The name of this one might sound fatal, but in actuality it’s not as deadly as it sounds. In fact Chronic Onychophagia is a medical name for what we commonly call nail biting.  You must have seen many people fervently biting their nails. The habit is not at all uncommon; as a matter of fact almost percent of adolescents’ world over have this habit. Reasons for biting nails are many indeed, but what you need to be aware of is whether the nail biting is just the child’s reaction to anxiety or stress? Or is it a compulsion, a habit s/he can’t do away with.

If your child’s fingers are bitten badly i.e. bleeding skin and deeply cut nails then it is high time you should put a stop to this nasty habit, for apart from being highly embarrassing and ugly, bitten finger nails are also a house for germs that enter your body either when the fingers are put in mouth or through the seeping sores. So even if nail biting isn’t fatal, the infections caused by it very well can be.

CAUSES OF NAIL BITING:

1. Many times, nail biting is just a response to anxiety or stress. Notice the occasions when your child      brings his/her fingers to the mouth. If it’s only during stressing situations then you need not lose sleep  over it as it can be easily overcome.

2. Children generally pick up habits they see the around them the most. It could be possible that your    child caught this habit from others nail bitters may be in school or even in school.

3. If your child’s fingers are always in his/her mouth and severely painful then there are also chances that your child might be suffering form OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. Psychologists all over the world have labeled nail biting as a repetitive self-mutilating habit that is caused by over-anxiety or underlying emotional troubles that need to be addressed.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE HABIT:

 1. Try to address your child’s underlying problem first. If s/he is suffering from anxiety then you need to know what is causing your child such stress. Try and get to the core of the problem for once your child is stress free, s/he shall also become free from nail biting

2. Discourage your child every child s/he starts biting their nails. Convince them that nail biting is disgusting habit that leads to not only ugly fingernails but also renders a person sick. Explain to them how beautiful their unbitten hands will look especially when teamed with elegant long fingernails (this formulae has more chance of working on girls).

3. Another technique which can be used especially if your child is young is aversive technique. Put clear nail polish on your child’s fingernails, so that every time s/he puts a finger in his/her mouth they taste the bitter taste of the nail polish. Or if you want to avoid nail polish, then you can also apply bitter gourd juice (also known as bitter melon or karela) on finger nails. The impulse to bit nails will definitely take some time to die down but after tasting the bitterness again and again, your child will deter from biting his/her nails.

4. Make your child aware of how shameful the habit is and the conceptions it carries it with. Self- consciousness is yet another technique to deter the child from biting nails.