Is 'Nail the Habit' ok to use for my 2 year old??

Question

My daughter is constantly putting her fingers in her mouth and biting her nails. It is only since we have stopped letting her have a dummy. I am worried that she is going to pick up germs from her nails and make herself poorly. I have bought Nail the Habit which has an advisory of 5 years, so I just wanted peoples views on whether it was safe. I want to kick this habit before its too late. Her fingers are red with skin peels beneath the nail.

Answer 1

She is probably a nervous child. I would not suggest you give her a nail solution at that age, gloves will do just fine or punish her for biting her nails she will likely do it less over time and she will eventually stop it all togerther. The habit usually passes away and like my daughters pediatric e said "germs are good for your child" at that age you pick up immunities for later on in life.

Answer 2

Gloves, socks or plasters but not stuff like that 'nail bite' solution, not for a two year old.

Answer 3

Hot pepper sauce sounds like a great idea!

Just stand back and watch the allergic reaction.

The more you protect her from germs the more she will be ill because her immune system will not be built up.

Better off just washing her hands normally don't be paranoid and let her have fun in the dirt.

'We've all got to eat a peck of dirt before we die'

Answer 4

I would not use this product myself as a mother. I would be a bit nervous. I would defiantly be concerned about the bitting though considering it is so bad! Maybe give the dummy back. I would try to direct her attention on other things and interrupt the nail bitting as much as possible! This might take some time. If your a stay at home mom than keep an eye on it for a few days straight!

Answer 5

If you're worried about her being poorley DO NOT put this on her fingers. the advisory is there for a reason. chemicals are what makes it taste bad. Anyway, I have sucked my thumb since I was 2, my parents tried every type of nails thing like this, including nail polish which tastes horrible. If I'm anything to go by she will just keep doing it and get used to the tatse. She's not likely to get poorly from it but if you don't like her doing it just put gloves on her hands or plasters on her fingers

Answer 6

My stepdaughter is 5 yrs old and still sucks her thumb bigtime. Not just when she’s tired or bored, but all day long. I’ve tried keeping her hands busy and coloring or painting or playing Barbies, she still manages to always find a way to suck that thumb. We tried the nail polish stuff, it didn’t work. She’d move to another finger. We put them on all fingers, she still didn’t care. Her mother tried hot sauce (I don’t agree with this) and it terrified the child. She still sucks her thumb though but has a mental breakdown if you even pull out the hot sauce. So I think this scared her, it hasn’t helped her at all.

We now use stickers. She loves Cinderella so we use Princesses. We take two stickers and she gets to pick them out. She gets one warning if I catch her sucking her thumb and then I tell her to go get the stickers and she does. She doesn’t get upset with this, she actually likes it because she’s older and knows she isn’t supposed to suck her thumb. One night she told me her fingers hurt from the stickers but I knew this was probably a little trick at trying to get the stickers off. So I promised her I’d wear stickers on my thumb too and when we woke up, we both better have them on our fingers. And we both did! I told her my finger didn’t hurt at all and I never heard her mention that her thumb hurt again.

She still sucks her thumb, but with the stickers, it’s lessened.

I wish you luck because once you get older, the thumb sucking thing becomes even more difficult to break.

BEST of luck to you! I know you'll need it :)

Answer 7

No, i wouldn't use it.

You can use pepper, hot sauce, anything with a bitter, sour or spicey taste to it that will turn her off.

Answer 8

Do not use the product, she really is too young.  Why not give her the dummy back, she is still weaning obviously and needs the comfort.