Picking toe and finger nails until bare

[VenusDoom]

Hi there,

My 5 yr old is picking his toe and finger nails bare at night time. He is ASD and has a lot of anxiety. I dont seem to be able to stop him from picking so badly. His nails are almost totally bare.

Has anyone else had this problem? And did they find a solution to it?

THanks

 

[rag31]

My 3yo has been a ferocious nail biter since he found his nails. He has pulled off both a thumb and big toe nail, and his nails are bitten down to 3 or 4 mm at most.

 

It doesn't seem to hurt or bother him so I'm not too worried about it atm. He does it when he is anxious or stressed, and when he s going through a stressful time he bites and chews almost constantly.

 

So, I have no cures unfortunately but just to say 'I hear you!'

 

Becky

[frogslegs]

Same here. My son is nearly 11 and still no solution. His nails don't even really grow anymore and it is really disgusting with numerous infections. Even when he is calm he does it, it is a habit. he does it when he watches tv as well, in the car... I keep telling him as to me it is self-harming but nothing has changed.

[ScienceGeek]

My wife with OCD does this, sometimes her fingers get infected because of it She bites her finger nails right down until bleeding and the skin around the nails.

Edited September 3, 2009 by ScienceGeek

[NobbyNobbs]

if it causes bodily damage or pain it is classed as self-harm and you can get a referral to CAMHS for it. then theres the long waiting list but they might be able to help move the anxiety onto something else or ease it.

[Sa Skimrande]

There is a solution available from good pharmacies called '' Stop'n'Grow '', it used to stop people biting or chewing their nails and cuticles. You paint it on, it dries, and then all is well, until you forget yourself and go to bite your nails, or cuticles of whatever, then you are reminded by the taste, it tastes foul, but it works. My parents used to treat me with a similar solution when I was a kid for nail biting, and as I still do it from time to time, I have a bottle of it here.

[ScienceGeek]

I wish it would work for my wife, but she tried it and it didn't help really. She still carried on with the biting no matter how awful it tasted

[VenusDoom]

There is a solution available from good pharmacies called '' Stop'n'Grow '', it used to stop people biting or chewing their nails and cuticles.

 

 

Thanks for all the replies. The problem is that he isn't biting them, so that stop n grow polish wont help. He picks them. Toes n all.

[oxgirl]

My son has the same problem with picking and biting constantly. I did once try the 'Stop 'n' Grow' liquid, but I ended up feeling very cruel, as everytime he tried to eat anything or suck his finger the taste would make him cry, so I gave up on it in the end. It's not so much the biting, as the picking which does the damage now.

 

~ Mel ~

[skye]

I have only recently encountered this problem. . DD has taken to biting her cuticles. They are all tore up and today one started bleeding as soon as we got to school. It's a nightmare. I will check back on this topic for good solutions!

[bettyhen]

My son, who is also 5, picks his fingers and toes obsessively too. He also sucks his thumb and this has resulted in his front teeth being completely out of alignment. I am worried about it but he needs the comfort so much, I'm stuck as to what to do about it.

[frogslegs]

My son bites his nails and picks the skin around and picks his toe nails constantly. My daughter used to suck her thumb so badly (with her baby blanket stuffed in her mouth as well) that her front teeth were not growing straight but with the support of the dentist we told her it was time to stop and got the varnish and within about 10 days it stopped but she had two or three sleepless nights and tears but it is completely finished now. We had an official throwing of the blanket and gone! My son's habits in some ways are a lot more sneaky. When he is in the car, I can hear tick tick of picking. It drives me MAAAD!!

[VenusDoom]

It is comforting to see that my son isn't the only one. There are others out there.

[NobbyNobbs]

There is a solution available from good pharmacies called '' Stop'n'Grow '', it used to stop people biting or chewing their nails and cuticles. You paint it on, it dries, and then all is well, until you forget yourself and go to bite your nails, or cuticles of whatever, then you are reminded by the taste, it tastes foul, but it works. My parents used to treat me with a similar solution when I was a kid for nail biting, and as I still do it from time to time, I have a bottle of it here.

in my experience when nail biting becomes such a compulsion that its doing real harm that stuff wont work as the need to bite and pick at the nails is stronger than the dislike of the taste. we've tried it with several different children, but they just bit the stuff off along with their nails. one child became very distressed because she absolutely had to bite her nails and the stuff was making something that was a release for her unpleasant.

 

some of them eased out of it when they became less anxious and stressed, but apart from that i've not had a kid thats kicked the habit once it became a compulsion

[lynne]

 

 

My 12 year old bites his nails very low down. He also cuts his toes nails until there is hardly anything there. If he can get away with it he also cuts my toenails.

 

He explained to me its a sensory problem. When his nails feel long (to me they are still short) they become painful so he must bit or cut them to make them feel comfortable.

 

So its seems to be a very common problem

[VenusDoom]

I'm wondering if giving him a stress ball or some sort of fiddley toy to play with in bed , will give his fingers something to do other than pick at his nails. I looked on ebay for sensory, fiddley toys. They were charging a fortune for squeezy things that you could get in the pound shop for pennies.

[Jannih]

I pick my fingers and feet. It's not such a big problem now as it was when I was younger. I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s and picked the skin off my lips and fingers. I stripped of the epidermis on my fingers leaving them " red & shiny". It was only when I deveolped warts on all my fingers that my mum took me to the Doctor. The doctor prescribed a bitter tasting solution, but it was ineffectual, as I picked the skin, I did not bite it ! No one one seemed to question why I did it !

[frogslegs]

I'm wondering if giving him a stress ball or some sort of fiddley toy to play with in bed , will give his fingers something to do other than pick at his nails. I looked on ebay for sensory, fiddley toys. They were charging a fortune for squeezy things that you could get in the pound shop for pennies.

My son has got loads of funny soft balls, listens to soft tapes, has vanilla scent in his room.... Does it make a difference? NOOOOOO!!!!