Pulling the skin of the ends of her fingers!

I have a 5 year old who is constantly picking at the ends of her fingers until they bleed sometimes. She says they hurt bad, but still does it! I don't know how it starts but it seems to be a domino effect of having peeling skin.

Have you ever heard of this? What do you do to stop it?

 

You might want to talk to the doctor about it. If they could give you some advise on how to heal the wounds already there, that may help. I know that I often chew the skin around my nails. Once there is a little peeling, I chew at it, making it worse. It truly is a domino effect. It might also help to bandage them and have her wear gloves in the house, especially at night. That way she won't do it without thinking.

 

is it the cuticle skin by the nails? they make cuticle trimmers so that you can trim off those hang nails. maybe you could talk her into letting you give her a manicure so that she won't peel those off and make them worse. putting cuticle cream on it helps also.

 

I am so sorry for you & your daughter. I have to tell you that I did this almost my entire life. It is definitely a coping mechanism for stress - while my life looked grand from the outside, I was always anxious about getting a less than perfect grade, being less than perfectly groomed, etc. The only way I controlled this habit as an adult is with fake nails - they are to thick to peel at your skin. I saw my Marissa picking at a loose bit of skin on her thumb once & inwardly freaked out! I immediately started rubbing Cetaphyl lotion on her fingertips several times a day - the more slippery, moisturized your cuticles are, the less likely you are to "pick at them". I did stop several times as a child when promised a ring, having manicures, etc - but I would start again at test time, if my parents had an argument, when a sibling was sick, etc. I am sure it can also just be a habit, like biting your fingernails, but mine was definitely related to an intense, perfectionist personality that could have probably benefited from some stress relief advice. I still remember feeling crushed when my pedi called ma a "silly goose" when my mom was showing her my fingers. She recommended my mom spank me if she caught me doing it & rewarding me with sweets for every day I didn't do it. The sweets worked a little - but Mom didn't believe in spanking, thank goodness. Ask your pedi - maybe he can give better advice than mine did!

 

I see Rachel picking at the skin around her fingernails while she is watching tv sometimes. My brother is a big picker. I just assume that she inherited that trait unfortunately. I don't know what to do about it either, but would love the advice.

 

She's actually picking the skin off the front part where your fingerprint is.
I have wondered if it is a nervous habit. She is brilliant but intense, and I worry how much she internalizes. (loosing her baby status to the twins this year has not been easy)
Thanks for your wisdom. I think I will check with the doctor.

 

One of my 5 year olds has just done this in the last couple of weeks too. Not near the fingernails, but on the other sides where the fingerprints are. Weird. I noticed it one night and asked her about it. She said she just was picking at them. Not sure why she was doing it, but I just had a talk with her about how that's not healthy for her and she wants to have beautiful fingers, not ugly ones like Mommy (I've had the nail biting, nail picking habit since I was tiny) I've not noticed her doing it and her fingers are looking better this week than last week. I'm hoping it's solved here. She's got pretty strong will power for certain things. Right around her 4th birthday she told me one day, "Mommy, I'm not going to suck my thumb anymore." and she hasn't since that day. She's got stronger will power than me! So, I'm just hoping that showing her my ugly fingers and talking with her about wanting to have pretty fingers will do the trick. She's a real girly girl so it's something that probably will work for my little girl. Hopefully you find something that works well for yours.

 

my five yr old has been chewing on his nails, on the tips of his fingers, and sides of his fingers. i also noticed that his cuticles are splitting and peeling very badly as mine have for the past several years. i tried creams for his cuticles. it helped a little, but he still kept biting his fingers, not just the nails , until they would bleed. ive asked him why he does it and he sayd that they hurt. i cant see that hes under a lot of stress, although he does shows some signs of ocd, as do i. but, i was also wondering if there was a nutritional definciency that could be causing our cuticles to split and peel the way they do? maybe that combined with perfectionist personalities has compounded the problem? any ideas? ive searched on the web, but cant seem to come up with anything....