# I accidentally cut my baby when clipping his nails. I feel AWFUL



## Lucy In the Sky (Dec 15, 2007)

I'm not sure why I'm writing this-- I guess 'cause I need some support. Earlier today I was clipping my 3 month old son's nails. Normally I just bite them to trim them, but there was one really sharp edge I couldn't get with my teeth and I was afraid he was going to scratch himself so I decided to clip it. He seemed very mellow and I figured it would be fine. In hindsight I recognize that this was a terrible idea and I should have waited until he was sleeping.

I went to clip the nail and he squirmed and I wound up clipping his fingertip. He's usually the sweetest most happy baby; I've only ever seen him scream a couple of times in his life. When I cut him he cried like crazy, and it seemed like forever before the cut coagulated; it tooks maybe half an hour to stop bleeding entirely. It was a long horizontal cut right on the tip of his finger. I was so upset that I called my husband to come home from work (it was the end of the day anyway.) I even made him take a cab rather than the bus because I was so afraid I'd done something terrible to my ds. I had visions of the cut never coagulating and having to go to the ER.

My husband got home within 15 minutes of me calling him. I'd been applying pressure to the wound and holding my son's hand up to get it to stop bleeding. I had a washcloth wrapped around his finger and later when I looked at the cloth, it wasn't really that bloody at all-- just a few spots, but at the time it seemed to me like the worst wound I'd ever seen.

I'd been frantic when I called my husband and told him I thought I'd really hurt ds, but when dh got home he took one look at the wound and said it wasn't bad at all. Sure enough within a few minutes it stopped bleeding, but we called the Pediatrician anyway just to check in. We washed out the cut and I squirted some breastmilk on it and we bandaged it. Then DS nursed for a really really long time, and after that he seemed to go back to his normal self-- happy, smiling, loving little sweetie. He's fast asleep now.

Problem is, I feel like I'm scarred for life. I feel so terrible and I just cannot shake it. I feel like the worst mother ever and even though I know it's kind of irrational, I'm so afraid that I've traumatized him. I can't get to bed and I have this awful sick sensation in the pit of my stomach. Hence this post.

Has anyone ever been through this? Any advice?


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

BTDT many times, put a little antibiotic cream on it, cover with a bandaid if you can, and dont worry


----------



## lil_earthmomma (Dec 29, 2006)

s mama! We've all done something like this, and it is so scary. Don't worry though, my ds's fingers are totally fine, no deformities or scars even!









I think my ds was about 3 mo when I did the exact same thing.

Be well mama.


----------



## northwoods1995 (Nov 17, 2003)

Oh mama, I did the same thing with my DD when she was around 6-8weeks old (my 2nd child).

It took FOREVER to stop bleeding. I felt like such crap and was crying the whole time. I called our Dr, my dad and my sister just crying my eyes out. Anyway, the bleeding did stop and DD was totally fine---I still have not, and probably will never, forget that! I feel your pain---but your baby will be ok!!

Hugs!


----------



## momasana (Aug 24, 2007)

Oh Mama, it will be okay. We've all been there.


----------



## Lucy In the Sky (Dec 15, 2007)

Thanks mamas. That really helps. He is my first baby so I've never gone through this before.


----------



## veryerin (Jul 29, 2007)

I'm sorry dear. I did the same thing to my DD when she was only 2 weeks old. Definitely hurt me more than her.


----------



## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *veryerin* 
I'm sorry dear. I did the same thing to my DD when she was only 2 weeks old. Definitely hurt me more than her.

What she said. Mine was a bit older but the rest of what this mom wrote applies.









It was an accident. Your baby will forgive you. Now forgive yourself.


----------



## Slabobbin (Jan 29, 2004)

I did that to my first baby at his first checkup at the doctor's office! He was about a week old and we were waiting in the waiting room and of course I had the typical first time mom HUGE diaper bag packed with everything but the kitchen sink.







So for some reason I chose that time to do his first nail clipping. I clipped the top of his finger off (just a small piece, but still) and it bled like a stuck hog! So I was sitting there with blood all over me, all over him, all over his receiving blanket and then they called us back.







Now that I look back it is all pretty funny but at the time I was horrified!

That still wasn't near as bad as the time I clipped the top of his ear while giving him a hair cut!


----------



## cinnamonamon (May 2, 2003)

My mom did this to me when I was a babe. I was her first baby & she was so scarred that she used a nail file exclusively for me after that & with her next _five_ babies!

I don't see any scars on my fingers... but the sound of a nail file makes me cringe!


----------



## ann_of_loxley (Sep 21, 2007)

I am pretty sure most of us have been there hun! My sister has done the same exact thing as you have and .... I once clipped my son with scissors when I was cutting his hair!














Try not to feel too bad, accidents do happen! We can only learn from them!


----------



## lexmas (Jan 9, 2007)

That happened to me the first time I cut DS's nails. I made DH cut his nails for the next couple months, and really we avoided cutting them until he was scratching us all up and we couldn't take it anymore! I think it's really common to do, their nails are so tiny! My friend did the same thing and thought she cut the whole top of her DD's finger off, there was tons and tons of blood. When I commented on how well trimmed her youngest's nails were and how I wasn't that good with DS's nails, she told me that her mom does it, because she's afraid to!

So, you're not alone. I know it's scary though!







Your DS will be fine.


----------



## reezley (May 27, 2006)

I did a teeny cut on ds2's finger once early on. And once I bonked his head pretty good on the open microwave door when I popped up too quickly from squatting (he cried and I cried). And ds1 fell off the bed in the middle of the night from my carelessness. .... and I'll bet any mommy has stories like that! All you can do is be glad (and hope) that's the worst damage you'll do! Not too bad.


----------



## Muminmamman (Jul 28, 2007)

Don't feel bad! Seriously, I don't know if I have any friends who haven't accidentally hacked their lo's hand whilst cutting their nails. Those things are tiny!


----------



## cinnamonamon (May 2, 2003)

...oh, and for the record, I usually nibble my baby's nails off until they get too thick/strong, then I do it when they're sleeping or in a mood where they don't mind. I do have a bad habit of pulling cuticles thinking just the loose part will come off...poor babies; you think I'd learn already!


----------



## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

I remember how horrible I felt the first time I did that.







DD1 was only a few weeks old at the time.

Baby nails and skin grow REALLY fast. I think she was totally healed in a day or two? In any case, that's something that I've done from time to time on all 3 of my kids, only I relaxed about it after that first time when I saw how fast it healed up.


----------



## LogansMama1979 (Nov 8, 2007)

I, too, have been there with my son, who was 3 months old the first time I cut his fingertip. (thumb.) I decided to continue on and ended up cutting his other fingertip, also his thumb, and decided I was never cutting his nails again! My husband said it would be better to cut them when Logan was sleeping.
For a week and a half I stopped cutting his nails, then I realized as he gets older he will sleep less and less, so....
now I cut his nails in good light while he is awake with baby safe nail clippers. I use the safety side of the clippers to push his finger back, making sure to center the nail in the clipper, and I have not cut him again. I have seen my husband watching my technique, and though he has never said so, I think he is impressed I went on to cut his nails again- even while awake!
Being a first time parent is hard (I am a first time mommy) because it is all about learning, trial and error and such. But in the long run, I know we will all be just fine.


----------



## emmalyne (Jun 29, 2007)

I wont even cut DS' nails for fear of doing that, DH has to be the "bad" guy. I am in awe of you mamas who can do it.


----------



## granolalight (Nov 1, 2006)

btdt. Don't worry. It'll be OK.


----------



## Lucy In the Sky (Dec 15, 2007)

Mamas thank you all so much! This has helped me enormously. I don't know that I have ever felt in my entire life as terrible as I did when I hacked ds's fingertip. To love someone so much and cause him such distress when he is relying on me and trusting me to take care of him is just awful, but I know it was just a mistake and as you have all said, at some point just about everyone does it. And we aren't perfect much as we'd like to be.

DS woke up about four times last night to nurse(previoiusly he had been sleeping a 7-8 hour stretch fully of his own accord) and it helped me to be able to help him na dknow that I was able to soothe him and help mend my mistake. I don't think his finger was hurting him from what I could tell, but we have a nice placid home life usually and I think all the upset left him unsettled. I wonder if perhaps besides how scary it must be for a little baby to hurt physically when he has not experienced that before, he also may have been a little shaken by intuiting how freaked out and alarmed I was? During the immediatye period after the hacking I talked to him soothingly and tried to remain calm outwardly but of course internally I just a wreck, and it seems to me that he is a very intuitive little guy. I hope I do not turn out to be one of those mamas that projects life as a big scary experience and makes mountains out of molehills as I think that can do just as much harm as being lax.


----------



## ryansma (Sep 6, 2006)

Aww mama - you're doing great. No one is perfect, but you can tell from your post how much you love your little guy! He'll be just fine, and you will too. It's really okay


----------



## Mbella (Apr 5, 2007)

I did the same thing when my daughter was 3 months old! I was also frantic and called dh and he came rushing home. It wouldn't stop bleeding so I called the doctor and they told us to take her to the ER. It finally stopped bleeding while we were waiting forever in the waiting room. At the time I felt like the worst mother ever, but she is a happy 21 month old little girl today.


----------



## MsLondon (Sep 25, 2007)

I know just how you feel, went through the same thing myself a couple of months ago and posted a very similar story on here because I was feeling so crappy about it. And I was glad to see that theres alot of mamas out ther that have done the same thing (though of course not glad for all the little babes fingertips)
And I did it twice!!!! one week after the first time! so you can just imagine how I felt!!
I now use nail clippers from American red cross. Dont know if they are any better or if Im just too terrified of doing it again but they seem to work better then the other ones I had.
Dont worry, DS wont remember and it WILL heal and WONT scar. It was an accident that I think many of us have experienced unfortunately.


----------

