The child gnaws at the nails: what to do?

Why does the baby gnaw at the nails?

Before weaning the child to nail, you need to understand why he does it. The reasons can be mass. For example, a small child can nail a nail, trying to replace them with the usual pacifier, which he is no longer given. And at an older age a child gnaws his nails from boredom or out of curiosity.

But still in the vast majority of cases the child gnaws nails in a stressful situation: so he tries to calm himself. This behavior can be immediate, if the stressful situation is "one-off" - for example, the child is shy in the new environment. And if a child gnaws nails all the time, then the stress, most likely, "protracted" and is due to more weighty reasons.

The reason for this stress can serveunfavorable situation in the family, divorce of parents, moving to a new apartment, problems in kindergarten or at school. A child can not or does not want to tell his parents what worries him, and switches his attention to the stressful situation on the nails.

How to wean a child to nail?

Noticing that the child gnaws nails, my mother usuallypunishes the baby, constantly pulls it down when he pulls his hands in his mouth, spreads his fingernails with pepper or aloe juice. But if the cause of the bad habit is stress, such measures will not help to wean the child to nail, but only exacerbate stress and, accordingly, a bad habit.

First, you need to determine why a child gnaws his nails, to find out the cause of his anxiety. If the cause lies on the surface (for example,divorce parents), you need to try to make sure that your baby has stopped to keep his fears and problems in himself, began to talk with you about them. It is not easy to do this - you will need a lot of patience. In no case do not put pressure on the child, otherwise it may close in itself.

Do not scold and punish the child, to beat him on the hands, to ridicule with strangers andm. First, we have already said above that this can only increase stress. Secondly, often the cause of stress is the lack of attention from parents. If you abuse a child for gnawing his nails, he will understand that in this way you can get your attention, and will nail your nails no longer mechanically, but intentionally.

Many parents smear the baby on the tipsfingers of the juice of aloe or Kalina, mustard, pepper solution and other tasteless substances. Perhaps this will disaccustom the child to put his hands in his mouth, but the main problem will not go anywhere. In addition, the child will perceive this as a punishment and feel guilty, although it is not he who is to blame for the cause of his own stress. To resort to this method is possible only in those cases when the child himself asked you to help him get rid of the bad habit and agreed with this method.

You need to act softer. Can to focus on the aesthetic moment: Tell the child that gnawing nails is ugly,that you are uncomfortable looking at this, and ask him not to do it with you. Try to make a colorful calendar and celebrate in it the days when the child managed to defeat the bad habit.

But most importantly - It is necessary to eliminate the cause of stress. Give your child more attention, suggesthe has fun and interesting pursuits, during which he will not be up to nails. If the problem is not in the family, but in the kindergarten or school - you should talk with the teacher or class teacher and try to solve it together with him. You can, of course, go on the path of least resistance and transfer the child to another garden or school, but the change of place of study can only become a new stress.

If your child gnaws his nails - do not panic,keep calm and do not fix this habit of excessive attention. Find the reason for this behavior and try to gently and patiently eliminate it - then the bad habit will go away by itself.