Conference moira::parenting

My wife cuts the nails of our 14 m.o. daughter 
as I'm giving her her nighttime bottle before bed.
Works great.

    Hi Cris!
    
    I don't realy have any tips for you but would love to hear
    some myself.  Getting the twins nails cut is definatly like
    tag team wrestling.   As you know they are about the same
    age as your daughter 11 months old.  Maybe it's the age..
    does it get better?  
    
    Deb

    I can tell you that unfortunately, it didn't get better for me, just
    worse.  Paul will be 3 soon and I just tried to cut his toenails last
    week.  He moaned, cried, worried about Mommy hurting him, etc.  It
    helped a bit to show him that I did it on my own toes and didn't hurt
    myself.  I have also given him a small baby clipper of his own to play
    with while we use another on him.  However, if they move when your
    cutting them then you can easily hurt them.  I typically have my
    husband hold him down and give him a cookie for being good after.
    
    Paul's toenails grow upward which is something that my sister's son
    also had a problem with.  I haven't thought about talking to his PEDI
    about it, but they sure get uncomfortable if they aren't cut every
    other week or so.  I hope he outgrows it.  I imagine it will be more
    painful as he gets older and into sports.
    
    cj

When Shruthi was younger, I would cut her nails when she was asleep. This got
harder and harder to do as she grew older..sometimes, I would cut one nail..and
my reflex action, she would tuck her hand under her body and continue sleeping. 
If I wanted to cut any more nails, I would run the risk of waking her up!  So,
we switched to bathtime!  It wasn't easy..she was scared at the beginning..but
it is easier to cut when her nails are soft from the bath..doesn't hurt her and
she slowly got used to it.  She will now play in the tub for a while..and then
let me cut her nails..works out good for both of us!

--Chaya.

    
    I laughed at this one!  I have 3 boys, 7mths, 2.5 yrs & just 5 yrs. 
    The baby doesn't mind he just moves around too much.  Once my kids hit
    2 though, you'd think I was killing them!  I have to lie on their legs
    to get them from pulling away.  The scream & yell expecting me to cut
    off their toes I guess.  If DSS was outside my door, I'd be locked up
    for just the screams.  Andrew & Kevin will then when it's all over say,
    "That wasn't too bad!", and I remind them each time, but the story is
    the same each time.  
    
    As a side note, my daycare provider does their finger nail!  Do you
    beleive that?  The reason is that it helps her to do her son's (age 2)
    if she does eveyone elses too!  Great bennie!  BTW, both my boys don't
    make a peep when she does their nails!  Figures huh?
    
    Beth
    

    My two year old, her big toe nail grows up. I have to clip it every
    week. Don't know why either. She's got real fat toes though. My others
    aren't that way.  I usually sing songs while doing it.  Keeps them
    occupied.
    
    Rose

    My daughter is 10 1/2 months old and I've figured out that
    doing it while she's in her high chair is the ONLY way I
    can manage it!  She can't squirm away quite as much....she
    still tries, but I can stand behind her and get leverage
    and work quickly...
    
    /susan

    After another unsuccessful attempt last night.  Yes.. the parents got
    pinned by the baby again. ;-)   My wife tried cutting my daughters nails
    while she was sleeping in the car seat this morning.  It worked well!
    Waking her up is always a concern though.  
    
    I like the bath and high seat ideas, so far.  
    
    Chris

    My kids are fascinated by their nails being cut.  I have two sons ages
    6 and 4 and a daughter age 2.  None of them give much trouble when and
    actually sit still when their nails are clipped.  I cannot tell you how
    that fascination was achieved.  Sorry.

Jonathan (almost 3) will FINALLY let me cut his nails - and occasionally even 
asks to have them done .... 

Stumbled on this one QUITE by mistake - with 2 older brothers, I was cutting
their finger/toenails, and Jonathan kept getting told to 'go play' sort of 
thing .... finally he INSISTED that he get his cut too!  So now I do it as a
group thing - and Jonathan gets a hand/foot in, in between each of the older
boys.

In 3 kids, I've been successful once in cutting nails in their sleep.

The daycare has NO problem with Jonathan at all, and he's thrilled to have them 
do it .... I don't try to figure out the kids anymore  (-;

-Patty

    Jeff who is 14 months HATES to have his nails done.  We use to wrestle
    with him, but I couldn't take the screaming...So what I found worked
    for me is to leave a pair of clippers in the car and when he falls 
    to sleep I can quickly cut all his nails...make for a much more
    peaceful evening...
    
    
    renee

    I lay Morgan (1 yr) down on her diaper changing table and make her an
    active participant... "Morgan, watch what mommy can do to your
    fingers".. when she starts to pull her hands away I say "Oh, look
    Morgan, look how pretty your nails look" (by this time I usually
    have one hand done).  A rendition of A-B-C usually gets me through
    the other one.  
    
    I figured out that the more I struggled the more she would.  So I
    try and relax her and talk to her in a calm voice and so far its
    worked.  Otherwise, I was getting kicked, punched and screamed at.
              

    
    Although we used to do "world-wide-wrestling" when it
    was time to cut fingernails, we now do one fingernail a day.
    Or at least, one fingernail in the morning and one at night. 
    It's so quick to get one done that he doesn't have time to 
    get worked up.  Also, I think he's gotten more tolerant 
    because sometimes he will sometimes let me do several at a time. 
    Alex is now 20 months old.