Is there anything on earth which grows as quickly as a baby’s fingernails? If my fingernails grew that fast…well, I’d have really long nails! It seems they grow most quickly right before visits to the grandparents, too. I swear, I could have just cut them and they’d morph to non-Nana-approved length on the car ride over, most likely with a layer of grime underneath.
Babies do not like to get their nails trimmed, at least not once they’re out of the “helpless blob” stage and can actually put up a fight. Around here, we do the Stealth Manicure, which basically means cutting one or two before she notices and starts squirming and howling—the kind of howling that lets you know you are ruining her life and won’t you be sorry when the therapy bills start rolling in. But the Stealth Manicure generally only allows you to get a few done at a time, so by the time all ten are cut, you have to start over because they have grown yet again. (Don’t advise me to cut them when she is asleep. When this child deigns to sleep like the rest of us mortals, there is NO WAY I’m gonna do anything which might disturb her)
And those suckers are sharp, too. I used to refer to them as ‘talons’ until my SO pointed out that we usually just manage to cut straight across (again, we aim for speed. There is no leisurely ‘shape and file’ with this manicure, no “Pamolive?” “You’re soaking in it!”), so they are actually more like ice scrapers.
I know that, someday, my baby will want to be a Big Girl and paint her nails like Mommy, but right now, they are just a pain.
Little X-acto knives is what they are and yep, they all hate to have them cut for some reason. I think when kids are young they have nerves in their nails and their hair.
My daughter is a year and what I do is wait until she’s fallen asleep in the car. I keep nail clippers in the car at all times and once she conks out I stop the car (or ask whoever is driving to stop), and if she stays asleep, clip her nails. This works better for than trying to get her when she’s asleep in our bed or her crib. Like you when she’s finally asleep at naptime or night I don’t want to bother her, but if she falls asleep in the car and I wake her up by clipping, I just start driving and out she goes again.
I had a 3 month old scrabbling at my face with his little claws yesterday, and I still have a scar on my nose from a 6 month old who deliberatly liked to pinch. So damned sharp.
While it wasn’t her favorite thing the munchkin was generally tolerant.
When she hit a little over a year she decided she liked it and now as soon as she sees a set of clippers she will give you a hand or foot.
We do ‘spa time’ with every bath where we check over her nails and comb her hair pretty to see if her bangs need a trimming (She doesn’t mind this either and sits quite still for a 2 year old)
What if you give her a small nail trimming only toy that she can play with one handed as a special treat/distraction?
My daughter is almost 14 months old, and up until a few months ago, SmithWife would bite the baby’s nails while she was sleeping. Then she started catching on.
Now, it’s my job. I strap the baby into her old car seat, face her at the window so she can do a little bird-watching, and clip-clip-clip away. The last few are tough, as she’s on to me by then, but all-in-all, it’s really not that hard…
…or at least nothing I dread. Like changing her diaper. That takes both of us sometimes, and the amount of squirming and howling is in direct proportion to how full her diaper is. :eek:
There’s a reason many cultures swaddle infants. It isn’t just to shut them up (though that works). Swaddling also keeps them from slicing mommy up. Sometimes.
My mom was told by her doctor to chew our nails. Bite them off. It is far easier to feel one of those little razors with your tongue, too. You can really find the sharp spots. And since baby hands are often in mommy mouths anyway, it isn’t like you’re getting extra germy…
Yes, I’ve done it. The clippers work better, but the teeth aren’t that bad. I suspect that when biting our nails was the only method available for grownups, the same method would be applied to kids.
Thanks for the tips. I think the idea of cutting them while she’s asleep in the car is brilliant.
I could never bite them because I could never get them short enough without pushing them back, etc—seemed like too much fuss.
As for the haircuts/bang trims—maybe someday. Even at 11 months, this kid has the baby mullet/receding hairline thing. I think she’ll need her first haircut in time for the prom and not a second before.
She’s still the cutest damn thing, though. Expect another post from me (teary and sentimental) when she turns 1 in September.
