nail biter

I have a 7 year old son who has started biteing his nails.  He does this when he is anxious or nervous.  How can I get him to stop without him feeling ashamed?  His poor fingertips are bit down to nothing and he is damaging his nail beds now.  He knows that he is hurting his fingers but this has become a habit for him!  Help!

[ksanden]

good luck getting him to stop the habit try tabaco sauce on his fingers or lemon juice. ive done it since a child and i still cant push it off good luck.
ksanden

[Jram]

there are some products out there designed for people who chew their nails (myself being one of them).  The products are much like clear nail polish, but with a really icky taste if you try to nibble.  You can probably find some at your local drug store, or perhaps at a nail boutique.  It worked for me when I was a youngster and I haven't had a habit since.  

You could explain to your son that nail biting is an unhealthy habit (because of all the germs on our fingers) and that the nail polish will help him break his habit.  Perhaps you could give him a stress ball or other item to fidget with instead of his nails when he is anxious.  Good luck!

[April2]

How about if the child is really young? Too young to really reason with? My 3 year old has been biting his nails since he was 2. I kid you not. I've never seen a child that young bite their nails. I have not had to cut his nails in at least a year I'm thinking. Seriously!
My teenage daughter and her father also bite their nails. Maybe he sees it? I guess I have a house full of nervous people! However, my daughter now puts on nail polish so isn't as bad.
Still, what do you do with a three year old who does it? A lot of the time I don't even see him doing it, I just see that his nails are real short. At least they're not so short he's bleeding or anything. I just figured he'd outgrow it when he gets interested in other things.