Cutting toenails...

[JumpJockey]

Oh good heavens. Dd2 is 5 and has a morbid fear of her toenails being cut. As a result they are curling over and starting to cut into her skin. We try periodically to do them, reassuring her it will be ok and like cutting her fingernails (which is fine??) but because the scissors have to touch her skin because the nails are all curled, she gets scared. We tried tonight and she had a massive screaming fit - abiut 5 times she said Yes ok, then when we actually tried (her on DHs lap cuddling favourite toy) she kept grabbing her feet and screaming. Managed to do the big toe but no others.

Any ideas? It's getting worse and worse the longer we wait, of course... She said "I'm so scared!" And I felt absolutly dreadful. But it will have to be done at some point... We've tried getting her to watch Dd1 having hers done, doing it while she's watching a film, in the bath, any number of distractions.

Can you file them? Do them when she's asleep? Show her how to do them herself, maybe get her to do yours?

I did ponder filing but you have to get to the flat end for that and these are all curled over. It looks painful :( but she shrieks when we try to straighten then out to get the scissors under the end, filing would mean half an hour of that. Not sure I'd trust her with scissors, she's only just 5... Might be worth a try though.

Nail clippers maybe rather than scissors could work

Do them when she's asleep.

I've always used clippers rather than scissors

We do DD (4.1) fingers and toe nails after a bath, with clippers. She sits on my lap, is bribed with a chocolate biscuit and whatever her favourite thing is to watch on TV. Normally the bath is in the morning at the weekend, we do it every other week and she's knows before she gets in the bath it's a nail cutting day.

How about breaking it down to doing a couple of toes each weekend/every couple of days, she gets to choose which ones, as you'll need a long term strategy, you'll need her buy in for it to progress at all.

We had a nightmare with DS until recently. DH used to hold him still and I used to cut them as quickly as possible. I did them as rarely as I could as it was distressing for all of us. When he reached aged 4, DH decided that DS would be allowed to say silly words like "poo-bum" without being told off, while I cut his toe nails. I have no idea what possessed him to suggest this, but it worked. DS was laughing so much while they came up with silly things to say, that I managed to get all toenails done in record time with no screaming and no need to restrain him at all. Now he's nearly 5 and I manage to do it without DH's help - I promise him I'll have them done by the time I've counted to 30, so I count slowly. I always cut them straight after a bath as they're much softer and easier to cut.

I should point out that I always hated having my toenails cut as a child. To this day I cannot bear anyone touching my little toes. I even hate cutting my own toenails.

Good luck OP.

clippers, and maybe let them do it herself (show her on her fingers first, or let her do your finger nails)
nice treat afters.

it absolutely needs doing, no negotiation, but the can have the choice of scissors, clips and doing it herself (closely supervised of course)

Would she be better if you did it more frequently rather than waiting until they grew over?
Clippers?
Baby scissors? (So blunt)
Cold pack on first to "numb" well distract really!!!

I just popped up to try while she's asleep but she woke up - very light sleeper... The rude words idea sounds like one that might appeal! Wolfiefan - we have tried to do it about once a week but she gets so upset that it becomes horrible for everyone - I don't want to end up having to try restraining her while Dh does it :(

Perhaps a different rude word for every toe!
I can understand totally not wanting to restrain her. I just wondered if it was better not to leave it until the nails curl. My DD hates it if that happens. I think cutting them when they are like that pulls the nail away from the bed a bit IYSWIM.
Cut a fingernail then a toenail to show there's no difference?
Turn it into a pamper session? Not sure how you do this aged 5 but mine quite likes her toes painted!

YY clippers. Put your leg over the top of her knee to take the leverage out of her leg of need be. It sounds harsh and it's awful when they're so upset but it needs doing so it's best to get on with it as fast as possible and then have a cuddle to calm down afterwards. She will soon lose her fear.

Can you make a really big fuss about getting your toe nails painted and get everyone to talk about how nice they look? Involve her in your pedicure and make it really fun, with cutting before painting. Then it's her turn and she chooses the colour etc. but they need to be cut so they can be painted nicely...

Ds age 3 is the same, screams blue murder but it needs doing so we pin and clip and as awful as it is he's soon over it.

Use clippers and do it more frequently.

I would do it after a long bath so they're softer with clippers. Scissors are hard! Bribe her with chocolate if you have to for the first attempt. My dd got a toe infection from a toenail which was too long

Update, sneaked upstairs and she was much more asleep so got a torch and the clippers and managed to do most of them, so hopefully can start afresh with rude words, pedicuresetc many thanks for the suggestions.

YAY!

Good work.