Nail Biting

Are you tired of telling your child not to bite her nails? Have you tried all the tricks that you know of but that don’t seem to solve the problem?

Well, you are not alone! More than 50% of all individuals between 10 and 18 years of age will bite their nails! The good news is that almost all will stop biting their nails by the age of 30, even if you don’t do anything about it. The habit usually starts earlier but becomes a more widespread and more intense problem with the onset of adolescence (and a host of other problems too!).

The technical term for this habit is Onychophagia. It is one amongst several other nervous habits like thumb-sucking, twisting one’s own hair or others, picking at one’s skin, grinding of teeth or nose-picking (though that seems to be the national pastime amongst us Indians!). It increases during times of stress and anxiety. Most of the times, the victim is unaware that she is biting her nails and does so sub-consciously like when watching television or in class or reading or talking on the phone or in the movie-house.

Problems associated with nail-biting:

Cosmetic: Disfigurement of nails and they end up looking all crooked and ragged.
Embarrassment: There are always people who will point out / taunt / reprimand you when you are caught biting your nails. At best, it is always worth a laugh!
Infections: The nail-biter does not only bite her nails but inadvertently tends to bite the cuticle (skin) surrounding the nails. The human saliva contains plenty of nasty germs that can enter through cracks in the skin (visible or otherwise) and can lead to localized pus formation in the form of abscess or paronychia.

Tips on stopping nail-biting:

Identify the problem early! Nobody knows why an individual starts biting nails but what is clearly known is that it is much easier to start than to stop. If you notice that your child is biting her nails take corrective measures now rather than wait and hope that the child will outgrow the problem.
Keep the child’s nails neatly trimmed and show her pictures of pretty nails and try to inculcate a sense of pride in how pretty her hands look. If you notice that the child has managed to keep away from nail-biting for a while then do compliment her.
Identify any stressful events or times during the day when the child is likely to bite her nails. If possible ask her to maintain a diary in which she notes down when did she notice that she was biting her nails and what she was doing at that time. By involving your child in helping to overcome this problem, you are bringing it to the forefront of her consciousness and making it more likely that she will kick the habit.
You can start with a single nail! Promise her and reward her if she manages to allow a single nail to a prescribed length for a few days. Once she succeeds with one nail, add one more!
You can always paint a bitter substance like castorseed oil on to the nails. But do be careful not to overdo it otherwise the child will land up with diarrhea!
In older children you could try stress relieving techniques like meditation or yoga or even simple breathing exercises to bring the issue into her consciousness.
You can even make the child wear gloves as one of the last ditch attempts to stop the habit.
Inspect her nails regularly and contact your doctor urgently if she complains of pain in the fingers or any redness or throbbing around her nails. It may be possible to abort the infection by giving appropriate antibiotics. Once an abscess forms, then the only recourse may be a minor surgery to drain out the pus.