it works sometimes. But the one thing that I found that is most effective is having them hold a toy or a blankie. I found that when their hands are busy they don't bite. Then during bedtime my husband and I put socks or gloves on them and we pull it off when they are already asleep. I hope these few advice helps. I find the nail biting is because of habit (my husband is also a nail biter and he is not conscious of it...I have to remind him to stop.) Also due to stress we have moved alot and when my husband was gone due to work for months at a time...the boys would nail bite more than usual. Now, my mission is to have them stop so the third one won't pick it up from his brothers.

I had the same problem with my daughter at that age. This finally worked for us....

http://www.jessicacosmetics.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=...

LOL wish i could help. I cant get my 43 yr old to stop biting his nails

My son is 5 1/2 and he "picks" his nails. It sounds horrible when I hear him doing it and looks terrible, on top of being a bad habit. So I feel ya in the concerns department. I have yet to find a solution - but I have noticed that paying attention to it seems to encourage him.