Cutting nails - please help!

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

OK, I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place - mods please move if you think appropriate.

Anyway, how do you all cut your lo's nails (fingers and toes). Ds just WILL NOT let me do it. He screams, cries, won't keep still, and certainly won't let me hold his hand long enough to go near him to clip his nails. How do you do it?

He has talons at the moment and it's getting pretty desperate

[ryan's mum]

when Ryan was Charlie's age we would give him a little pot of cheerios , he was happy munching and we got to clip. i have seen a thread on this before but can't remember the replies , so i hope you get them again.

[ryan's mum]

i know some mum's file them down , but if you can't hold his hand still this won't work either . don't suppose you could nibble them either

[smiletoday]

Try when he is sleeping he will never know( in deep sleep)

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

What about having your lo look at a mobile or someting in the air? To make it go faster I cut Gage's nails with safety tip baby scissors. I just slip it under his nail and push it toward his finger and WALLA! Does that make sense? HTH

[mcruari]

Caroline,
get him otherwise occupied with a toy/DVD/food/singing a song and then ATTACK!! No, seriously gently remove one of his hands from whatever he is doing but try not to let him see what you have in your hand, KWIM? try to block out his vision with your back or head. I would also advise you to change tattic every time, so he doesn't see what's coming!!

HTH

Sinead

[evanskimberley]

Has he seen you doing yuors? Maybe he's scared cos he doesn't understand.

I do holly's when she's watching tv and i explain to her why we're doing it and also show her when i do mine.

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

For us it's about timing. If I try and do Danielle's while she's involved in something or a bit tired/hungry/grumpy or whatever it is a no-go and she'll pull away and cry. Today I did them while she was just sitting quietly playing and she sat still and watched me while I did them. A friend of mine's dd used to let someone else do them, but not her.

[Colin Macs Mom]

I cut DS's every couple of days    and he is fine now to sit on my lap and let me do it as long as I'm quick about it. I tried when he was first born to do it while he was asleep, but he's not a terribly heavy sleeper so it would wake him up. So I started just doing it, and he would protest at first but now it's easy. Like everything else, it's just something you have to perservere at until they adjust, if you want to do it that way.

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Still haven't managed it

He now knows what the scissors look like, you see, so he sees it coming. The usual way would be to let him play with the object he doesn't like, but I don't think that's a good idea with scissors 

Oh well, back to the drawing board

Thanks for your replies, anyway

[Kate A]

this is gross...but it works.  i bite them. I cut her skin the first time i did it and i've been scared to do it since.  she get's a little frustrated but I only do it a few nail's at a time.

[Sylvia.]

this is dh job and i don't think he has managed it since around christmas, i did try once or twice, they aren't that long or sharp, i am going to have a close look tomorrow, dd will not sit still for anything, best of luck

[b219babygirl]

We always do it when she is asleep, my husband holds a tiny flashlight so I can see without her waking up from the light. It has always worked and she never moves. Good Luck!

[fleadle]

I agree with the timing thing, dd fights like crazy if she is tired, so I always do it just after she has woken up.

I sit her on my lap, but I file her nails instead of cutting (using a cardboard emery board, not a metal file), I give her another nail file to hold, which seems to distract her...she has even started copying me & trying to file her own nails.

Also I sing a song about different fingers to her while I'm doing it.......

e.g.

Tommy thumb, tommy thumb where are you.....here I am , here I am how do you do?
Then the same for all the other fingers with their appropriate descriptions & names.


Sometimes I might only get one hand done a ta a time before she gets fidgitey, but I just do the other hand after her next nap.

Good Luck 

[yaya]

DS was also not keen on getting his nails cut but much better now, think he's pretty fascinated to be honest but we he was younger and we were desperate, if he really wouldnt hold stil...I would bite them! Does the job and less chance on snipping skin!

[katriona]

It's the toenails that I really have a problem with. How DS loves to kick! Fortunately he's too curious about what I'm doing to his fingers to object when I cut his fingernails.