I am so beyond frustrated Aiden (4 in a months time) has a horrible habit, he bites his nails on his hands and feet... he also bites the skin around his nails to the point of bleeding.

He is constantly doing it and I don't know how to make him stop. His nails look revolting they are bitten so low. I NEVER have to cut his nails, I have to cut Riley's every few weeks, I go to do Aidens and every time they are lower and lower!

Look how bad they are getting: (look at that hacked up pinkie :shuffle: )

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6da29b3127cce886f4cccad5500000016108AbN2Llq0aNH




any advice on how I can get him to stop?

Oh Deb, that little pinkie looks like it would hurt!! :errr:
I had that horrible habit when I was young, even now I find myself sometimes messing with them but stop myself immediately.
I'm nopt sure if/what my Mom tried to stop me from doing it. I was thinking maybe something that will taste/smell icky but will not hurt him... maybe a little bit of garlic... not sure, just something that popped in my head.
Sorry, you're having to deal with this :hug99:

It does hurt him! he tells me all the time that they are sore and he needs a bandaid, its so frustrating because he is doing it to himself!

I thought of something that tastes yuck but everything I can think of that tastes yuck would probably sting the broken skin :rolleyes:

My DH has this horribly disgusting habit and Dylan is starting to pick it up.

Rick's fingers look horrible but he won't stop. It's his "drug" of choice.
I tried the nail stuff on Dylan but it didn't deter him after the first time.
I just keep telling both of them to get their fingers out of their mouth.
I don't remember when I had to trim Dylan's finger nails. He tries to bite his toes nails but we stop him as soon as we see him lift his leg.

I refuse to walk on Rick's side of the bed because he flings his skin there. I told him that I am not going to keep vaccuuming his side.


If you figure something out please let me know. I even tried sticking a soother in his mouth but his too old for that now.

I just thought of something... how about some of that baby orajel :dunno: It might not burn him and it won't hurt him but since it might make his lip/tongue feel numb he might not like that... just a thought.

That's a thought then I thought what if he rubs his eyes?? :owow:

Ah, you're right... didn't think about that one.
Wasn't there something kind of like a nail polish that you could put on their nails and it tastes icky? I think I remember hearing about somehting like that or maybe I'm just imagining things :crazy:

Here is one of those products that I found... http://www.stopbitingnails.com/

Hmmm Mary, there's a thought... I might give that stuff a go... I was looking at things in the baby aisle the other day at the grocery store and found some stuff that stopped babies from sucking there thumbs and thought of trying that, but didn't know how it would go on the broken skin... (by the way my Jacob is a thumbsucker and I was horrified to see there was such stuff, it would devistate the poor child to not suck his thumb at such a young age, I hate to think of someone using it on a baby :blue: )

I think it is a self-soothing behaviour Deb. Like if he's nervous or apprehensive and he chews his nails.

Mason doesn't do that thank goodness but he does suck the neck or sleeves of his shirts. (Yay for short sleeve weather coming!) It is quite gross as it gets sopping wet. If I see him doing it I gently remind him to take his shirt out of his mouth. I'm sure Mason will outgrow that (although my Mom used to suck the collars of her shirt in school because she couldn't see and didn't have glasses) but the nail biting seems to stick around for life.

I would try the foul nail polish stuff to see if that stops him and maybe try some behaviour modification. If he's chewing his nails give him another self-soothing activity to do instead. I don't know what activity that could be but maybe his therapist can suggest something. Big people often snap an elastic band around their wrist to stop their negative activities. That hurts and snaps them back to reality.

I still bite my nails and skin and started as a young child. It was a nervous habit for me. Nail polish or anything else you can put on your nail (bitter something I think it was called) did not work for me. I just still bit because I used it to soothe myself. It did not matter what the taste was I had to do it.

What about trying to find the causes of why he is biting them? boredom? panic? tired? etc and then trying to find another way of coping with this feeling. Parker puts everything in his mouth so we started using mouthing toys. They were specific toys he could mouth. We used chewy tubes. http://www.rehabtoys.com/advSearch_P.asp?priceFrom=0&priceUntil=999999999&idCategory=0&idSupplier=10&resultCnt=10&keyword=chew+tubes&x=0&y=0&OVRAW=autism%20chewy%20tube&OVKEY=chewy%20tube&OVMTC=advanced

Hope your little one can find some comfort.

O and here are some other cool chewy toys...they are in the calming section of this website. It basically looks like a pen but they can chew on the end of them.
http://www.rehabtoys.com/viewCat_P.asp?idCategory=44

I just wanted to revive this thread from over 3 years ago because this was still a serious problem we were having with Aiden. He just never got over biting his nails, no amount of bitter tasting polish or begging & pleading helped :crazy:

2 weeks ago school holidays started and I was cutting the other boys nails and once again didn't need to do Aiden's cause they were all chewed off :dead: So I said to him, if he doesn't bite his nails through out the entire 2 week holiday break and can show me whites on his nails I will give him $50. Well, cold hard cash worked!!! He has not bitten his nails for 2 weeks and actually has whites on the tips of his nails, I can't believe it! I guess I just had to find his 'currency' so to speak :lol: I hve told him that he can not spend the $50 for a whole month and if he chews in that time then he has to give it back. Let's hope this is IT!!!! This is the first time I have seen whites on his nails since he was a baby!

We tried cash with Riley, and it didn't work. I put socks on her hands. Didn't work. Cinnamon oil. Didn't work. I don't think she'll ever quit

That's great Deb!

That sucks, Shel! I do think it's a comforting thing for them, he still puts his fingers in his mouth he just isn't physically biting them. I'll take that.

thanks Dennis, this is a year of problem solving for Aiden :crazy: wonder if it's the age?

hmm..wonder if someone offered me 50$ if I could stop doing it. :lol: I bite them all the way down and bite the skin. It for me is a stress thing. I almost don't realizing I am doing it until I have drawn blood or move on..Crazy I know but I have done it since I was a little girl.

Maybe you should get acrylics, Jayne. You won't be able to bite through that! :lol: Mine are french tip acrylic, I have them shortish though cause I can't deal with nappy changing etc with them too long but it stops them from splitting, that was always my problem, they would split so I would bite it down to even it out.

That's great that you found a solution!!! You're very lucky!

Hanna bites her nails too (so does dh) but not to the point of drawing blood TG!

I am glad that you found his "currency". Hopefully at the end of the month he will have $50 to spend. :crossfing

That is great Deb! Congrats. I will have to try that with Dylan. She bites her nails down to nubs. I know it's a nervous habit. She made the JV cheer squad so I hope she will take action to stop because all the girls have nice nails. She has done it before and her nails looked so good. We've tried fake nails but then she taps them and it causes harm to her natural nails. I guess going into high school would make anyone nervous. LOL. Since she bites, so does Alex. He goes in spurts of biting and not biting. Right now, there is no biting. I hope it continues when school starts.

Yeah Aiden. I'm sure you have something great picked out to spend your money on!