Today I have another case from my life and it concerns a bad habit that is sometimes developed in children and adults. My middle son was “infected” with this scourge in kindergarten, and, worst of all, passed it on to his daughter. I must say that at that time I had absolutely no idea what to do if a child bites his nails. I read smart books, listened to a lot of “authoritative” advice from experienced mothers, but the result was zero, and the advice, I must admit, was sometimes simply surprising.

Tip #1. Is your child biting his nails? See a psychologist!

In good books for mothers they wrote that you need to take the child to a psychologist - they say that the baby may have psychological trauma and this way he calms the nervous system. I thought - the child is cheerful and cheerful, plays well, sleeps soundly... What kind of injury? I asked my baby in detail and it turned out that he just... likes it. Many of his friends in the group do this, and he didn’t know that biting his nails was bad...

In general, I dismissed the psychologist - it was not a nervous reaction of the child, but just a repetition of what he saw, which turned out to be quite pleasant. Here was the clue: if the child finds such an activity enjoyable, then you need to convince him otherwise, and words and persuasion are unlikely to help here. Prohibiting and threatening is also not an option - this would only strengthen my son’s persistence in biting his nails “at his leisure.” And here the advice of “experienced” ones came to the rescue - experienced mothers who did not do this themselves, but heard...

Tip #2. Smear your nails with...muck

What they didn’t advise me! Sprinkle your fingers with hot pepper, dip in mustard powder, wash your hands with any liquid antibiotic (it tastes very bitter) and the like. They also advised me to buy a special varnish at the pharmacy, which has such a nasty taste that the child will probably look at his hands with disgust.

I thought about my children... Little toddlers crying from a terrible soreness and burning sensation due to pepper or mustard - is this really what I want? And the use of an antibiotic is unlikely to improve the health of the children; I don’t particularly favor medications at all. Special varnish, what is its composition? At that time, 11 years ago, in city pharmacies there was only an imported similar product with instructions in Chinese.

But I still found a solution - quickly and unexpectedly.

A child bites his nails, what to do: a simple method

At that time, I actively treated and used ordinary aloe. Once again, while smearing the roots of my hair with a succulent leaf, I accidentally ran my finger over my lips. A very bitter taste appeared in my mouth, which grew with every second. And how did I forget that aloe juice is so bitter? Then it dawned on me - of course! Here it is, the cure!

I looked at the huge flower that has been growing here since time immemorial. Truly, this plant is unique. How many times has an aloe leaf treated my children’s deep scratches and cuts, saved them from bronchitis and pneumonia, how many times have I treated inflammation on the skin with its juice, restored the thickness of their hair and put their health in order. And if I don’t know what to do when a child bites his nails, why not use this wonderful remedy!

For a week, I lubricated the children’s nails three times a day with an aloe leaf, cut lengthwise. To set an example for the kids, I first demonstratively lubricated my fingers and only then proceeded to touch the little ones.

Along the way, I very convincingly, but without pressure, otherwise the children would smell the falsehood, told a story about poor little fingers who need help. I remember I composed a whole fairy tale, and the kids listened in one breath, and then retold it in kindergarten. Here every mother can turn on her imagination and come up with a story that can touch the emotions of children. I succeeded, which was 90% success.

Important point

There is one important point: if the child attends kindergarten or primary school, he needs to be left at home, at least for the first three days of treatment, and the mother should stay too.

Firstly, the baby will be shocked by the unusual bitter taste - he may cry, get nervous, get upset and behave inappropriately. It is unlikely that the teacher will tinker with one child and calm him down. At school, even more so - teachers are not nannies, and there is no place for a child’s whims in the classroom.

Secondly, the mother can always captivate the child with some activity so that he forgets about the bitter taste of his fingers. It’s also good to prepare healthy sweets in advance - dried apricots, dates, maybe even your baby’s favorite sweets (1-2 pieces). The sweet taste will help the child quickly get used to the new situation and not make a tragedy out of what is happening.

Thirdly, at home it is much easier to monitor the child and apply the medicine. After all, after each hand washing with soap, the aloe juice is washed off by half, and the baby can bite his nails with pleasure again.

I had 4 full days left. I took two days off from work (Monday, Tuesday), and started treatment on Saturday morning. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, our beloved grandmother, my mother, came to the rescue. The main burden fell on the first three days, and then it was much easier.

After that, I talked to parents of children who bit their nails in kindergarten. It turned out that many had already visited a psychologist, but the result was not visible. In principle, the parents of three out of five children took my advice - they cured their children from this scourge.

The habit of biting nails in adults: how to get rid of it

Quite often, the habit of biting nails is also present in adults. I had an employee at work who had this problem. Svetlana’s nails were in a deplorable state - the plates were nibbled almost to the inner skin and there were constant hangnails on the periungual skin. It was a shame to show such hands, and Sveta stubbornly hid them under the table. She admitted to me that she looks with envy at the beautiful manicures of her co-workers, but is not able to grow beautiful, even nails, because she bites them “automatically”, without even noticing.

I advised Svetlana my proven method - lubricating the cuticles with aloe juice, but difficulties arose. My friend didn’t have this plant and we agreed that my home bush would serve her too. Every day I brought Sveta a fresh leaf, and she carefully lubricated her nails. But adults are not children, and the treatment took a little longer... Then I rightly decided that my dear flower would not survive such a long execution and came up with a new method.

I advised Svetlana to buy a pack of dry wormwood at the pharmacy and make an infusion. When it cools down, simply dip a cotton swab into the liquid and lubricate your nails several times a day. And then, as they say, “the ice broke.” Wormwood turned out to be an excellent remedy - affordable, easy to prepare and very effective!

Pour 1 teaspoon of dry wormwood with half a glass of boiling water, leave until cool and strain. You can use it for a day, then make a new infusion.

Svetlana said that she placed a bowl of infusion near the washbasin and very often simply dipped her fingers into the bitter liquid. She liked it even better, because suddenly her nails became shiny, strong and grew quite quickly.

On my own behalf, I would like to add that you should not dip your fingertips in wormwood infusion before cooking. And in general, before contact with products, otherwise they will all be bitter. Otherwise, such a simple treatment has helped more than one adult get rid of the habit of biting their nails.

Health to everyone!

Three times mother Irina Lirnetskaya

Like many adults, children also suffer from bad habits. The most common habit among children is merciless nail biting. At first glance, there is nothing fatal in this habit, but if it is discovered, the necessary measures should be taken immediately.

Reasons why children bite their nails

The habit of constantly and actively biting your nails is such a common phenomenon today that it has even found its place in the list of scientific terms. This habit is called -"onychophagia".

Doctors conducted observations and found that about 30% of children aged 6 to 10 years suffer from onychophagia. Boys are more susceptible to this habit than girls. Between the ages of 10 and 17 years, the percentage of children who bite their nails increases to 50%. This is exactly the age when frequent changes occur in life, relationships with parents and friends are far from ideal, and the workload at school increases. But such a habit also arises due to a number of other reasons, which we will consider below.

• Stress and neuroses

The desire to bite your nails appears during stress and neurosis. The causes of stress can be disagreements with parents and peers, increased mental stress, lack of sleep, or simple dissatisfaction with oneself. Neuroses can occur due to diseases of the cardiovascular system or from a lack of vitamins E, B and magnesium.

• Bad example

The child is inclined to imitate everything he sees. Perhaps one of your close friends or relatives also suffers from this bad habit.

• From finger to nail

• Poor hygiene

Failure to trim your child’s nails in a timely manner may also be a cause. If the nail plates are weak, then they grow quite a bit and begin to break and peel. This begins to cause inconvenience to the child. Then he takes his own measures - he bites them off.

• Excessive inhibitions and idleness

If a child is denied many pleasures, for example, forbidden to eat sweets, then he will try to replace this by biting his nails. This activity has a calming effect on him and distracts him from the annoying feeling. In the same way, your child can relieve himself of boredom. Therefore, make sure that he does not wander around idle. Find him something interesting and useful to do.

• Negative influence of technology

Do not let your child sit for a long time in front of the TV and computer. Not all television programs are good for a child, and not all computer games are useful. The child absorbs all the negativity that flows from the media. Modern computer games are filled with brutal fight scenes. Select cartoons (), programs and games that would have a positive and creative effect on the child’s psyche.

• Changing the usual rhythm of life

Until the age of three, the child is constantly under the supervision of his parents. But the time comes to go to kindergarten. Mom and dad are no longer around, there is a need to somehow adapt to society, and this is already stress (). At the age of 6-7 years, a first-grader is taken to school. And here comes the period of adaptation again. Psychologically, such changes do not pass without a trace.

The habit of biting nails is a neurotic reaction similar to thumb sucking or tics. Schoolchildren suffer from this disorder more often than children, because they experience great physical and emotional stress. In this way, the child tries to cope with stress, anxiety, and excitement. If parents, instead of looking for a reason, scold and constantly reprimand their son or daughter, the situation only gets worse. A vicious circle arises: anxiety leads to the habit of biting nails, ugly hands anger parents, as a result, the baby’s nervous tension increases, and self-esteem drops even lower. Often this problem is coupled with other disorders of the nervous system: increased excitability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (up to 75% of children with ADHD bite their nails), enuresis. And the physical consequences can be helminthic infestations, inflammation of the periungual tissues, periodontitis, up to exposure of the neck of the tooth. So the child definitely needs help. There is no special medicine for children who bite their nails - bitter pharmaceutical varnishes do not always help and often only take the problem into another direction. But sometimes doctors prescribe mild sedatives and nootropic drugs in such cases

Consequences of habit

• Reflex development

Place a bracelet on your child's hand. As soon as he reaches his hand to his mouth, click the bracelet on his hand. This way of fighting the habit will bear fruit. Although to some it may seem cruel.

If a child does not get rid of a bad habit, it makes sense to contact a child psychologist. Tips for eliminating it, which are most often recommended by experts, are given below.

• Don't criticize

Don't scold or yell at your baby. Such increased attention to a child's habit can only aggravate the situation; the child will become nervous, and his hands will again reach into his mouth. Not to mention that children are inclined to go against the grain out of harm, protesting against prohibitions. Therefore, you should explain to the child that this is a bad habit using other methods - without negativity, without prohibitions and reprimands. Look for the most appropriate, effective method and use it from the position of a loving and caring parent, and not a Cerberus who is annoyed by this “nasty habit.”

• Be patient

Understand that it is as difficult for a child to overcome this habit as it is for an adult to quit smoking. Remember: a categorical ban only causes rejection and protest! For your child to hear and understand you, find the right motivation. For example, if a child refuses porridge, then tell him: “It’s healthy!” - it's just pointless. But the phrase “You will eat porridge, and you will become strong and muscular, like dad” - will work much faster.

• Drawing lesson

If you can't figure out what area your child is having problems in, ask him to draw a picture. Let the picture contain images of family, friends, school and others. Those areas of life that are painted in dark colors are problematic.

• Danger of infection

• Sports activities

Enroll your child in some sports section. Playing sports will help relieve nervous tension and throw out negativity without causing harm to those around you.

• Fairy tale therapy

Tell your child a fairy tale of your own composition, in which there will be two heroes: negative and positive. The negative hero behaves badly, does not take care of himself and bites his nails, while the positive one is very kind, cheerful and neat. A positive character has many friends, but no one wants to communicate with a negative one. This method has a good effect on the baby’s consciousness.

• Give your child more attention

Like all bad habits in children, nail biting is a consequence of neurosis and lack of tactile contact with loved ones and parents. Our son (5 years old) started biting his nails when our youngest child arrived. Naturally, he received less attention - all his worries were about the younger one. We went to a psychologist, and she pointed out our omission. Advice: pay more attention to the child, more hugs and kisses, praise and care. And not a single bad habit will stick to your baby! Author: Valkyrie

• Sedatives

Before going to bed, give a weak infusion of chamomile, lemon balm or mint to drink. You can offer warm milk with honey. It will also have a calming effect. Place a couple of drops of calming essential oil next to your child's bed. Do not give homeopathic medicines to your child without consulting a doctor.

• Contact a neurologist

If there are serious mental disorders, or all previous methods are powerless, visit a neurologist. He will recommend sedatives, herbal teas or a vitamin complex. If a disease of the nervous system is suspected, the doctor will prescribe neurosonography and prescribe medications based on the examination results. A stool test for the presence of helminths and a cardiogram if cardiovascular disease is suspected may also be required.

Using bitter varnish

Since this problem is well-known, a special bitter varnish has appeared to eliminate it, which can be bought at the pharmacy. For example: “Don’t bite”, “No bite”, “BELWEDER”. The bitter taste discourages children from biting their nails, and the composition of the varnish is not harmful to health. But varnish alone is not enough to eliminate the problem. Always remember the reason for the habit.

Renew your polish every three days. If there are concerns that the varnish contains harmful substances, you can use mustard, agave juice or hot pepper. But remember that a child’s fingers can get into not only his mouth, but also his eyes. The sensations after this will be more than unpleasant. A safer method would be to apply a patch to your nails.

Victoria: We bought a special transparent nail polish, it’s called “Don’t bite!” , and a baby is drawn on it. It is safe for a child, but as soon as he puts his fingers in his mouth, an unpleasant bitterness immediately appears. A very effective remedy! Costs about 300 rubles. It helped us.

Ksyusha: If you paint it with varnish, it sits and gnaws even more, although it’s terribly bitter! And in the salon they drew airplanes on my nails and said you can’t eat such beauty... After a while I stopped completely.

Guest:And my nails didn’t bite, but tore them off, picked them up and tore them off in strips, this is even worse than biting them! My nails were constantly sore and it was like that for about six months, I just didn’t know what to do, and then the decision came by itself. She hit her finger and it turned black, such a black dot appeared and a vessel under the nail burst. I (the good mother) thought of saying that the nails began to turn black because my daughter constantly picks at them, and they will become even blacker and fall off completely over time, but she is a little princess, princesses cannot live without nails. 🙂 You know how it whispered. Try it really with a beautiful manicure in the salon, tell your daughter that she is beautiful and her nails should also be beautiful, and as an option (the stump is clear, you don’t need to beat off the child’s fingers) try experimenting with black varnish. It seems to me that this is more harmless than bitter varnish, especially, remember for yourself, the more they forbid, the more you want)) And also, bullshit, that such a habit is a consequence of neurosis, not always, initially it can arise from the fact that the child there is nothing to do, mine did this before bed, when the lights are turned off, but I still don’t want to sleep.

Katya - Katerina: Do not smear anything under any circumstances!!! It's nerve-wracking, I'm telling you for sure. My son bit his nails for a very long time - I was busy with work and paid little attention to him, then there were problems in the kindergarten in the last year, and when I went on maternity leave and my son almost stopped going to kindergarten - gradually everything got better and he stopped biting his nails. Look for the cause of the child's nervousness. Now my son has gone to school, sometimes I notice his fingers in his mouth again, but his nails are still fine, I keep an eye on him... And then I didn’t cut his nails for more than a year... there was nothing to cut. You know your child like no one else, you must understand what is happening to him... Good luck to you, it will not be easy.

natka: my daughter also bit her nails, you take Levomiticin tablets, crush 2 tablets in a glass of water and put the child’s nails in the solution and let it dry. I did this a couple of times and now she doesn’t chew.

And finally, spend more time on your baby, wrap him in care, love and affection. Spend more time playing entertaining games, go for walks with the whole family, create a cozy and pleasant atmosphere in your home. Don't ignore children's habits, but look for ways to deal with them. Be attentive to yourself and your children.

READ ALSO: Harmful and bad habits in children under one year old - and are they really that bad? —

Union of Pediatricians of Russia

Childhood territory. Child bites nails

Often parents are faced with a problem that has a considerable psychological component, called “onychophagia.” It is believed that this is a minor childhood habit of constantly biting fingernails.

But in fact, psychologists believe that it can affect almost every second person, both adults and children. But why children bite their fingernails, the reasons for this should be considered together with specialists.

Often this the problem is found in children aged 3-4 years, as well as in adolescents. Scientists are constantly developing and developing new ways to treat this disease. There are specialized centers and institutes around the world that help identify the reasons why children bite their fingernails.

This disease is considered relatively dangerous, because it is a sign of mental problems such as:

• strong emotional stress;
• inability to cope with difficulties;
• the need to make changes in life.

Also there is a danger:

According to statistical data collected in different parts of the world, It is children who are susceptible to the problem.. By age 3, children develop a sucking reflex, some by age 4. A habit develops, which subsequently manifests itself in stressful situations or during mental agitation.

Reasons why children bite their nails

The disease occurs due to the appearance of problems in a child’s life that he cannot cope with on his own. This may often not be expressed outwardly, but in the child’s soul there is strong tension.

Psychologists say that onychophagia is an unusual way of punishing oneself, which is expressed in biting nails and the skin around them. In this way, the child tries to cope with the nerves and feelings that bother him.

Physiological reasons

Onychophagia can be caused by physiological reasons:

• Tendency to neuroses- this is why children bite their fingernails and the reasons for this may be hidden in a hereditary factor. In this case, a specialist can help.

• Depressive state. Depression in modern children is not uncommon. Anything can cause this. A child psychologist will help you find the root of the problem.
• Increased excitability of the nervous system. Excessive excitability of a child can harm not only the nails, but also the mental and physical state of the child. Such children are more mobile, which can lead to injuries.
• Avitaminosis. You can cope with this problem by contacting a specialist who will help you understand what exactly is missing in a child’s or adolescent’s body.
• Diseases of the nervous system. The activity of the nervous system is responsible for the functioning of the entire body. Nerve endings provide sensitivity and the ability to move.

Any childhood illness can affect the baby’s nervous system. And this can already lead to more serious consequences: problems with breathing and circulation, brain damage.

• Cardiovascular diseases. Diseases of this type can be either congenital or acquired. An infection can trigger the disease.

When biting your nails, there is a high probability of introducing an infection into the body. The disease can also be transmitted from the mother.

Sometimes parents care and love their children so much that they are ready to allow them to eat anything. Poor nutrition leads to either weight loss or excessive obesity.

• Early weaning from breastfeeding. Sometimes newborn babies are not breastfed at all, but are immediately switched to a bottle and various formulas. This can harm a growing body.

Babies begin to mechanically suck their fingers, and then even chew them. Doctors advise weaning a child from breastfeeding at the age of 12-18 months.

Social and psychological reasons

In addition to physiological ones, there are also socio-psychological problems that are no less important.

Social and psychological problems:

• Family situation. It is not always quarrels and conflicts in the family that lead to mental disorders.

Sometimes this can even be caused by the grandmother’s ordinary complaints about poor health or parents’ aggression towards the political situation in the country. Children take even the slightest problems too seriously.

• Stress. Stressful situations make children and adolescents nervous and worried, which leads to onychophagia.
• Experienced fright. Often it is fear that leads to mental problems. Every time a child remembers a fright he experienced, he looks for a way to cope with his feelings.
• The problem of adaptation in society. It is often difficult for a child to make friends with others, so moving or changing schools or kindergartens can have a negative impact on his condition.