Bad Mommy Moments #1

So I wanted this to also be a learning experience I could look back on, hopefully without embarrassment. So occasionally (I hope) I wanted to share some events that were probably not good judgment on my part. Sometimes it seems to work out just fine for me and my little one. Sometimes, it's really just a bad mommy moment.

Keeping Baby Nails Trimmed




During all of our parenting classes and even during a tour of the hospital, they told each of us to bring nail clippers for our new infant. The hospital staff are not allowed to trim baby's nails, commenting that it's some type of "invasive procedure." During our Infant Care Class, the instructor told us point blank that we would nick their fingers occasionally. It's just something parents have to do. My mother later suggested biting them off, because you would be able to feel your boundaries a little bit better than with metal shears. I decided that would be my only way of grooming Astrid's tiny fingers.

Astrid does not like her hands in my mouth, especially when she realizes I'm messing with her nails. This has been this way since birth. I tried a different tactic of pulling at the soft nails until they ripped off. She doesn't like that either. It doesn't hurt, just annoys. Only once have I resorted to clipping her nails because she scratched her face and we were worried the next time would be worse. Mind you, one of us had to hold her while the other did the clipping.

"Why not wait until she is asleep? Then she won't even know." Yeah right. She knows. As I tug on her hand to clip or trim or bite away her claws, she pulls back- asleep or not. Finally, I gave up. I stopped fighting her.

Results?
She has beautiful, long nails. And no scratches on her face. Turns out babies, at least mine, can adjust. When she is griping my arm or hand, she digs in with her nails no worries. When it hurts, I loosen her grip. She also flails in and swipes at her face when agitated (during sleep and awake times). However, she never scratches her face. (She scratches mine though.)

I still get a little worried that my child may scratch her corneas; but it's been at least a month and she has grown into her hands with grace. This moment didn't turn out too bad.



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