Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, My son is almost 4 years old and on the waiting list for an autism assessment. He has a strong oral fixation and continues to bite his fingers. We are struggling to get him to stop biting his fingers, he has a speech delay and doesn't completely understand the implications of him biting his fingers is causing infections in his finger nails. To combat the infections we've been perscribed oral antibiotics which he is refusing to take, so doesn't help the situation as his infections are not improving due to him not taking his medication.
To try and take his antibiotics we've tried just giving them to him and telling him but he refuses, placing into his favourite drinks but generally tastes it and stops drinking. Placing into nice foods again will taste and stop before taking an entire dose. I was hoping to see if anyone has had any related experience of children refusing to take antibiotics and how they got them to take them. And also any experience in children that bite their fingers to the point of causing finger nail infections and what they have done to help stop them from doing this. He will not keep on gloves. I have just purchased some nasty tasting nail vanish to see if that will stop him from biting his fingers. When trying to stop him from placing his fingers in his mouth it usually ends up in him becoming triggered and then causing challenging behaviours to occur.
Any advice would be appreciated as we are struggling with how to solve this issue.
Thank you.
Buy him any thing else that he enjoys chewing and allow him to do so. Honeycomb is even a nice alternative.
My father and all my brothers chew ice. All day. My grandmother always had nuts and fresh veg cut up out available to 'chew' on and it would be gone before dinner. There was no fuss. health and well-being first.
I used to buy my son packs of gum - an abundance, or he'd chew on plastic.
Hello
Maybe you could try and reward him for not doing it? Perhaps make a chart, get some sticky stars and ask if there is something he would like to earn. Maybe that way there’s a little distraction for him and he gets something cool at the end of it.
Chewing the skin around my nails and the inside of my mouth is something I have done for many years. Lucky not to the point of infection, I have tried to stop so many times without success. This I believe is a stim for me and find myself doing it when I’m calm, relaxing or driving home from work. When I don’t do it I find myself trying other stims to compensate. Hullabaloo I must look into chewlery and see if that’s an option, I work alone so wouldn’t be an issue with getting spotted.
He might like the sensation of biting on his nails, so if you can find a teether, or a sensory chew toy (or chewlery) or something that he can use to gradually replace that habit of biting on his nails, to something else that he can chew on, that might help.
I was going to say to put the antibiotics all over his nails, and then he won't eat his nails then, but I don't know how good that would be. The nail polish to prevent nail biting is also a good idea, but yeah I think he just needs to chew and bite on something in order to feel comfortable.
I used to bite my nails as a kid, but that was occasionally and not to the point of infection. One day I just stopped, and felt my fingertips tingling, as if the body had an urge, like an itch to scratch. I just observed what was happening, and I found it curious. After a week of that happening, it just stopped, and I never bit my nails again after that.
Maybe crushing the antibiotic into something sweet like chocolate or honey or juice will make it more palatable for him. But I don't know how bitter the antibiotic is, or what ratio of antibiotic and sweetener to mix together to offset the taste of bitterness.
Hi NAS94151, I am sorry your son is going through such a challenging time. The nail biting may be related to stimming. You might to want to have a look on our page on the subject: https://autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/stimming.
Best wishes,
Anna Mod