United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Help! My daughter, Erin, has been biting her RBPI hand for the past 6 months. Today she came home from school and middle finger nail is not there and about 3 layers of skin are gone. Any suggestions?? We have tried the nail bitting stuff, talking about it, yelling, any ideas? Thanks for the imput.

I had the same problem and I received some very good suggestins from Francine! We have to wrap Ella's fingers with Elastikon tape (from J&J): This tape is waterproof and very hard for them to remove. WE usually crisscross over the top of the finger with a piece of tape cut in half lengthwise and then wrap that with full piece of tape. Then...Here is the great part...put clove oil on the tape....You can find it at health food stores (we get it at Wild Oats). It works great. Make sure to change the tape every couple days or it will wear out and she can get it off. Good luck...I hope it ends soon for both of us!

Oh, let me tell you, My son did bite his nails so bad that they were all infected and the nails were falling off. They just looked like little nubs. The thing that worked best for him was the clove oil. We would put it on him in the morning before school and then before bed. It doesn't smell very good, but it seemed to do the job. Good Luck!

My son ate all of his fingernails off his BPI hand the summer he was five. We just used bandaids and the nail biting stuff to protect his fingers. My sister is a Physcian's assistant and she told him graphic stories about infection. Fortuneatly he outgrow it after a couple months it was over and he stopped bitng his nails. Good Luck!!!

You might also try gentle massage of the arm/hand. Some think the nail biting like that is due to the tingling sensation from the nerves. Pick up a book on reflexology (or do an Internet search); it may sound silly, but it seemed to help my daughter in this area.

Peggy

This is a hard one...

How about putting polish on her nails will that help to remind her not to bit... a pretty polish with a decal...

I bit my nails horrible and was bribed to stop. Even my school bus driver would give me a treat if I did not bite my nails...

Kath