How to wean a child from biting nails at different ages

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Parents are not in vain worried about how to wean their child from biting their nails. Doctors have recognized this bad habit, calling it onychophagia. It was even included in the international classification of diseases ICD-10 under the number F-98. But there is a solution to the problem, although it requires a fair amount of patience.

Why is it difficult for children to stop biting their nails

In the world, about a third of children suffer from onychophagia. Of these, every fourth retains a bad habit in adulthood. The reason is that this phenomenon is very difficult to fight due to the peculiarities of the brain:

1. If you do not pay attention to the fact that the child bites his nails several times, then he will do this constantly. The idea will be fixed in his brain that if it is not forbidden, then there is nothing wrong with that.
2. The personal example of parents is the main reason for the development of onychophagia. The child repeats after adults and knows for sure that nothing bad will happen because of this. And any horror stories about microbes and ugly fingers are perceived as a joke. Mom and Dad do this, and nothing bad happens to them.
3. When a person constantly repeats the same actions, they are memorized by the basal nuclei of the brain. At the same time, conscious control over them is practically lost and requires strong concentration. Therefore, the child constantly continues to bite his nails, even if he is scolded and punished.

Usually, a child begins to bite his nails at 4-5 years old. If you do not immediately attend to the question of how to wean him, then in the future the habit will only get worse. But before looking for ways to fight, you need to understand the causes of onychophagia.

Why do children bite their nails

In fact, the child is not consciously trying to harm himself. Its behavior has deeper roots:

1. Stress. Dr. Komarovsky believes that onychophagia is a type of sucking reflex. The child is used to sucking on the breast, then the nipple, the finger. Growing up, he knows that it is impossible to do this, but experiencing stress, he returns to old habits. Only instead of sucking a finger, it gnaws at it.
2. Metabolism. In the period from 3 to 5 years, children often have a lack of calcium. Because of this, nails often break off. Experiencing discomfort, the baby solves the problem in the most accessible way - bites off a nail.
3. Replacement of bad habits. Sometimes onychophagia manifests itself when the parents begin to struggle with another problem. Previously, the child fiddled with his hair, crumpled and pulled up his clothes, and when he was forbidden, he began to bite his nails.
4. Boredom. Perhaps the kid simply has nothing to do. He finds amusement by paying close attention to his nails until he settles on something more interesting.

It is very important to determine the exact cause of the problem. Otherwise, even if they manage to get rid of onychophagia, parents will soon face a new bad habit. The vicious circle can last for years.

Parents' mistakes

First of all, do not assume that onychophagia will go away on its own. Even after growing up and realizing that biting nails is bad and ugly, a child is unlikely to be able to easily get rid of the habit. Better to help him overcome the problem right away.

But this must be done correctly, avoiding common mistakes:

1. Intimidate. Of course, the kid can be told in paints about worms in the tummy, terrible viruses, broken teeth on nails, and he will stop gnawing them in fear. But in return, the child will experience even more stress, which will result in tantrums and a new bad habit.
2. Beat. Contrary to popular belief, it is worth knowing: the baby will not remember not to bite his nails. He will know for sure that this cannot be done in front of his parents. Will begin to lie and hide, which is much worse, especially in adolescence.
3. Lubricate your fingers with pepper, mustard. Maybe the child will stop biting his nails. But the roots of the habit will remain, so he will start biting his lips, eating hair, eating pencil erasers.

For the same reasons, you should not shout at the baby. It will do more harm than good. Better to be patient and take more effective action.

How to wean a child

First, you need to determine the root cause of the problem. If you cannot find it on your own, it will be useful to contact a psychologist in a kindergarten or school. Maybe the child is ashamed or scared to admit to his parents why he started biting his nails. It will be easier for a person from the outside to get to the bottom of the matter.

Then it only remains to choose tactics:

1. Boredom is the easiest to deal with. It is enough to spend more time with the baby, to captivate him with games, crafts, stories and other things. It is desirable that the child constantly do something with his hands: sculpt, draw, assemble constructors. In this case, he will not want to be distracted by biting his nails.
2. It is worth drinking a course of vitamins and calcium. The required dosage will be prescribed by the pediatrician. On the one hand, nails will break less and get in the way of the child. On the other hand, it will be more difficult to chew them off.
3. Monitor the condition of the nails. Instead of a bad habit, you can instill a useful one. Every evening you need to check the marigolds, trim the cuticles, and make baths with herbs. It makes no difference for the brain which habits to remember, and the benefits of nail care are much greater.

The hardest part is if the child bites his nails due to stress. In this case, finding a way to wean him from a bad habit can take much longer.

How to deal with stress

It may seem to an adult that children have no problems or that they are all "childish" and not serious. But for the brain, this is still stress, which can be the cause of onychophagia.

It must be overcome:

1. To devote more time to the child, because 90% of psychological problems in children and adolescents arise from a lack of communication. Therefore, instead of putting the kid on cartoons, you need to allocate at least a couple of hours a day for joint walks, games, and conversations on various topics.
2. Improve the atmosphere in the home. Fights and scandals between family members are a huge source of stress for a child. If you can't stop them at all, you should at least reduce the baby's participation.
3. Fewer computer and smartphone games. This is a very convenient way to distract your toddler, but lack of movement is a hidden source of stress and hyperactivity. If it is impossible to give up gadgets, then you need to at least set aside time every day for the child to frolic and throw out the accumulated charge. This will make him much calmer.
4. Allow the child to rest. High workloads at school, in circles, can become a sufficient source of stress for a student to start biting his nails. Sometimes it is worth letting him just unload his brain and do what he loves, albeit a "useless" thing.

Sometimes the cause of stress can be physiological: illness, helminthic infestations, genetic predisposition to anxiety. In this case, the doctor should help the child. On the one hand, he will select medicines, for example, for helminths, on the other, he will prescribe sedatives or herbs.

Unfortunately, there is no magic pill or a universal way to wean a child from biting his nails. But if you approach the problem comprehensively, avoid mistakes and target the causes of the disease, then onychophagia can be fought. It is enough to show patience, do not give indulgences, and everything will work out.

Summarize

1. To get rid of a bad habit, you must fight its cause.
2. The child should not be beaten and frightened while trying to overcome onychophagia.
3. A bad habit can be replaced with a good one.