OK, maybe not quite the scariest thing that ever happened it itself but such a simple lesson learned. It happened a long time ago. Gabriella was about 5 months old. she slept in her bassinet next to my bed. I liked having her close so I could check on her a lot.
I trimmed her nails often but they grow fast. One day I noticed they were a little long. I figured I would trim them the next day. Trimming baby nails is so difficult because you don't want to hurt them. I was never anxious to do it. My hubby hated even watching me do it. You do it so they don't scratch themselves.
Well it was about 2 or 3 a.m. and Gabbi woke up crying for a bottle. I always left my TV on with no volume for light. I wanted to be able to see her in the dark as well. I looked over at her and saw something on her face. It was dark and hard to see and I was half asleep so I blinked my eyes and tried to focus on what it was. Then I noticed something on her cheeks, forehead, nose. I realized it was blood. Yes...blood smeared on her face. I grabbed her and ran out to my kitchen and flipped on the light. It wasn't a ton of blood, just small amounts smeared on her face like she had bled somewhere and rubbed it as babies tend to rub their eyes, face and mouth. I tried not to panic and figured I had to find the source. So I wiped her down and saw it. The tiniest little scratch on her nose. She had cut herself with her fingernail in the night. She scraped a piece of skin off her nose. It bled just enough so that when she rubbed her hands on her face she just smeared it everywhere. It looks like a whole lot of blood when it's smeared but in reality it wasn't that much. I felt so so so bad and immediately trimmed the nails that were honestly not *that* long. I would have trimmed them sooner if I had thought they could really cut her.
So here is a lesson to all. Keep babies nails trimmed! Don't delay...don't put it off, don't think I can do it tomorrow. Who knew fingernails could cause such a panic? haha
The only panic fingernails cause in my house is if I ask Dad to trim them. I swear, he's done everything else in the past eight years but he can't go there.
ReplyDeleteI have horror stories! Agh!
ReplyDeleteOh this is indeed a cause of panic sometimes. Glad it was just small smears. But it would also help to have the baby wear infant mittens to prevent this. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was scary indeed. Over here we use infant mittens too. Of course we do trim the nails regularly.
ReplyDeleteYes we use infant mittens here too...but those things just never lasted long with any of my kids. They'd wiggle one off and it would disappear. And I never liked putting them on her to sleep at night. If I were awake during the day, sure but at night it just seemed hot and uncomfortable. That is just me probably though. I just couldn't imagine wearing gloves to bed. haha And since I figured she'd be RIGHT there...I mean inches from my bed I didn't assume the worst would actually happen! =/
ReplyDeleteI would have been in a panic! I was always afraid to cut my girls nails as well! Glad all is well!
ReplyDeleteThe exact same thing happened to me once - so much blood from such a little scratch.
ReplyDeleteI've got to tell you though, based on the title of your blog this can't possibly be the scariest lesson you've learned as a mom.
Sheila
i can imagine your panic. kids nails grow so damn fast too. i would have cut the nails there and then too. i guess thats the mom in us :)
ReplyDeleteThat's where infant mittens will serve its purpose.
ReplyDeleteI remembered how my Mom would remind me to always check those mittens when my younger sister was still a baby. Of course, at that time I find it weird for babies to wear one.