Do all toddlers hate having their nails cut?

fabforty

Or is it just mine?

DS is 2 and 8 months and for as long as I can remember, he absolutely hates having his nails cut. It's the same for both finger nails and toe nails - you can tell when they are being done, because he sounds like he's being slaughtered. I have never cut him or hurt him, although most of the time I wait until he is asleep to do them, which means that he has never really got used to it.
He will sometimes ask me to cut his nails, but as soon as the scissors appear, he's off.
I read something about sensory problems sometimes being the cause, but there is nothing to suggest that he is particularly sensitive.

Apart from continuing to wait until he is asleep, or good old fashioned brute force , does anyone have any useful tips for dealing with this? Also, is this common or is my son unusual?

double_mummy

my daughter loves it and then having her nails painted -just like mummy

my son hates it we generally put something on the tv he likes sat on dads lap being held and i do the cutting out of his line of sight -i have found he has been better since switching to clippers rather than scissors

son is almost 7 daughter is 4 this week

cutestkids

my son is 8 and still hates it he will do anything to avoid it, what he says is he does not like the feeling after they have been cut.

CharlieRabbit01

I hate cutting my own nails so I always do it after a bath or shower when the nails are softer.

Bennifred

Maybe you could try asking him if he'd like his nails painted - nails have to be cut first before they are painted, obviously! This worked for one of my DSs, many moons ago.

apesxx

Mine always hated it. DD hated it even more when I accidentally took a chunk out of the next toe too :-( nana is a chiropodist so I send them off there now when they need their nail doing :-)

iammumtoone

When my son was younger up to about 3 or 4 I think I had to cut his nails whilst he was asleep, it was just easier and not worth the fuss it caused. He is 6 now and is too old to have it done whilst asleep so I sit him on my lap and cut them whilst his favourite tv programme is on. He still hates it says he hates the feeling! can't understand why as there is no feeling in nails!

liney

Quite normal. I too would go in while he was asleep when DS was small. Mine is 9 now and says it just feels 'icky'

fabforty

Thank you for your replies. It's good to know that it isn't strange after all. I think I will stick to doing it while he's asleep, at least for the time being. He gets so upset and distressed, it's painful to watch - not to mention painful to my ears .

He had a hanging nail on his toe yesterday, which had to be done straight away - and it was awful - I had to resort to WWF moves .

sharp82

Not so bad with having his nails cut. but his hair, jesus! He acts like we are scraping it off with sandpaper!

kettlefish

My DD is nearly 2 and I still bite her nails for her. We attempted cutting them a few months ago but she wriggled so much it wasn't safe. I also don't do them all at the same time - one or two and then let her go off and get another couple later.