Babies have incredibly tiny nails, but these tiny nails are quick to become sharp and hazardous as they tend to grow at an astonishing rate. Your baby may accidentally scratch themselves or people around them if you don’t maintain their nails well.

For first time parents especially, it may be difficult or even scary to start cutting your wriggly baby’s nails, but fear not, with the right utensils and cautious tricks – trimming those baby nails will be smooth sailing!

What Should I Cut Their Nails With?

Make sure you’ve got yourself prepared with the right tools to use on babies. This includes purchasing nail clippers that are specially designed for tiny baby hands, which usually consist of rounded or blunt tips to prevent any harsh clippings.

If you want to be extra cautious, you can consider purchasing baby nail clippers with built-in lights or cushioned padding, which will make the process easier for you and much more comfortable for them.

It’s also recommended to purchase an emery board, this product will do wonders when you need to file down those tiny nails.

When Is A Good Time To Cut Their Nails?

It’s best you aim to do the tricky work when your baby is at their most calm state, which could be when they’re sleeping or feeding. You don’t want to be clipping away when your baby is jittery or stressed – have someone distract your baby if needed.

It’s also suggested that after a bath when their nails are the softest and most malleable state to handle. Give it a try.

How Should I Be Cutting Their Nails?

Make sure you have a firm yet gentle grip on their hands as you slowly trim along the natural curve of their fingernails, keeping the finger-pad away from the nail. It is highly recommended that you have superb lighting in order to get a clear sight of where your trimming, not wanting to cut too close to their skin.

Baby toenails are equally as soft as their fingernails, but instead of cutting along a natural curve you want to be just cutting straight across. Be careful as their toenails may curl over the ends of their toes which may make it difficult to differentiate nail from the skin. Take it slow!

After you’ve carefully trimmed their nails, you can use the emery board to smooth out any rough edges.

What Should I Be Careful Of?

A major concern when attempting this daunting task, is how can I prevent from hurting my baby? All you need to do is just be very cautious and alert of how much you’re cutting, as going too far back may cause bleeding which increases proneness to infection. Additionally, for their toenails, you don’t want to cut down the sides as this causes ingrown nails.
What if I accidentally cut them?
Whether your baby is squeamish or you’re a little bit nervous, don’t fret when a cut accidentally occurs, it’s not the end of the world and your baby still loves you! All you need to do is give their finger a little rinse under cool water or apply a damp cloth with a little pressure, and this will stop the bleeding soon after.

Make sure you avoid using bandages or band-aids as your baby might fiddle with it and choke.

How Often Should I Cut Their Nails?

Baby fingernails are very small but they grow extremely fast, so you may need to maintain them about once a week or more, depending on your baby. Their toenails grow at a much slower pace so you may only need to trim them a couple times a month.

Don’t be nervous if you’re cutting your baby’s nails for the first time, if you’re stressed – your baby will become stressed! Make sure you’ve got good lighting and the right utensils, in order to make the process easy and relaxing.

This guest post was from Jenny at Diamond Nail Supplies in Australia. Diamond Nail Supplies is a beauty supply store. Though they do not have products relating to babies – they have a wide range of professional nail products and more for the moms or professionals. Thank you for the helpful article Jenny.