Trimming Baby Nails

Trimming baby fingernails has to be one of my least favorite things to do.  It trumps changing dirty diapers, even.   I know it's one of the things you have to do, but it is so not fun.  Plus, I feel like every time I trim her nails, I have to go and do it again.  Like laundry.  Or dishes.  It's never ending.  But so much worse.

I've been very fortunate in the fact that Baby doesn't scratch herself.  When she's tired, she makes these cute little fists and rubs her eyes with the backs of her hands.  She's done that since she was a newborn, which meant we didn't have to put those little glove things on her hands.

No, she doesn't scratch herself, she scratches me.

I tried to trim her nails today.  I really did.  Today after her bath we sat down and I tried to distract her while I went after her nails.  She just kept screeching and twisting and turning and biting that I gave up and just put her to bed (yeah yeah, she won this round- she fights dirty).  

Yesterday at some point that I don't remember, she scratched my chin.  I didn't notice, but Husband looked at me and commented that I was bleeding.  Today a coworker noticed the scratch and asked me what happened.  Embarrassed, I told him Baby had scratched me.  Which made me realize that I needed to trim her nails.  Again.

Sometimes it works if I trim and Husband distracts her.  He will jump up and down, clap, play with her toys, make funny sounds and funny faces, all in effort to keep her mind off of what I am doing to her little nails.

It hasn't worked so well lately. She's no longer falling for our tricks.  She won't sit still long enough for me to trim her nails.  She tries to grab the nail clippers.  She squirms and screeches.  Now she bites, too.

It's not like she has bad memories associated with getting her nails trimmed.  I have never once cut her nails too short and made her bleed (I've heard of this happening).  Instead, I am very careful and make sure I am holding the clippers just so before I actually clip.  Which does take a really long time for each nail.  I just don't want to hurt my baby and make her apprehensive each time we need to trim her nails.

I guess the method didn't work because she hates it now.

I put it off until I don't think I possibly can anymore.  It would be so embarrassing if daycare had to tell me to trim my own daughter's nails before sending her in.

Today, I glanced at myself in the mirror and realized I had lots of little scratches all over my stomach from Baby playing with me earlier.

Guess I'd better get Husband to hold her down and get to town.

Tomorrow.

She'll be in a better mood in the morning.