Cutting Babies Nails
Cutting a baby’s nails is not as straightforward as you would think. My husband learned that the hard way when my son was a day old. He was born with long nails and was immediately scratching his face. We had the little clippers that come in a typical baby gift set. My husband clipped his nail just as he would his own, only to hear the tiny little guy   s-c-r-e-a-m. The problem was that his soft nails were attached to his skin and unfortunately, Dad took a chunk out of his thumb. He felt so horrible and said he would never cut his nails again for fear of hurting him.Â
If you are a new parent, or have a hard time cutting your child’s nails here are a different suggestions that might help:
- Try to separate the skin from the nail before cutting (You can do this by gently running your nail under his/hers)
- Use a nail file instead of clippers (Many parents like this option. I personally don’t like how long it takes using a file.)
- Use the dull curved scissors for nails (but still be careful that the skin is not attached to the nail!)
- Cut the fingernails when baby is sleeping (a good option for some – but if your infant is swaddled or a light sleeper, this could prove to be difficult)
- Do it the old fashioned way – use clippers (I personally like this option, combined with #1).
- Do NOT bite your child’s nails. You might take off more nail that you’d like and hurt him/her and you’ll also be passing your germs to the little one.
When your child gets older, cutting nails takes on a different challenge – getting the child to sit still! I recommend cutting nails when your child is distracted – i.e. watching tv, reading a book, talking to the other parent.
Last night I cut my 1-year-olds nails. He’s too antsy for a book or tv. Therefore, I took out a toy with flashing lights. Everytime I pressed the button on the fire engine, it would give me a few seconds to cut a nail or two while he was distracted. He’d get antsy again – so I repeated: press fire engine toy, cut a nail or two, etc.
Whatever works – I find that a child sleeping or a distracted child is the most cooperative.
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