Age = 4 months 17 days

Oh dear. Bug has always had scratchy nails, and they’re starting to hurt Mummy and Daddy a little when he grabs a face or – when he’s feeding – worse. We’ve heard that you can (or “should”) cut them, file them, tear them or bite them.

Well I tried the biting early on, and while it doesn’t gross me out or freak me out, I just couldn’t do it. I’ve never been a nail-biter anyway (what’s the attraction?!), but a baby’s nails are much softer, which seems to make them more difficult to bite through cleanly.

I’ve filed them a couple of times lately, which is good for getting sharp edges off but takes too long to actually shorten every nail. Tearing works if the nail has already started tearing itself, but I’d hate to start from scratch (excuse the pun) with tearing because I’d be worried it would go too low and tear from the nail bed.

So cutting was the only option left. Daddy gave it a go on Sunday, and did four fingers perfectly. Unfortunately he overestimated or underestimated or something on the thumb, and ouch! Poor Bug had a tiny flap of skin hanging off the top of the thumb and was bleeding, and poor Daddy was looking mortified.

We kept a band-aid on it yesterday, but as Bug’s quite keen on sucking his hands I took the plaster off yesterday evening – I didn’t want him choking on it if it came off.
P.S. Daddy hasn’t got back on the horse yet – he’s not a gymnast! (obscure film reference) – to cut the nails on the other hand.