Toe nail trimming

[heybb]

Hi all.

I'm looking for some advice if anyone has any?

My DD is 2.5yrs old and absolutely will not let us trim her toenails. We've tried cutting ours in front of her, making songs about them, painting her nails if we can cut them, distraction with programme and snacks, showing our dog's nails being done and doing them when she's asleep. That latter has worked once or twice but now she wakes! We've asked my mum to try, who she absolutely worships, but still no luck. Tried clippers, little scissors and files but just screams if we go near her toes.
We're obviously keen not to make it traumatic and postpone issues but we're really stumped as to what else we can do/try.

At our last review with the HV, we were told it's a phase and to keep trying but they are starting to get in a desperate need of attention!

Has anyone got any tips? Or book recommendations? Or anything??

Sorry for the essay 🙃

Bribery is your friend here - absolute favourite treat given (and dangled carrot-like) immediately afterwards. Start small - so maybe just one little nail at first, then stop. A treat that can be divided into ten pieces / ten small treats is ideal, so you can build up to doing them all at once.

Other things that helped us were a bath first so nails were soft and a favourite toy to hug (who also had her nails cut 😂) during.

Shaping - like in dog training.

Basically you reward/praise heavily every little increment, from you being allowed to touch her toes, to having the toenail clipper near them (no clipping), to clipping it near them (but not actually touching) to clipping one corner off one toenail, to clipping one toenail completely, to a whole foot.

Don't do it all in one go but over the course of several days.

Do it when she's asleep