5 year old biting nails

[Mommyof2boys]

My 5 year old son has started to bite his fingernails, like completely down to nubs. Is this a sign of anxiety? If it is how can I help my son with his anxiety? He has other anxious behaviors, like screaming and crying when he has a bump on his lip or food in his teeth that won't come out, and he absolutely hates sleeping alone. I don't want him to have to deal with anxiety all his life and I want to cut it out now if possible...

[MyNameIsTerry]

It could be. It would be worth consulting a doctor for advice or some support mechanism for children's problems.

It could be an impulse disorder like the hair pulling, skin picking types. There can be common in children but they can grow out of them. The drives are different to anxiety but there are similarities.

Or it could be a safety behaviour or compulsion to anxiety. It may matter more about the rest you describe in determining it.

Kids have these phases. I would skin pick since that age yet I didn't have an anxiety disorder until my thirties due to the pressure of my job, and for over a decade I lived off that stress. I'm not a parent but I wonder whether with some help it may just be some sort of developmental stage he will come though. I hope so.

[KeeKee]

I bit my nails until I was 16, but didn't develop anxiety until I was 24. My ex bites his nails and my Dad used to bite his nails too, neither have anxiety issues. My daughter bites her nails too, she is 9 and not an anxious child. I genuinely haven't cut her nails since before she started school as there is nothing to cut.

Whilst I'm no expert, if this is the only thing he does I'd probably say it was just a bad habit. Very common. I only stopped myself as we had a school prom and I wanted nice nails and never restarted.