How To Take Care Of Toddlers’ Nails

Most of the toddlers are wary of scissors and nail cutters. Your fear is acceptable because it combines whatever may reduce you with feelings of pain and hurt. Whether or not your kid cooperates, you have to take care of your nails – not just to give her a decent look, but also for her health’s sake. Continue reading to know how to take care of toddlers’ nails.

Common Toddler Nail Problems

• Ingrown nail: the nail bends down and through the skin causing discomfort and even infection.
• Hangnail: The tip of a fingernail is covered with a thin strip of dead skin.
• Nail deformity: The children who bite or pick their nails suffer from this problem. The nail is not smooth in these situations and has no healthy appearance.

Long nails are unhygienic since they can attract dirt and germs. They can also cause the child and the people around her to scratch. Long toenails are likely also added and your baby hurts.

Is It A Nail Cutting Phobia?

Regardless of the nail clipping phobia, the overwhelming majority of children that don’t want to get their fingers or toenails trimmed are not refusing. Of course, it’s possible, there was a real reason your kid ran from the clippers.

How Do Certain Kids Have A Sensitivity To Cutting Nails?

The reason many children avoid or detest nail cutting is that it’s incredibly unpleasant or even painful for them, either before or afterward. If you think about it it, it’s a strange sensation.

This intense reaction is directly linked to their activation of the sensories. This is a tactile experience. Your child is not bad, however, exhausting it may be. By fact, their sensitivity is tactile and they experience the tedious but important task of having their nails trimmed with much more strength than you or I do.

Many children are prone to nail cutting as an unusual occurrence while some may have other sensory red flags or even a diagnosis such as Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or Autism. Kids with such disorders are more likely to have sensory processing needs.

Ways To Take Care Of Toddlers’ Nails

Children, particularly toddlers, will often try to wriggle free from the situation. And how can you encourage them to get the nails cut? And we’re telling you how. Here are some ways to take care of toddlers’ nails.

1. Lead the way

If your child is afraid, take the nail clippers casually out to use on yourself, your friend, and any friendly siblings, and let your child watch as you all escape, unscathed (and smiling). Show the right attitude and you may be begging your tot for a turn by the time you finish giving yourself a manicure.

2. Avoid clippers or scissors that are too sharp

When choosing a nail clipper or scissors to cut your baby’s nails, always pick those that have blunt and rounded edges as better suited for a toddler. Stop picking sharp-pointed scissors because they can hurt your toddler.

3. Check under nails for nasties

Keeping kids’ nails short prevents the most dirt from sticking, but even tiny nails collect some gunk. A good washing of your hands will eliminate the rest, but if you find stubborn objects, use a rounded wooden toothpick or brush to make sure the job is finished.

4. Trimming the nails after a hot bath

It’s easy to trim your toddler’s nails after a warm bath because the nails are soft and can be cut quickly. You shouldn’t try to cut the nails of your child underwater. Remember. Children’s nails tend to be soft for a long time when exposed to water. In such a scenario, attempting to cut nails may cause harm to the toddler.

To most parents, cutting off a child’s nails may be a nerve-wracking activity. It can be a frustrating experience to persuade your child to have its nails trimmed.

5. Pretend play

Play a game that involves the fingers and toes of your toddler. Toddlers love to play and it would be nice if a nail trimming could become a fun game. For example, while trimming each nail, you can sing a fun song and then give your kid a hug after it is cut.

6. Get goofy

Pretend that the fingers of your child are the family of a mom, dad, and baby, who have to get their “hair cut”, or sing a favorite song to your sweetheart with a nail-referenced twist. He will forget to be antsy or scared, he will have a nice time.

7. Choose Your Time Wisely

When parents we turn a hundred plates at one time, so you just have to get it done because cutting nails is another job on the to-do list. Still, if you’re struggling with a sensitivity to nail clipping, it can get backfire. It is worth finding a time when your child and you are relaxing too.

Only trying to cut nail at the right time made it much more effective.

8. Using Extra Tools and Toys

Occasionally kids may use some extra sensory devices to support them, but it’s up to your child what this is all about. Many kids, for example, love vibration, and a vibrating device in their hands can help calm or control their sensory system when cutting nails. Another child can love heavy things and a weighted lap pillow may make a huge difference. Here is a list of some tactile devices, with which you can experiment:

• Holding a bug that vibrates (super-cheap, can snag one here)
• Weighted lap pad over their lap
• Squeeze a stress ball (you can get a stress ball here or follow the instructions)
• Bite on a chewy necklace or chewing gum
• Hugging a stuffed toy

If you’re not sure what kinds of sensory devices or toys will help your child, go to Selecting the Right Sensory Device so you can make the best guess because it differs from child to child when it comes to sensory.

9. Cut fingernails about once a week

• Fingernails grow at a rate of about.1 millimeter per day. This doesn’t sound like much, but it means that in a few weeks the nails of your child can grow up enough to scratch themselves, or elsewhere, unintentionally. If you fall behind, you could get a reminder in the form of a small cut.
  More frequent trimming may be needed for smaller children. For example, children have fast-growing nails which may have to be cut twice a week.
• Toenails grow a little slower than fingernails, on the other hand. Possibly just once or twice a month will you cut them.

So, these are ways to take care of toddlers’ nails.

Keeping the nails cut is an important part of taking care of your kids. It can be done in a careful way with the help of a competent pediatrician, avoiding the health and safety risks of unkempt nails and encouraging healthy personal grooming habits which will continue throughout life.