Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

FURIOUS with toddler tantrum about having nails cut!

63 replies

morerogermore · 24/10/2014 10:03

I've just wrestled my 2 year old round the floor trying to cut her nails and she screamed like I was trying to cut her toes off. I'm so angry about this now. She's never let me do it and so I always have to file them, which she still hates. But she looks like she's almost getting ingrowing toenails! Nothing will coerce her - I've tried everything. I just had to wrap her in a blanket and try to get a few.

I feel so angry! She'll end up in the Drs with ingrowing toenails at this rate.

Please help me.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

ipswichwitch · 24/10/2014 10:29

DS1 is the same. I've just persevered without comment or fuss (easier said than done sometimes) and applied cuddles and chocolate buttons when it's done.
He's actually ok with finger nails now, and I ask him which one to cut next so he feels a bit in control. He still hates toe nails being cut though, so I tend to just do a couple each day til they're all done to minimise the upset. He is a bit calmer if i do his brothers first - DS2 is a happy wee thing who has no bother with anything being done to him, just smiles away. This approach also worked with getting DS1's feet measured. He's just a kid who hates having stuff done to him and a bad hospital experience hasn't helped that at all.

duvetfan · 24/10/2014 10:32

I used to be a bit like this when I was younger, as pp's have said, my mum waited until I was asleep as it was far easier that way. Toddlers can be very frustrating at times. Its not their fault but that doesn't make it easier when we have to deal with them. My DS is like this about having his teeth brushed (used to be fine with it, now he is a nightmare).

LuckySaint · 24/10/2014 10:35

I do it when mine are asleep, usually over 2 nights for fingers and toes.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General parenting

vvviola · 24/10/2014 10:37

Is there someone else who can do them for you?

It's a serious suggestion by the way. Both my DDs kicked off if I tried to cut their nails. Had to resort to night time nail cutting until I discovered they were Quiet as lambs for DH. Never figured out why, but was happy to pass over the duties

WowserBooooooooooooser · 24/10/2014 10:40

'I have to make a confession with regard to cutting dcs' toenails. It's one of those thing that I've kind of overlooked. It's certainly not something I've ever done regularly, but on the occasions that I have examined them, they always look normal, so I am at a loss to know what happens in between times!'

Me too! Maybe my MIL does them or DH (doubt it) or maybe he does it himself. But they always look fine!

MrsMcRuff · 24/10/2014 10:56

I did think maybe they bit their toenails, Wowser, in the absence of having a mother who regularly takes care of nail cutting for them, but the nails always look quite neat!

Artandco · 24/10/2014 10:57

Wowser - really? I have to cut the children's nails weekly at least otherwise get really long and fill with mud/ playdough underneath!

WowserBooooooooooooser · 24/10/2014 11:03

Yes, really! They are lovely and neat - and his finger nails.

He comes home with a haircut when he's been to the in laws so maybe she does do it. It just has never been an issue. Teeth on the other hand...

ProfYaffle · 24/10/2014 11:04

I think it depends on the individual dc's nails. Dd1 was one with magically vanishing nails but dd2's nails are much stronger and grow quicker so need regular trims.

hazeyjane · 24/10/2014 11:56

Honestly op, not perfect at all. Dd2 is a nightmare with nail cutting and as she has fairly bad eczema we have to cut fingernails regularly or she tears herself to shreds. It got a lot easier, once I could bribe her with some nail polish (not a big fan of nail polish on little girls, but it was the only thng that worked!)

Ds is in a different league, and the only times I manage to cut his nails is when he is asleep (however this is fraught with danger because if he wakes up then he can be awake all night) and when he had a general anaesthetic a nurse cut his nails for us.

hoppingmad · 24/10/2014 12:07

Wowser, dd1 has magic nails. She is 10 and no one has ever cut them. They are perfect too, it's weird.
The other 3 are normal - dt's kick off for dh but let me trim them easily so agree with pp about getting someone else to have a go.

Idontseeanysontarans · 24/10/2014 12:13

Try doing yours at the same time. I found a tiny pair sewing scissors to be best. One of theirs, one of yours. Nail Polish is a wonderful bribery tool as well
Not perfect here by any stretch of the imagination btw, just 13 years of nail wrangling experience!
Be wary of doing toenails while they're asleep - I once got a bloody nose off DS when he kicked out in his sleep...

RiverTam · 24/10/2014 12:17

it's very frustrating when you can't get your DC to do things that you know need to be done, they simply don't understand it and their fears can be irrational but very real to them. Perhaps let her watch you cut your own nails, and see that your toes are intact ?

Definitely do it after a bath when they are softer. I would go for bribery - offer to paint her nails a pretty colour, or go for the old choc buttons. Or, as others have said, when he's asleep.

Leave it for a few days, you're both clearly frazzled by it.

QueenChrysalis · 24/10/2014 12:24

Mine does this too and it can be infuriating and also upsetting. She's the same with brushing her teeth. But despite good language skills I can explain enough to make her understand and not be scared. My eldest was the same and grew out of it. I think I read that their nails can look a little in growing but they aren't and it's unusual at this age for them to be I growing. Bribing with nail varnish kinda worked with my eldest at one point. Deep breaths and know it's just a phase and will pass.

BadgersBum · 24/10/2014 12:25

I used to have to get my DS so he was behind me, on his back on top of the chest of drawers, and get his leg under my arm, then use the clippers quickly in the style of a blacksmith shoeing a horse. He'd scream the house down like I was murdering him so I'd just get it done as quickly as possible then move on.

It's quite normal as they haven't a clue what you're doing to them. He still has a grumble at nearly 6, when I say I'm going to do them now, but we don't have to go full on WWF anymore.

mineymo · 24/10/2014 12:27

I have delegated this hideous task to my DH. Worked a treat (for me anyway)

In all seriousness, maybe take a step away today so you both have chance to calm down. Approach it from a different angle, with help, tomorrow. Pick the worst offenders, do one or two a day with a reward if you have to. DH finds that distraction involving Shaun the Sheep and a biscuit based reward help smooth the process. Good luck.

BadgersBum · 24/10/2014 12:28

I was overjoyed when he started biting his fingernails!

Idontseeanysontarans · 24/10/2014 12:29

I might as well admit to total bad motherhood and give you my top tip..
iPad. I could probably perform minor surgery on DD2 if she was on my iPad for 10 minutes...

Mcnorton · 24/10/2014 12:37

I totally get where you are coming from as my son (now 6) was the same. He has funny shaped toenails that grow really quickly and are really sharp and poke into his other toes drawing blood if you don't keep on top of it. It's the sort of thing you can let go for a while, but enormous toe nails can't be left for ever.

The resistance will pass, and I found that doing it while he was watching telly helped distract him, and I would make a point of putting my reading glasses on to emphasise how very careful I was being and to show there was no danger of me cutting his toes at all.

tootsietoo · 24/10/2014 12:43

I understand OP! My DD2 who is 6 has just started doing this in the last year or so, god knows why. And yes, I feel irrationally angry about it because I bribe her in every imaginable way (AND she's 6 and old enough to try to understand) and she still behaves as if I have actually cut her toes off!

Chocolate, haribo, ipads, and hold her toes firmly so it's not tickly. I used to hate having mine done! If none of that works then they will just have to grow won't they? They do break off eventually. Gah, they don't know what's good for them, do they?!

ouryve · 24/10/2014 13:11

I am at a loss to know what happens in between times!

DS2 used to keep his toenails short by biting them :o He'll let DH cut them, now, but not me. It's not my job, as far as he's concerned.

PotteringAlong · 24/10/2014 13:13

I do DS's nails whilst he's watching Thomas the tank engine and too engrossed to notice!

MsBug · 24/10/2014 13:17

DD is the same and like most things I mostly bribe her with telly or breadsticks while I do it

Thumbscrewswitch · 24/10/2014 13:18

It is infuriating, yes. I can hardly get near DS2's nails, but have to do them when I realise he's broken them. Last time, I let him watch DS1 have his done first - and he was interested enough to then let me do his
But it's been a real battle with him; DS1 was bad enough but at least I could hold him down and do them - DS2, no chance.

Good luck OP - she'll get there! I use very fine manicure scissors, by the way - I hate clippers, they scare me! But I don't use baby scissors because the blades are too thick, even though they have the rounded ends. I just have to be even more careful not to stick the points of the scissors in their fingers, but it hasn't happened so far [touch wood]

MollyBdenum · 24/10/2014 13:21

DS has magic-ish nails. The ends peel off once they start getting long.

I started letting DD cut her own when was 6 and she's been fine from then on.

Flip

1 2 3