CHILD’S HEALTH/SPECIFIC PROBLEMS BEHAVIOURS: NAIL – BITING TREATMENT AND PREVENTION
Treatment
There is no effective treatment for nail-biting in children. The use of gloves or mittens, threats or punishment, or bitter nail polishes or solutions to paint onto the fingers have not been shown to work, and may cause considerable embarrassment and distress to child and parents alike.
Some advocate the use of chewing gum, arguing that it is difficult to bite one’s nails when one has a mouthful of gum. However, leaving aside concerns about teeth, it is clearly not practical to have gum in the mouth for 24 hours every day. In older children, especially girls, teaching them to take pride in the appearance of their nails is often effective. This can be reinforced by the purchase of a nail file or manicure set.
Where children are visibly anxious or stressed, you should look for contributing factors, and try to deal with them. Sometimes relaxation techniques and similar strategies may be helpful, as may referral to a counsellor if you are deeply concerned about the possibility of underlying psychological problems, but this applies only to a small minority of these children. In older children who are embarrassed by the habit and are clearly motivated to give it up, behaviour modification techniques may be helpful. This should be organised with the help of a psychologist or other professional with experience in the area.
There is usually little reason to seek medical advice for nail-biting in children. If the nailbed or surrounding skin becomes infected, the doctor will treat it appropriately, although it may recur as long as the child continues to be a nail-biter. Sometimes the family doctor may uncover underlying stresses or emotional issues, especially in adolescents, that may contribute to the nail-biting. Issues of confidentiality then need to be taken into account, and this needs to be carefully negotiated between the doctor and family members.
Prevention
No strategies to prevent nail-biting are known. Theoretically, it might be considered that minimisation or reduction in stress levels may lessen the chances of nail-biting beginning or continuing, but this has not been demonstrated to be the case. It goes without saying that good and open communication with children is desirable and can serve to minimise stress.
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