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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

cutting my sons nails is a nightmare

25 replies

tazzycat25 · 06/10/2005 23:22

my son who now is 2 and a half is so terrible when im cutting his toe nails or fingers, he was fine till he turned one, now i get screams and tears, i cant even do them when hes asleep cus he wakes up then starts to scream. ive tried distracting him like my health visitor says but nothing works, my hubby needs to hold him down for me to do them but its not doing him or me any good cus i hate seeing him that way... anyone got any ideas?? please let me know.....

OP posts:

hunkerpumpkin · 06/10/2005 23:26

No ideas, but much empathy - DS also hates his nails being cut.

We are currently adopting "pin him down, make it quick and cuddle lots afterwards" since nothing else works!

Also we're leaving them to get a bit long...hence the scratch down his nose

Must try to do it more often!

yowlingmonster · 06/10/2005 23:27

Sorry cant be much help as my ds has always been terrible, at the moment I do them while he is bfeeding but that still takes ages as he pulls off to scream every now and then. I do his toenails when he is in his highchair so the rest of his body cant squirm away. He is almost 13mths and I am hoping oh so hoping it is one of those phases, will watch with interest as dont know what I will do when he stops bfeeding.

FrightfullyPoshFloss · 06/10/2005 23:28

Not tried it as DS just watches in amazement or tries to grab ATM, but would doing it to this little piggy make it more fun?

Flum · 06/10/2005 23:29

Try: Give him a lolly to hold with the other hand.

Jayzmummy · 06/10/2005 23:34

Some children can have problems with the sensation caused with finger and nail cutting. Its a sensory thing.
You can try to desensitise the fingers and toes by using a battery operated massager.....the sort you can get from argos...or even a battery operated toothbrush is fine...thats what we used.
basically you massge the fingers and toes for 5 mins morning and night.....give it three - four weeks and you should see a massive improvement.

Before we tried this it was a two man job to hold our Ds down. He would scream the house down and Im sure the neighbours thought we were really hurting him because he would scream "Stop! Your killing me".
We can now cut with no problems at all.

HTH.

kid · 06/10/2005 23:56

I let DS help me, I put the nail clippers in place and tell him when to clip them. I let him do one or two and I do the rest!

undercovermum · 07/10/2005 00:29

I either bite them off whilst he is eating a lolly or get my male next door neighbour to do it. He just sits there and lets him do it and doesn't scream or anything.

Maddison · 07/10/2005 00:29

My DS1 was a nightmare at this age aswell. So I made it into a little game by 'snipping' maybe half the nail then gently 'ripping' the rest off. I don't have to do anything with his fingernails now because at 4 years old he has discovered biting his nails (and mine when I'm sleeping

bobbybob · 07/10/2005 00:42

I found the words "why don't you watch Thomas on the TV while I cut your nails" worked a treat.

Now we count his fingers as we count and sing up a note for each finger - which I think is less interesting, but it's a game he made up himself.

I only do them after a bath as they are softer.

Sidonie · 07/10/2005 00:49

What about using a large emery board.

mummynobones · 07/10/2005 13:41

We found that "cutting" teddy or dolly's nails first helped!

Cleothecat · 07/10/2005 21:22

THis is my childhood rather than now, but always after a bath so they're softer as per previous poster, and my Mum made big fuss about how useles she was at nails and fiddly,crafty things, but how "marvellous" my dad was. "He really is the best person at these kind oF things because he's so soft and gentle and patient and kind" etc, etc. She isn't, he was, still is and it turned hell into heaven. Partic helped my brother who had a couple of toes that were almost horned and really could have been extremely painful.

wads · 07/10/2005 21:44

Tip from our OT was to get a plastic box of dry pasta to rub hands/feet in before starting and in between cutting each nail to desensitize. As Jayzmummy said with my DS it's a sensory prob but this method has really helped. Also pasta box became 18 month DD's absolute favourite toy

sweetkitty · 07/10/2005 21:46

I wait till DDs asleep - only way!

Original poster

tazzycat25 · 07/10/2005 22:33

i have tried everything u have suggested, most of them are wot my health visitor says.... he wont let u go near them but to put his socks on.... hubbys tried, nannys tried, frineds still no good, neither is after a bath. he wakes up if u even pick up hisfoot. he will riggle while ur rubbing his feet before hand...... i used to do baby massage till he was 1 even then he diidnt like his feet touched......

OP posts:

auntymandy · 08/10/2005 06:06

Whenhe is in a deep sleep he should be ok!
Bribe him with sweets(bad auntymandy!)

futurity · 08/10/2005 07:29

My son was like this at the same age and we had to hold him down as his toe nails were getting dangerously long and digging in to him. It was a nightmare...he screamed the place down. It only really got better as he got older and understood more. We started asking do you want the "nice" way (cuddles, kisses, hugs with Mummy and Daddy) or the "nasty way" (held down!). The first time we managed one nail the nice way but slowly..and very slowly...he realised that it wasn't that bad and that the nice way was better. Even now at 3 3/4 he is twitchy for a second if we mention getting toe nails cut but now he has younger brother he can't moan as he knows his baby brother doesn't complain! Give it a go and remember try and be patient as I think with us we got wound up and that wound him up as well.

futurity · 08/10/2005 07:32

Forgot to say...he was in a grobag when we first had problems so couldn't do it at night either but even when he was with a duvet it didn't work as even though he was in a deep sleep he would fidget around if we tried to do his nails!

ThomBat · 08/10/2005 08:30

We find the best place to cut Lottie's nails is in the car seat when she falls asleep. In bed she rolls over and it's usually dark. In the car seat she doesn't move and is in the perfect position and we can see what we're doing.

ThomBat · 08/10/2005 08:30

darface · 08/10/2005 13:06

i sit with my son outside on the wall, he loves watching the cars and people going past so this in itself is a distraction. but i have done this for some time now so your little one may not be up for that either.
good luck tho.

acnebride · 08/10/2005 13:16

dunno. ds sleeps really deeply after about an hour of nap so i try and do it then but presumably your ds is too old for naps now. I'll have to try the pasta.

PunkyFunkyMummy · 08/10/2005 15:39

We're having this same nightmare with our DS. He's not too bad with his fingernails although more times than not it results in a him screaming and wriggling so much that we have to abandon the whole idea. His toenails are a no no, we've tried everything and it always ends up with us having to pin him down while he turns purple screaming so much. Im sure the neighbours at the other end of the street can hear him.

logic · 08/10/2005 16:29

I cut ds' nails when he is sitting on my lap in front of the Cbeebies website - balamory karaoke or something. He hates it being done too so he has to be distracted.

redheadmum · 08/10/2005 17:14

well if games etc haven't worked, how about a sticker chart? maybe a sticker every time he lets you cut them....he might be old enough if he likes them

I know it's more for a 3 yr old...but you could t ry it

will he even let you cut one? maybe do one at a time each day or something.

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