If you notice your child bites own nails, this can be an occasional biting or a forming habit. Many people suffer from nail biting even in adult age, so it’s recommended to stop this habit as early as you can. In addition nail biting causes a range of health problems to your child. These are various fungal infections on nails. Also your child constantly gulps new bacteria from fingers. As children can play on street, bacteria from ground or other surfaces can pass to child’s mouth. Finally, nail biting prevents normal nail growth.

As your child grows, nail biting becomes not only dangerous one, but simply unaesthetic. Quite often adults that have started biting nails in childhood cannot control themselves and can start biting nails in public, for example, at work. If your child bites his nails, the majority of parents simply grab kid's hand saying to stop doing this. This method is not very effective. The most you can reach is to make your child avoid biting nails in your presence, but he will continue doing it when you’re not near.

There are several reasons that make children biting nails. Usually these are nerves related issues, but sometimes children bite their nails because of boredom of even hunger. If you child has grown up enough to distinguish good things from bad ones, explain him why nail biting is prohibited. In case you have a daughter, tell her female hands should look attractive and biting nails makes them look worse. If you have a baby, try to make your child to forget about biting nails. You can do it by attracting attention of your child with, for example, a toy.

Also the following preventive actions are useful. Trim your child’s nails as they grow up, so your child won't simply have anything to bite. Keep child's hands clean and teach him to wash them often. This won’t break the habit, but it will help to reduce the amount of bacteria that pass to child’s mouth. Try to prevent yourself from shouting or punishing your child as most important is to stay friends with each other. 

If nothing helps, look at your child’s behavior closely to make a decision whether your child is nervous or not. Excessive anxiety often causes nail biting; in this case you won't be able to make your child stop chewing nails and should visit a doctor.

Biting nails is definitely a habit that should be removed. Make your child to want to remove it too and you will see, together you are able to overcome it!