[blparent] Trimming baby's nails

[Erin Rumer]

Hello Bridget,

I really wouldn't worry about bacteria too much if you bight them off,
especially if you take some steps to keep the situation clean.  That's what
my pediatrician told me works best, especially with the real little ones.
She said that more parents accidentally cut their baby with the clippers and
that's more of a cause for infection and problems.  What I suggest is to put
babies hands in water or hold a wet cloth on your son's hands for a little
to soften the nails.  You could also just take advantage of the situation
after a nice warm bath.  Then brush your teeth and use mouth wash to get
your own mouth nice and clean just as an extra precaution.  After several
times of just playing with baby's hands in your mouth to really get to know
the feel of where his nails are in conjunction with your teeth then you can
finally gently nibble on the nails.  I found that baby nails peel really
nicely so I always gently bight one end of the nail and then slowly pull
toward me to finish getting the nail off.  This way it all comes out in one
strip most times.  When your all done you can wash your son's hands or even
just take a baby wipe to them to get any germs off if any.  Every now and
then you will trim the nails a little too close but this can happen with
clippers as well and probably more often.  I made a point to play with my
son's hands in my mouth a fair amount so that he didn't always associate
getting his nails trimmed with his hands being in my mouth.  If my son ever
acted uncomfortable when bighting his nails I immediately stopped and went
back to it later.  Sometimes it would take me a couple of days with doing a
nail or two at a time to finish all his nails and make it a pleasant
experience for my son.  Most times I just did it when he was sleepy or even
nursing and he either didn't even notice or care.  Now that he's older I
just bight his nails after a bath and he's old enough that I can talk to him
about what I'm doing and ask him to stay really still for mommy, giving him
lots of praise afterwards for being such a great helper. If you're really
not comfortable with bighting your son's nails then don't do it because your
baby will probably sense your nervousness about it and it could become very
negative for both of you.  It's not something I was comfortable with at
first but once I figured out how to do it and how easy it was, I really
preferred that method.  Some of my friends tell me that they can't feel
their baby's nails with their teeth and tongue like I can so it's not a
preferred method for them.  You could always just ask a sighted friend or
family member to clip your son's nails when they're around or ask your
pediatrician to do it when you go in every couple of months for your son's
appointments.

Best to you.

Erin

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit
Pollpeter
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 12:05 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] Trimming baby's nails

Hello,

What do some of you do to trim a babys nails? Declan's have grown quite
long, but I'm not sure how to go about this. I know a lot of blind people
just chew them off, but I'm worried about bacteria and infection since
saliva will mingle with his skin. I can ask someone to do it, but so far,
everyone I've asked is leary about doing it even mothers of 30 years. So any
advice?

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan


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