Ugh... I had to cut my sons tonails last night. Everytime I cut them, he cries and cries.. Last night I got to the very last toe..the little one, and I just get the clippers under the toenail and he jerked and I ended up slicing under his toenail. My question is how do I do this without all the drama? he doesn't do this when I cut his finger nails. I have tried the nice way but he starts to cry when I even mention that his toe nails are getting long, so now I have to hold him down and hold his foot. I have tried while he is sleeping, but he wakes up and he also has very ticklish feet. Any other suggestions???
No good suggestions just that my son was the same way and I just pinned him down and did it as fast as I could and wouldn't worry about how perfect of a job I did. He will eventually learn that it won't hurt him and it's all fine. I believe at about three years he was fine so you only have a little bit of time to go before he gets over this phase. It's not a choice, it needs to be done. Once he gets this message it will all be good.
I do my son's nails while he's sitting in his high chair. He's distracted by eating and I don't have to hold him down, I can just focus on holding on to his foot and cutting.
Easiest solution is to stop using the clippers and use emery boards. Let him have one to hold while you file his toenails. My daughter who is now 4 loves this. She still brings me 2 emery boards and I do one foot while she does the other and then we switch. It has turned into bonding time!
My son is the same way. I bribe him with mini marshmallows. He gets one per toe. They are small so I figure 10 marshmallows isn't so bad. It also works with M&Ms. It was the only thing that worked.
I use child nail scissors. The ones I have now have butterfly fingerholes. I clipped my daughter's finger when she was a baby and now I refuse to use clippers at all. I think the toes are scarier for kids because they are so far away from them. They cannot see everything you are doing as well as they can when you are cutting the fingernails.
T.,
I am a nail tech and I use nippers instead of clippers to cut their nails. I find it much easier to use. I use them on all my clients also. I feel you have more control and they are easier to tell how far under the nail you are. I also use to cut my kids toe nails while they were in their high chairs or boosters when they were younger. It made it hard for them to see what I was doing and they could have treats while I did it.
