Trimming a Toddler's Nails

I learned that biting their nails was the best way. Their nails are still soft, and there's no risk of cutting them. It worked great with my daughter.

My daughter didn't like trimming her nails either as a young child, so I would do it while she was in the bath and distracted with bubbles and toys. Good luck

My daughter is 19 months old now, but she has always HATED getting her finger and toe nails trimmed. My husband can't even deal with it. Here is what I do. I trim only her finger nails or only her toe nails (never both) after her bath (nails are much softer and things go much faster). We go through our usual routine, I sit her down on my lap in the rocking chair to read her bedtime books, but instead I tell her that we'll be cutting her nails very quickly and then we will read. (You have to give them a fair warning.) Then, I hold her as tight as I can, and trim as quickly as humanly possible, while she is crying so hard that I am shocked that neighbors don't come over to see if everyone is OK. It is absolute nightmare to trim her nails, and I literally hold my breath while doing it. I fell so guilty for making my little girl cry, but I have to trim her nails!! I have her sippy cup at the ready, and as soon as we're done, I hand it to her. It seems to have a soothing effect on her (it was my breast until not that long ago). Then we read, and she forgets the whole thing. I just hope she grows into tolerating it soon. Hope this helps!

E.:

Trim her nails when she's in her car seat.... She can't get away and she can't wiggle too much. It's even better when they fall asleep.

Good luck and hope this helps!

I talk to her through the whole process. Non stop. Describing what I’m doing and how much longer we have to go. Sort of goes like this:

“Ok give mama your big thumb! That’s right! Now I’m gonna clip off that scratchy old nail so you can grow a new one. Oh my goodness! There it goes! All gone! Only nine more wigglers to go! Now I’m going to get your “Gimmie that!” finger! Ooop oop no moving! Good Girl! Almost done. There we go! Bye bye nail! Mommy is going to have to vacuum after this. All your nails are getting stuck in the carpet…”

And continue until they are all done. I’ll spare you the written version of the rest of it.

My daughter is nine months and loves to kick. Her feet are the hardest for me to take care of but if I can get someone to keep her transfixed on something she is much less likely to kick around. I’ll usually call my husband in to help with her feeps. I’ll ask him to bring up a water bottle filled a third of the way with any liquid, (bright red crystal-lite seems to work longer than clear water) and stand over her sloshing it back and forth slowly, as if there was a ship in the bottle riding on the red ocean waves, while I quickly take care of the jabby toenails. She just goes still and follows it with her eyes and completely ignores me.

My daughter is 18 months old and very SPIRITED to say the least - she does not like to do or participate in anything I need her to at the right moment, and she HATES having her nails trimmed. If I put her favorite tv show on (sesame street) and let her get into it a little, I can usually sneak in a few nails before she starts to protest. If I can only get two or three fingers done at any one time, thats fine with me - I'll work on it at convenient and calm moments during they day, and can usually have both hands done by the end of the day without too much trauma. I also often bribe her with the nail clippers themselves, telling her and allowing her to hold them when I finish.

Try having someone else cut her nails too: she may react totally different to daddy/grandma/auntie clipping her nails than she does with you. My daughter will let my mother not only cut fingernails and toenails all at one time, but she'll sit still to have them painted too!

Hi E.,

I try to get my 2-year-old boy, to help me cut his nails. I have an extra nail trimmer, that he can play with and he pretends to do his toe nails while I actually cut his fingernails and then we switch. I also try singing a song or pretend to cough everytime I blow the nail bits out of the trimmer. He loves it. Hopefully once you establish a routine your daughter will like it. Good Luck.

I have a 2 year old and a 4 month old, it is definitely easier when they're younger!! However, what I usually do is put on my oldest girls favorite TV program (she loves Dora) then do it when she's sidetracked. Most of the time I can get all of them done at that time, sometimes I have to resort to doing it when she's in her high chair (not when she's eating, just so she can't get away from me)

good luck - you may only be able to do one at a time for awhile!

Hi E.,
I went throught that battle with my little girl at that age. I just held her little hand still and trimmed, sometimes only 3 nails at a time. Now that she is 19 months, she puts her hand out as soon as she sees the nail scissors.

Also, I use scissors as opposed to clippers because I clipped my older daughters finger with clippers ~ bad mommy! =(

It has always been a challenge to trim my 2 yr olds nails. I make a song out of it and do it as quick as I can. I sing something silly like "This is the way we clip our nails - clip our nails". It usually keeps him entertained long enough to let me do what I need to do. My son would probably wake up if I tried to clip his nails while he slept.

Good Luck!
L.

Well I think this is a great subject and I can't wait to read the responses myself. My 23 month old son is the worse person to trim his nails. Some days he totally loves to have me do it, and other's it's like I've tortured him for hours and he will run away and scream from it. I have learned to make it a fun game, and I have found a pair of clippers that have a duck on the end and that seams to help. (walgreens) We have now worked at making it a game and fun to watch daddy and mommy do it first, then he wants it done. Good luck and it's a battle, but find a happy medium and try and make it a fun experience.

I learned this one from my husband: The piggies need haircuts. You know - they go to the market, and stay home, and all that jazz, and after doing all those things, they need their hair cut. Of course, it still doesn't work all the time for our 2 year old son, who sometimes exclaims "those not piggies!" But once I let him explain to me that they are fingers, not piggies, then he is more cooperative in letting me cut them. You could also try another variation of the silly mommy routine, by pretending to cut her nose or your ears or a stuffed animal's fingernails. I think the key is creativity. And never fear, they do outgrow that phase. My 5 year old understands that having mom & dad cut his fingernails feels much better than having us clean the dirt out from under them.

I clip my daughters nails after their bath. that way their nails are softer and easier to trim. What I do is make it a real big exciting deal and I give them mini manicures. I have 3 light colored kid safe nail polishes and I let them pick a color. I tell them if they sit still and let me cut their nails, I'll put the pretty color on it. After I get the color on, I remark about how pretty they look. I also do their toes.
This had always worked for me. Hope it helps.

For my 16-month-old boy, I have to continually be creative because he's apparently very spirited. Some days he'll be in a good enough mood to help me by stretching out his fingers or be fascinated as I trim his toe nails. Other days I have to trim his toe nails while he's eating in his high chair. Even then I can only do them one at a time with a pretty large wait between toes. Some days I just have to walk around with his clippers in my pocket and get any nails I can when he's distracted. And some days I luck out and he'll zonk out for a nap in my arms and I'll just trim his nails then.

Good luck figuring out what works with your little girl.

Thank you for asking this question. I am very curious as to how all the other mommies accomplish this task. My 14 month old is completely against having both his finger and toe nails clipped and they look so awful right now, it makes me feel like a bad mommy. When I was breast feeding I would nurse him to sleep and be able to hold him and clip them all as I was holding him and he wouldn't wake. I have since tried clipping them while he is laying in bed asleep, I got 1 hand done and the moment I started the other he would pull it away from me. I have also tried bringing his car seat in the house and putting him in it, he pulls his feet and hands away from me. He wants nothing to do with the TV so I'm at a loss as to how to get all these nails clipped.

Hi E. -
At that age, I just put my son in the high chair so that he couldn't squirm away, and gently cut his nails one by one. It takes great patience and you may have to work with your daughter's wiggling and crying a bit, but over time she will become accustomed to having her nails trimmed. Praising her the whole time is good...my son likes that. Now that my son is 2 1/2 years old, he sits fairly still and doesn't cry at all. It gets easier, and it helps if you give them an interesting toy or new object to play with while you're dealing with wiggling little fingers and toes. Good luck! - L.