Clipping or trimming your baby’s delicate nails needs special care and attention. Read on for tips on how to trim baby fingernails.
How to Trim Baby Nails
Have you come across babies with numerous scratches on their faces? The source of these scratches, in most cases, would not be the family pet, but rather the baby himself! Since babies lack muscle control, flailing of limbs is very common. Uncut or improperly cut nails can cause them to scratch their delicate skin and lead to a whole lot of discomfort for the little one. If you have a little bundle of joy at home, you might find that trimming his/her nails is a virtual nightmare. Clipping the nails of a squirming, inquisitive baby can often be very challenging. You just might end up cutting your baby’s delicate skin or cutting the nails in such a way that they might re-grow inside the child’s skin. Well, trimming a baby’s nails does not have to be such a terrifying experience, after all. If you are equipped with the knowledge of how to trim nails correctly, and if you have the right tools to do so, you will find that cutting your baby’s nails is just another pleasant part of baby care. Read on to find out how you can make the task of clipping baby nails a pleasure for you as well as for your baby.
Trimming Your Baby’s Nails
What You Will Need
- Baby Nail Scissors
- Nail File/Emery Board
- Sterile Gauze Pads
- Mild Antiseptic
How To Do It
- It is best to trim your baby’s nails just after you give the baby a bath, so that the nails will be soft. Try to get your baby to sleep. If your baby refuses to sleep, distract it with a favorite toy.
- Incline the baby’s nail and gently press the finger or toe pad away from the nail, so that you will not clip the skin in the process.
- Trim the nails along the curve of the finger. In the case of toenails, cut the nails straight across. If you are hesitant about clipping your baby’s nails, you can choose to file them instead. This will rule out the chances of accidental cuts.
- Ensure that while you trim the baby’s nails, there are no rough edges. Use an emery board or a filer to smooth out any rough edges.
- If your baby is overactive, get someone to hold him/her, while clipping the nails. After all, you would want to minimize the chances of hurting your baby as much as you can.
- If you happen to accidently clip a bit of the baby’s skin, apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding stops use sterile gauze pad to dab some mild antiseptic onto the cut.
- Never bite your baby’s nails instead of trimming them. While this might reduce the chances of accidently cutting the baby’s skin, you just might be encouraging the spread of germs.
