Did I do the wrong thing keeping newborn’s hands covered ?

[Flowersandforests]

I’m a first time mum and MIL is making me start to doubt myself… my baby was born with quite sharp nails and scratched her face in the first night in hospital. Because of this & because I was nervous to try and cut her nails / between constant nappies and feeding it wasn’t top of my priority list, I used the inbuilt mitts on her baby grows and generally kept her hands covered for the first 5-6 weeks.

Shes now 12 weeks old so hasn’t had her hands covered for a while but every time MIL has seen her she’s made comments about how nice it is to see her hands and saying to the baby things like oh mummy kept your hands covered so grandma couldn’t see your hands etc.

Last night SiL was round and make a big deal about her hands not being covered now so clearly her and Mil have been talking about it.

It’s making me panic that I did the wrong thing? Should I have kept her hands uncovered straight away?

You know your baby best . Some babies will scratch/touch their faces more than others.

Baby nails are extremely sharp and can grow back overnight. My DH used to have to cut DDs almost everyday. We have a friend who had to have an eye operation because their baby accidentally scratched him in the eye quite badly.

It’s also quite cold at the moment so save the news to put gloves on and off.

MIL's friend came around to meet my son - 5 weeks old, and I just tucked him up and settled him as they arrived.

"Can't you take that towel off him, I want to see how long he is?"

For some reason describing the blanket as a towel annoyed me as much as wanting to disturb a sleeping baby just to look at it's legs.

Such mil only beg to be put on the NC list once and for all. I don't see any other way, also don't see why an older woman who thinks herself amazingly intelligent would do this to her own son ( primarily! ) and his offspring

I bet if she had scratched her face lots instead your mil would have made negative comments . You probably couldnt win either way .
Nail files are brilliant in this situation.
Ignore your mil I bet she will come up with somthing else soon enough .

The only sane response to their comments is to be said to the baby but clearly in their earshot - (preferably in a baby voice) - "Yes, Mama kept you from scratching everything and everyone including yourself by keeping your sharp nails away from delicate skin. How terrible I must be to have done that" and laugh at them or roll your eyes at them but definitely have a response ready for them.

Trust me, you did nothing wrong. I’m sorry they’re making you feel like this. X

Everytime I tried to cut my ds nails with the baby safe clippers I ended up cutting his finger.
In the end resorted to just biting his nails off until he was old enough I could easily trim them.. Mil is batshit, my ds scratched his face like crazy when a newborn.. He had mitts on all the time.

I didn’t use scratch mittens with my youngest and he scratched himself at a few days old and still has the scar.
Babies skin heals much quicker than an adults which is great on the one hand, but means more chance of scarring on the other.

It’s also a U.K. thing to read someone’s posts properly before replying so you don’t make yourself look like a cunt.

I used to nibble my babies nails.

May even have used an ordinary nail file on a sharp bit if necessary!

Did she never cuddle your daughter & uncover her hands then?

Do people think that self-praising, pious, snippy posts make them look:

a) good, sensible and like the sort of successful, warm person that OP and the rest of us would take friendly advice from, or
b) a cloth-eared, self-regarding twat?

What on earth do you mean ‘it must be a UK thing’?

Ours was a Nov baby and we kept his hands covered as long as we could. He has always has big paws though so he was breaking out of them by 12 weeks. But nothing wrong with covering them- it's cold and you don't want them scratching themselves.

Nothing stopping your MIL from having a peek- but she seems to want to be a cow about it.

Babies like using their hands for comfort (they aren't covered in the womb) but it's not wrong that you covered them.

My daughter nicked her first babys finger and it really upset her(mum that is, not the baby) the other 2 babies wore mitts
Enjoy your baby and do not allow any comments bother you're

This! Also, can you imagine MIL’s reaction if you hadn’t used the mittens and her precious granddaughter’s face was covered in scratches? I hope you can think of something to say to shut down her interfering or it’s only going to get worse. Good luck!

If you know, why shouldn’t the mother in law know this.

When my MIL performatively carped at me through the medium of "talking to the baby" I used to reply in a little baby voice, only incredibly rude and sweary. "Mama knows what she is doing, and Gran-Gran really needs to learn to mind her own sodding beeswax". It enabled me to be very blunt in response to her ridiculous criticisms, and it really nonplussed her.

Nope I’ve done the same with my 2 boys, it’s nicer for them as their nails do get sharp. Tell them to shut up and mind their own

She’s your baby, you’re Mum, you do want you want with your baby, don’t let anyone boss you around.

Because she would have told the OP her reasons but hasn’t. All she has said is ‘how nice it is to see her hands and saying to the baby things like oh mummy kept your hands covered so grandma couldn’t see your hands’

Definitely weird to keep saying this. Passive aggressive and judgemental.

You are doing nothing wrong! Ignore them, do what you are doing for your baby! My daughter wore mits for ages because her nails grew so fast.
It's very hard not to be nervous about big "made for baby" nail trimmers and tiny newborn fingernails! The light grit side of a nail file is helpful and just keeps them down without extra worry.
They sound very nitpicky and would likely be the first to moan if your baby accidentally scratched themselves or even your MIL/SIL.

Have a lovely first Christmas!! Xx

You're fine! They are being weird. Your baby will not be harmed by your use of scratch mitts.
We used to trim our babies' nails by nibbling/tearing them. You can be much more sensitive than way than actually cutting them. I guess it's gone out of fashion cos I don't see anyone else mentioning that.

I did exactly this.