Cutting baby fingernails is no easy task! Something that you do easily with trimming your own fingernail is another matter when you try to snip baby’s fingernail. With a baby, everything becomes minute and you have to become extra careful!
First off, we got ourselves a set of nail clippers for baby, even the manicure set for baby though small, is still fairly large. Coupled with the fact that babies never sit still, you can’t do it while they are awake flexing and flapping their hands happily about. I tried it once while baby was awake, and it was extremely difficult I accidently clip a bit of flesh though it did not drew blood, it did result in baby crying.
Due to the tiny nature of baby’s hand, my mom-in-law and my wife dare not do this at all. So looks like I’m the designated manicure manager for good old cutie baby.
Normally it takes about one to two weeks before baby’s fingernail will require trimming. And you can’t just leave baby fingernail long if your baby is like mine, they tend to accidentally scratch their own face. So cutting baby’s fingernail is a must!
So how to go about it? The best time to do it is when baby is sleeping. While baby is asleep, your task of trimming baby’s fingernail becomes easier as the baby’s hands movement becomes less, though it still not easy.
The best time I find is to do it in the morning, when there is sufficient daylight to see what you are doing. If doing it during the night, you need more lights to see clearly but you may run the risk of waking baby up due to bright lights.
Waking up in the morning, I have to make myself wake up with a clear head, and after completing my morning routine, get myself ready for the baby nail clipping task. You can’t rush through it, and if you have presbyopia, it takes some doing though fortunately I could still focus well without any glasses.
Trim as best as you can and cut straight through. If there are sharp edges on the nail, to try to round it off by snipping the corner or file it away later to avoid baby scratching themselves. Hold baby’s hand with one hand while cutting it with your other. Sometimes baby will move about, so wait out the baby movement, then continue with the task.
If baby wakes up, you may continue if their hands are still rather still. If not, just leave it to another day as it becomes very difficult to continue and you may risk cutting the skin rather than the nail.
Good luck trimming baby’s fingernail!
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