mittens,nature & trimming of baby nails

we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

wrote:
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

A lot of people bite off the baby's nails rather than using clippers or
scissors. That's probably how it was dealt with in the past, before those
items were invented. Or they let the baby scratch itself. Who really knows?
How far back did you have in mind when you said "ancient"? BC or AD? Which
culture?

Engram

On Jun 5, 2:35 am, wrote:
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

I never cared for those little mittens. For me, they took the joy out
of watching the little one discover her hands, fingers, thumb. I could
see her delight in finding her thumb to help soothe herself, which was
much better than a pacifier since it always fell out!

A newborn's nails are so thin that when they get long enough you can
simply (and carefully) pull them off. Also, the special baby clippers
are not sharp at all. Use them only when baby is sleeping, again
carefully, and you'll find it easy to keep them trim.

Yes, they will scratch themselves a little, but it won't be a big deal
to them. My DD wasn't bothered by a little scratch here and there.

Hope this helps.

?How far back did you have in mind when you said "ancient"? BC or AD?
Which
culture?


ancient as in before tools

wrote:
?How far back did you have in mind when you said "ancient"? BC or AD?
Which
culture?


ancient as in before tools

Pre-tools, it would hard to call them human. You'd have to look at what
animals do with their claws - apes, particularly - to decide what pre-tool
hominids did.
--
YoungBloke: 3 years, 92cm, 13kg and still BF

wrote:
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

We had little baby emery boards with a very, very fine grit. A few
swipes with that and the soft little nails were taken care of. I also
didn't like the mittens; I felt they were depriving the baby of one of
their senses. And my second one was so dang big when he was born those
little mittens wouldn't go over his big hands!

Karen

wrote in message
ups.com...
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

I don't know how ancient man did it, but I had no problem clipping their
nails. I usually did it after their bath and when they were partially asleep
and dozing. I know lots of people have a problem clipping nails, but I don't
see a problem with it. ) And it really squicks me out when parents bite
their nails. That imo, would cause more damage.
--
Sue

wrote in message
ups.com...
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

I wasn't around when "ancient man & women" were around, but for me, the
easiest way to trim nails was to do it while they were nursing. Either I
would do it when they were nursing or I'd get Daddy to do it. Did it with
either baby nail clippers or a very fine file made for baby nails. Also,
carefully ripping a nail that is hanging never had any issues. I never
liked the biting thing. It just kind of turns my stomach - N does that
every now and then, and I get after him lol
Those little mittens or socks, IMO, look rediculous. I feel bad for
babies - gloves are for when it's cold. I also thought they were not giving
the baby the chance to explore - feel the world around them, even if it's
something as simple as grasping their own blanket or clothing.
Babies don't seem to mind if they scratch themselves. None of mine had ever
scratched themselves and cried. They also never scarred or had issues with
it. I, OTOH, trimmed nails mainly for myself. I have quite a few scratches
on my chest and side and breasts where DD2 just seems to grip on to my skin
while nursing. Even with a 'nursing neclace' that I made for her to use, I
still find if her nails are long, sharp or hanging, she still gouges me with
those nails when reaching for the neclace or my bra strap. It was mainly
for me that I ensure her nails are trimmed when needed, when possible.
Small baby nail clippers, baby nail file/emory board or simply pulling them
off carefully seem to work fairly good!

On Jun 5, 2:35?am, wrote:
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

people use a variety of things. They bite the nails, they file the
nails, etc. I found that using a regular-sized pair of nail clippers
worked much better than the baby nail clippers for some reason. They
were easier to maneuver and I was always sure of where I was clipping.
My first baby, I just waited until he was asleep and did it that way.
Same with my second baby. My third baby, however, had nails that
seemed to grow right up over the tips of his fingers. I couldn't get a
clip short enough to save his little face anyway. He spent sleeping
hours in baby gowns that had extra material on the sleeves to fold up
and cover the hands because that is when he would scratch himself,
when he started rootin' around for his hands. During the day when up
and about they were exposed because he didn't scratch himself really
then. I tried filing his nails, but they were so soft and bendy, and
just getting a grip with my fingernails to pull it off like the doctor
told me to made me extremely nervous because I worried that I would
rip it into the quick. Anyway, as he matured, the fingernails would
break and hang off and then I could pull it because it already had a
natural start, but clipping his nails didn't really get to be done
until maybe 6 months of age, and again, during sleeping. Now that he
is 19 months old, it is hard to do while sleeping because he thinks it
is so neat it wakes him up, and when he is up, he just fights it and
says "I tie, I tie." for I try and continuously grabs at them so I do
like 2 fingernails a day with regular clippers. lol. Good luck, but
until baby gains better control of his hands, I recommend the infant
gowns with the sleeve caps that can be rolled up and down when needed.

On Jun 4, 11:35 pm, wrote:
we keep our newborns hands gloved to keep her from scratching her
face. the nails seem to small for us to clip.

i am wondering how did ancient man & women deal with this problem?

thx

I used an emery board to smooth the ends. Instead of just going
across to shorten the nail, I used it to smooth the ends stroking down
from the top so they wouldn't be so sharp.

--Betsy