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Original poster

Isn't it amazing how tiny things make you feel like a bad mum?

23 replies

SpringChicken · 19/09/2004 18:18

I was cutting DD's nails earlier with her baby nail clippers, got to her last finger (her thumb)and as i clipped it wondered why it was a bit tough. I looked at DD's face and new instantly.............i had caught her skin!

She screamed and screamed and screamed - i broke the skin and made it bleed - now it looks like she is going to have ablood blister.

It was the look on her face that done it - she looked at me as if to say "Mummy, that really hurt and your never meant to hurt me".
I sat and sobbed whilst trying to calm her down Dp wasn't overly pleased

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Twiglett · 19/09/2004 18:19

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joanneg · 19/09/2004 18:21

confession time - I have done this a couple of times. I am always cutting the nail down a bit too far. I am so nervous about doing it now my Mum helps me!! Such little finger nails - just think of the scratching damage she would do if you didnt chop them!

Dont worry, it is one of those things - there will probably be plenty more as well - wait until your dp does something you can get your own back! She probably cried more out of shock and has forgotten it already. ((hugs))

tammybear · 19/09/2004 18:22

i did that when dd was asleep and she woke up crying when she was about 5 months old. made me feel so bad and couldnt cut her nails for a while after. dont worry about it, like twiglett says im sure most parents have done.

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MUMINAMILLION · 19/09/2004 18:23

springchicken, there was a thread on here the other week about exactly the same thing. The amount of people who have done this (including me) is incredible. If anyone can invent clippers that dont cut fingers they will make a fortune! (Something along the lines of the thing they use to cut of plaster casts but dont cut the skin might be useful!)

lavender1 · 19/09/2004 18:25

did this only last week and a few times as babies

JanH · 19/09/2004 18:27

Oh, poor you! Don't feel too bad, it does happen to everybody. And I promise she will not remember and fling it back at you when she's a teenager.

I couldn't do it with clippers at all! Would probably have cut ends of fingers off...I got some quite expensive very thin baby nail-scissors instead (they have completely round ends but sharp edges). Still managed to do damage sometimes but not as much!

hercules · 19/09/2004 18:27

Bite them after a bath. It is soo easy and virtually impossible to hurt them!

Original poster

SpringChicken · 19/09/2004 18:27

Phew! Glad i'm not the only one.

The look DP gave me when i confessed - anyone would think i was the only person in history to have done it. GIT! You just wait until he does something, unfortunately, he hasn't done anything yet so i may be waiting a long time.

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Miaou · 19/09/2004 18:30

Aw...SC, I really feel for you! The other day I was playing a game with dd1 (aged 7) where I pretended I was going to bite her finger...only I REALLY bit it - and quite hard too . Her face just crumpled and she looked very shocked. I was very apologetic but I felt terrible about it.

JiminyCricket · 19/09/2004 18:53

Oh, its horrible isn't it, I've done that. And trapped her finger in the buckle of her car seat and loads of other difficult to avoid accidents. Don't give yourself a hard time. And wait til its dps turn to make a mistake. Today dd is teething really bad and nothing we do is good enough, that makes me feel really mean too.

When dh was tiny and only just talking he fell into a patch of stingy nettles when he was playing with his dad and immediately started chanting an accusing 'bad daddy, bad daddy' over and over, how's that for guilt inducing??

JiminyCricket · 19/09/2004 18:56

Oh, and we use an emery board to file dds nails, do it almost every day and they don't get too bad. Mind you, she screamed blue murder when dh did it earlier - he might as well have cut all her fingers off for the tears she had - but that's more to do with the injustice of being made to sit still when you're a toddler.

highlander · 19/09/2004 21:57

My DS is only 1 week old and here's my list so far.....

The HV says my latch was poor so DS was taking longer to get over his jaundice.

We're using just a cloth and water to wash his bum but I'm so paranoid about nappy rash that I was being a bit vigorous and now DS has a tiny anal fissure ( to be fair the HV said you can hardly see it)

I was so chuffed that his first finger trim went well, until I noticed the next day that I'd gone a bit close to his skin ( but he didn't cry when I did it).

Yep, floods of tears every day

marthamoo · 19/09/2004 22:48

Ooh, new babies...they are so...scary!

I cut ds2's finger too with the nail clippers...blood, and lots of tears, more mine than his Then I was scared to do it so I would put it off and he caught his face with a nail and still has a teeny faint scar there aged almost 3. So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Just resign yourself to feeling guilty for the rest of your life - it's a mother's lot

ChicPea · 19/09/2004 23:20

I haven't had a problem with nail cutting but I had a habit of banging DD's head on the car ceiling when I used to put her in or take her out of the car seat. One day I was late for a doctor's appt so in a bit of a panic and to my relief I found a parking meter free. I quickly parked feeling quite pleased with myself as I was after all going to be on time for my appt. Put my money in and got out DD to carry and WHACK! I banged DD's head on the parking meter. My stomach lurched at the reality of what I had done and I looked at my DD who looked at me with her big blue eyes who was all of three months and she merely blinked!! I promised her never to do that to her again!

dot1 · 20/09/2004 08:38

oh yes - I've cut ds's finger nails - now am too squeamish to do them and make dp do it!

Also regularly bang his head getting him in and out of the car - I think he's used to it now...

Also have nearly dropped him whilst reaching for something - he flung himself back and it was such a near miss we both burst into tears..!!

Yesterday he was practising sitting up but lurched backwards. I was sat right next to him but didn't catch him - he banged his head quite hard - lots of tears... I was talking to dp at the time - felt v. bad indeed...

Ah well - they'll grow up tough!!

sponge · 20/09/2004 11:31

I had ds, 6 weeks, in the bath with dd "helping".
She asked for a toy out of a hanging basket thing for bath toys and in getting it for her I dislodged a wooden building block which fell on ds's head. Screaming and floods of tears. I felt so terrible. He had a big red mark on his head for gaes .
Made even worse by dd (4) telling me "you should have been more careful mummy". Thanks love, I didn't realise that!

californiagirl · 20/09/2004 16:19

DH cuts her nails; he draws blood about 1 time in 3. My specialty is whacking her head into things (usually the car, but that rarely makes her cry -- I tend to hit mine harder than hers). If she cries usually I do too, much to DH's despair as she stops earlier.

JuniperDewdrop · 20/09/2004 16:35

miaou, sorry to laugh but why did you really bite it?

fio2 · 20/09/2004 16:37

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miaou · 20/09/2004 17:48

Because i am stupid basically, JuniperDewdrop!

I misjudged where her finger was, and was snapping my teeth shut (as you do when you are pretending to be a crocodile) ... only her finger was in the way ...

Frenchgirl · 20/09/2004 18:55

sponge I thought you meant you had given birth to your ds 6 weeks AGO in the bath with your dd helping, and thought wow!!!!

goes off to work on english language skills

nightowl · 21/09/2004 00:11

i bit my ds once too. he was a toddler and we were playing monsters...i meant to grab his arm in my mouth and shake it (as a monster would do of course) but i got a bit over enthusiastic and bit him by accident. wailed and wailed (i did i mean) when his little face crumpled as if to say "mummy i was having so much fun why did you hurt me?" dont like to think about it even now....guilt!

Chandra · 21/09/2004 03:34

I feel as a bad mum today....after spending so much time studying lately, DS (19m) has started calling DH Mummy

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