I am a nail biter and have been since a child and I am now 61 years old such a bad habit

I’m a nail biter which I have been doing all my life according to my mum. I’m 42 now and I would see I have it under control as much as I am ever going to. My mum tried the horrible tasting nail polish, telling me off and everything else you can imagine. I found the only time I could stop what when I wanted to for my wedding. Looking back I think it is something I do when nervous or uncomfortable. I hope you find a way to stop your daughter biting her nails.

Find out why and when she does it, talk about what is making her anxious and see if there is a healthier and more hygenic way to deal with her anxiety. Rewards chart, clear nail polish or talk to her about having nails like mummy, take her for a manicure when they get long enough if you can get it to that stage. She may see that as good so may not bite nails.

Have you tried the nail biting polish? It tastes nasty and should get her to stop. It will wash off so you’ll just need to make sure you reapply regularly.

Is your daughter shy? Is she doing it as a way of getting attention? I had an 18 month old bring me the nail clippers one day when I was minding him at their place. I simply took them from him and put them up high. His Mum reckoned he was asking for one of his nails to be clipped. (They shouldn’t have been down where he could reach them in my opinion) They were in his parents’ room nd they should know better. He is now nearly 3 y.o. A couple of weeks ago he noticed a mark on my right hand. He started to scratch it and I said “no, don’t do that”. A couple of hours later he took hold of my other hand and rubbed my finger nail on it. grrrrr! Again he was told “no, don’t do that it hurts” which it did the 2nd time as he pressed down harder on my nail.
His older sister doesn’t bite her nails but she picks at the bottom lip. We think that may be nervousness.

How did you go? I can only suggest you tell her not to do each time you see her biting her nails. There are products you can paint on the nails, however I found them not to be successful.

Such a bad habit try and do something now to stop her as I am now 53 and still bite my nails

Goodluck it is a bad habit and hard to break

how has it worked out for you?

My friends daughter has the same issue.

some really good comments here.

what did you end up using

there are some good comments here

i think there is some nail polish that doesn’t taste very nice.

Hope u found something that helped

I hope you’ve had success

I know of mums that have kind of bribed they daughters in to stop biting their nails by rewarding them with treats like, “if you go a month without biting your nails you can come with mummy to the nail salon and get your nails painted”? I’ve seen it work a few times

Maybe paint her nails and tell her she can’t bite her pretty nail 🙂 worked for me

Manicare does it nail biting stopper, it tastes horrible

keep on there case! zac stopped after a yr.. keep them clipped and I would file the spikey edges of the nail.. whenever he would scratch himself zac would chew that nail to buggery!