Nothing alarming about that but this passion is something really annoying. No need to go to war, it would only increase anxiety and exacerbate the phenomenon. But if he feels ready to stop, you can give him a little push.
Biting nails: a custom safe
Rest assured, the Nail biting (the swallowing nails) poses no risk. The occasional ingestion of keratin, the main component of the nail, is safe. And children who bite their nails have more bacterial infections than others. This habit altogether rather banal shall in no case for alarm. Only the most extreme behaviors are a concern when a child bites his nails until they hurt, bleed to force fire on the small dead skin and will tear up the toenails. This is called gestures of self-wounding. They cover a very small minority, but may be indicative of true suffering a visiting child psychiatrist will be identified.
A new course to pass
Many children start biting their nails about 6-7 years to school entry. In kindergarten, the pleasure principle predominates in the activities. But the high school they are confronted with new requirements. Autonomy becoming greater than we give them, the notion of responsibility that instills the fear of failure creates anxiety among them quite legitimate. Nail biting is a way so as to appease another stress. Installed at a peak of anxiety, this can occasionally reappear in each new little anxiety. But it can also become a true automation. While no longer the shadow of stress, children simply keep the pleasure of this particular gesture.
Helping your child
Buy a special varnish sold in pharmacies: bitterness motivates children who feel ready. For others, useless to the forcing.
With his consent, tell him when he wears his fingers in his mouth, as he often does not realize it.
Ask him to take a gesture of replacing strumming with his fingers or playing with a pen for example.
Talk with him. To allay his fears, explain that they are quite normal, so that you are experiencing these things when you were her age, as surely most of his buddies. Anyway, the anxiety is included in the normal development of a child. What matters is that he can express it and it does not paralyze.
Try homeopathy. To treat anxiety already installed, consult a homeopath that refine the requirement. But a recent anxiety and well identified, you can give these specialties:
- He is afraid of school or day control: Argentum Nit
- He is afraid of not knowing his lessons: Silica
- It is a very symbiotic relationship with you and you’re missing: Pulsatilla
- He is afraid that there is a monster or a thief in her room: Phosphorus
Tags: Baby, Nail Bite
