Children always bite their nails. It's not a lack of vitamins?

A mother said that since her child started kindergarten, she has gotten the bug to bite the head of the bed. In the headboard and tailboard of the bed to bite a teeth marks, as if pecked by a woodpecker, some parts of his bite to reveal the wood.

The child concentrated so hard while gnawing that whenever he was interrupted, his little face turned red and the corners of his angry mouth looked like an upside-down banana.

She thought the child was missing some trace elements, but the test was also done and the results were normal. This makes her very confused: the child is already 4 and a half years old, more than one year old micturition period, when often bite things, after that period did not bite, and now suddenly started to bite things, is it micturition period is back?

In fact, many children have the habit of chewing things, what table, chair, a variety of wooden products, towels, cups, sheets, their fingernails, small dander, clothes on the threads, can not escape their "magic mouth".

However, parents should pay attention to is, before the age of 3 years old children, like to use the mouth to explore the world, is the "oral sex" of normal performance. However, if the child is over 3 years old and still chewing, it is possible that the mouthing period is stagnant.

01. Why does orofacial stagnation occur?

The appearance of this behavior is related to the child's age, personality, environment and physiological factors.

In some cases, it may be due to a deficiency of certain micronutrients, such as iron or zinc, which can cause nervousness and muscle tension, exacerbating the gnawing behavior. However, this is rare, and with the abundance of food available to children today, micronutrient deficiencies are rare.

Most of these cases may be related to psychological factors, for example, when children experience frustration, stress and anxiety at school or at home, they may use gnawing behavior to relieve their inner tension and anxiety.

A hospital once conducted a survey on 732 students in four elementary schools, and the results showed that 45.08% of the children had various degrees of "nervous behavior". Among them, the highest incidence of gnawing nails accounted for 29.64%, habitual twitching accounted for 16.93%, eating fingers accounted for 8.88%, habitual rubbing legs accounted for 1.64%.

Child psychologist Dr. Lori Woodring points out that a child's sense of security is often tied to what is fixed. When a child has to adapt to change, new pressures arise, and these pressures can manifest themselves emotionally, psychologically, and in physical health, and biting things is one of those manifestations.

As the beginning of the article, the child biting the head of the bed, after the mother's consultation and investigation, found that it's because the child always hold urine after kindergarten, can not hold it, then pee his pants, was criticized by the teacher, and therefore lead to a kindergarten heart is particularly tense.

02. Can I use aversion therapy to treat my child's behavior?

The so-called aversion therapy consists of applying bitter substances, finger water, chili water, anemone and other things to the places where the child likes to bite, such as fingers and pencil tips, so that the child will not dare to bite again after having eaten some bitterness when biting. This practice is not recommended at all.

First, these things coated in the child's body, there may be a certain degree of skin damage, such as chili water, coated in the hands will be red and swollen.

Second, there is a risk of accidental ingestion. For example, although many finger waters are advertised as safe and non-toxic, no one knows what is actually in them. Windex even contains menthol and camphor, which can damage a child's brain and cannot be taken orally.

Third, it can provoke the child to be rebellious and gnaw more.

03. What should we do?

A mother shared her experience: as long as she saw her child chewing, she pulled up and hit her hand, and the child wept and cried and said she would never do it again. But a not in the line of sight of the mother, the child will continue to chew, eyes also kept staring at the place where the mother left, to prevent the mother back.

So, although a beating can have a temporary effect, but treating the symptoms does not cure the root cause.

So what exactly should we do to make our children change their chewing habits?

Provide appropriate chewing objects.

A child's chewing behavior may be due to a lack of appropriate chewing materials. Parents can give the child appropriate foods to chew on, such as carrots, apples, etc., or buy special chewing toys to guide the child's chewing behavior.

Find the cause of your child's gnawing and solve the problem at the source.

You may want to take your child for a micronutrient check if there is a lack of something that can be actively replenished.

If it is not a physical problem, it is necessary to actively look for the source of the child's psychological stress, because of the change of caregiver, living environment nervousness or bullying and so on.

After finding the reason, we should actively provide psychological counseling to the child.

Encourage your child and help him or her build self-confidence.

For example, in the more crowded occasions, the child will be nervous, the hand will be involuntarily put into the mouth. Parents can hug the child or hold the child's hand to ease the child's nervousness.

When you get home, you can praise your child for what he or she has done well and help him or her build confidence so that he or she will gradually become less nervous in public.

Or there is another way, is to bring a favorite thing on the child, tell the child that everyone will be with him all the time, this can also reduce the child's anxiety.

Create a stable family environment for your child.

The stability of the family helps to reduce the child's psychological stress and anxiety. A harmonious and optimistic relationship between parents, full of positive energy, can indirectly increase the child's sense of security and reduce gnawing behavior.

Parents can relax by accompanying the child more, giving the child more love and security, or taking the child to more parent-child outdoor activities.

Seek professional help.

If the child's gnawing behavior is very serious, for example, some children gnaw their hands bloody, parents should seek the help of a professional psychologist in time for targeted treatment.