My 3 yrs old daughter has a habit of eating nails, I want her to get rid of it, please advise me, thanks!?

Answer 1

First of all, I hope you're talking about her fingernails, and not the metal ones or someone else's fingernails. Secondly, for someone that age, you ought to make sure that you forcefully make it clear that eating nails is inherently wrong. Otherwise, she will continue, and this habit may go on for the rest of her life.
In Freudian psychology, nail-biting and pencil-biting are seen as a lack of sufficient oral skills in infancy; did you daughter put things in her mouth a lot when she was younger? If not, then we may have identified the source of this insufficiency and why she is inclined to do such things. Still, however, I don't really agree with Freudian psychology.
Another possible source of the problem is that she is following an example. Do you eat your nails? If you do, she probably looks up to you or at least follows your behavioral pattern and therefore eats her nails. If this is the case, I advise you to either stop or do it away from her. If it's not the case, look around for other "paradigm" sources. Maybe her dad, a teacher, or a TV character? If you can't find a source and stop her exposure to it, then we ought to move on to the next phase.
Clearly tell her that if she eats her nails you will punish her. If she does it again, and you find out, then put her in the corner. Don't do anything for her. You can feed her and such, but don't act close with her if that's what you normally do. Yes, it may be hard to punish your child, and it makes you looks like a loveless person, but in the long run, it's better for them and it shows even more love than appeasing them does. You might consider spanking her as well. Her dad should also go along with this punishment, because once your daughter sees an alternative to the punishment (i.e. her dad's comforting), then she'll exploit it to escape the objective (stopping the nail eating).
When you see that she's stopped this habit, then you can hug her, kiss her, give her candy, and congratulate her. You've trained a 3 year old to be a better person later in life. Train your children for obedience early so that later they're better people for both you and the rest of society.
Note: These above solutions about putting bad-tasting stuff on her nails probably won't work because if she really wants to bite those nails (she has an impulse to do so because it's a habit), she'll find some way to either bypass the stuff or just eat it with the nails. And it's not like it will help later, when she's older, because once you run out of that bad-tasting stuff, she'll continue. It's not like you'll be there to apply it all her life. So you need to teach her an early lesson: that nail-biting is not appreciated. Also, if she sees you putting on the bad-tasting stuff and she foils your plot, then she'll start to develop the notion that you're powerless to stop her demands. Your household may thereby turn into a chaotic environment with your daughter as boss. She'll become spoiled. Don't let that happen. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to use force when they're at an early age so you don't have to later

Answer 2

You could mix a bit of something your daughter really hates the taste of with clear polish.
You could also make a chart and put it up somewhere. Buy special stickers for it and explain to her that each day at a certain time you will put an X or a sticker on the chart. The X means that you or someone else caught her biting her nails. The sticker mean that she was not seen biting her nails that day. At the end of the week count up her sticker and if she has five or more you could treat her to ice cream. Or give her a certain amount of money for each sticker. Be creative.

But at the end of each day do not forget to tell her she did a great job if she didnt bite her nails. If her caught her tell her you are proud of her for trying.

Good luck!

Answer 3

If she is eating real nails then she needs iron and you might want to get her a multivitamin. If she is eating figernails then put something bad tasting on her fingernails.

Answer 4

her own only I hope.

You can get stuff to put on her fingers so it's bitter to the taste. That should cure it.
Now if she's just chewing random nails..well that's just plain bizzare & nasty :-)

Answer 5

There is garlic nail polish you can put on her nails and it will prevent her from biting them.

Answer 6

Put something icky tasting on her nails so when she puts her mouth to them, she'll want to wretch.

Answer 7

well, worse things can happen, Mom. But, try bribing her with a reward if she stops. rewards work pretty well with 3 year olds. but, like I say, it's not cancer.....

Answer 8

At least she is not eating hammers. I hear they are harder on the digestive system.

Answer 9

put wasabe on her fingers.....it shouldn't kill her.