Need Help and Advice on Clipping Nails on a 16-Month-old Boy

I cut my 2 yr old daughter's while she is sleeping. She will never sit still long enough to get them all done and when she's asleep she has no idea I'm clipping away!!! I tried everything from bathtime to singing, giving her a snack, we even tried to play beauty salon and she would pretend to file my nails while I clipped one hand....trust me while they sleep works great!!

my oldest used to fight me, so i kept the clippers in my bag/car and when he would fall asleep while i was driving, in that deeeeep sleep, i would pull into the driveway, parking lot, whatever and get out and clip them, it worked great.

Sounds familiar. The only thing that I have found to work is cutting them immediately after the bath. They are softer and it seems to go faster. I usually have to hold my son down and he screams his head off. I usually tuck his arm or leg under my arm so that the "rest of him" is behind me. If I get a good hold on the fat part of his arm or leg (not the wrist or ankle) I can usually clip quickly and move on.

At least they're over it quickly.

Try sitting him in front of a little c.d. player that is playing music... my son gets so intrigued about the music playing that I can clip his nails 1-2-3 while he is preoccupied!!! It was the fastest I have ever cut his nails and is just about to turn 16 months. Good luck!

I cut them right after bathtime. I bathe him at night, and I create a "sleepytime mood" by turning on only one lamp and allowing him to sit in the warm bathwater for a while. Once he is out he's pretty tired, and for good measure I follow the bath with a baby lotion massage and that really gets him pretty relaxed, often too tired to fight me (most of the time). Sometimes I do just one foot and then the other another day. At one point, he was only permitting me to cut one nail a day. I vary it up to whatever suits him the best, and so far that has seemed to work. Good luck.

My sister in law swore by cutting her daughters nails while she was playing in the bathtub. My daughter used to scream and fight too, but I told her one day that we had to "get the dirt out" her nails were a bit dirty and needed to be clipped, and for some odd reason, she never fought me again on it, she actually OFFERS me her hands and feet! What a blessing LOL, try to be as non chalant as possible about it, he will get over it.

My son normally fights, so we have a new routine. I got some inexpensive clippers from the grocery store that have a little teddy bear on them, so I tell him the teddy bear is kissing his nails to cut them (he is almost 3 and very very strong), and we sing a stupid song "one little, two little, three little fingers, four little five little, six little fingers," etc. (same for toes) while clipping them. If he gets frustrated and tries to fight, we pause and I show him the bear and remind him that the bear needs to finish kissing his fingers. We use "kissing" because it is touch but more gentle, and he does know that it is also cutting. I have never tried doing this while he was sleeping. If he is really irritable about it, I start to cut mine or tell him I'm going to cut his baby brother's nails first.

Another option is to try nail scissors. You can get very cute ones where the handles are a butterfly and it is very comfortable for the child. Hope these ideas help!

maybe trying to clip them while he is sleeping?