hand help: My four year old daughter constantly picks her nails. - Help.com

I don’t understand exactly what you mean by “picking” but maybe it’s a symptom of an anxiety disorder. Take her to her pediatrician and let him have a look.

come to think of it, i think chameleon is right. an ex of mine used to pick his fingers and bite the skins around them and he said he was a nervous person.

I don’t see how this is even a problem.

it is a problem, my niece would do it all the time when she was 3-4, til her fingers bled, and then she would like continue cause she said the hurt and if she put them in her mouth they felt better. the interesting part about this is that now shes 6 and she doesnt do it anymore. When she was doing it, her mom and dad were getting divorced and i think she was really stressed and confused for a 3 yr old and that was her way of dealing with everything.

Yeah, it does tend to stem from nerves and anxiety…my friend did it to extremes when he was younger and he’s a very very socially awkward person. I picked it up at some point, but only do it mildly. I know though that i tend to do it more the more stressed i get.
Get to the route of the problem.

Just because she’s outgoing doesn’t and even confident doesn’t mean she doesn’t worry about things.

Even animals do it when they get anxiety disorders, chewing on their paws til they bleed :( It’s self destructive behavior, whether it’s picking or biting or sticking fingers in a blender. Just take her to her pediatrician for a professional opinion.

I use to bite my nails when i was younger, but it was more of a bad habit than stress. I also sucked my thumb (my cousins and teachers tried everything possible to stop me but nothing worked lol). I grew out of both of them at a reasonable age without the help of pediatricians. Every child have a bad habit. I dont think this child have any major problems. As long as shes not biting til they bleed then i dont see anything wrong with it.

Oh i just went back to reread your post. You said she have extremely sore fingers. I didnt do it to that extreme they didnt really hurt only fit a bit weird. Did you mean that or were you being sarcastic?

I think it is like the others say, that it is a nervous disorder. Getting medical advice can do no harm, it is worth trying to find out if there is a problem.
Try getting her a little nail set to shape her nails, show her how lovely they look when she does it, this will still give her someting to do with her nails that is not so destructive. By you complimenting her on how lovely they look might just help her to stop picking them.

Is there a way to give her a reward for letting them grow , that would encourage her to stop?

I was just curious what you ended up doing for your daughter? My daughter is 3 and a 1/2. She also picks to the point where she is bleeding. She has recently started picking at her toes to. I want to think that its not a nervous thing…but it may be.