Parenting confession time – I’ve never cut either of my children’s nails with a clipper or scissors. I tried once with adult clippers but with teeny wriggly fingers, the task just felt too precarious.
Arlo is a nail-biter (hands AND toes, yuck), so there are rarely any nails to cut. And with baby Rory, I have found the easiest way is to bite his nails off myself after a bath when they are extra soft. That, or forget completely until he gives himself a big scratch on the face.
I know some people find the biting method a bit gross, it certainly is a sure-fire way to transfer any germs from a poorly baby into your own system, but for me it’s just been the easiest way to know that you’re not going to nic a finger in the process.
As someone who hasn’t much experience of baby nail clippers, or making much effort to cut my own children’s nails, I was eager to review the Nipper Clipper.
Apprentice fans may remember ‘Inventor Tom’ who won a few series ago with his ‘Stylfile’ nail care range. Well, the Nipper Clipper is Inventor Tom and Alan Sugar’s latest product – designed to make an easier job of cutting your baby or toddler’s nails.
The Nipper Clipper looks like a standard nail clipper, but the gap to place your nail is much more narrow and slanted – making it a lot harder for teeny fingers to get caught. There is also a ‘spy hole’ at the top of the clipper, so you can make double sure that what you are cutting is just nail and not finger. It also comes with a curved baby nail file so you can smooth off any sharp edges.
The ‘distraction app’ that you can download to your phone or tablet, with its different modes for newborns, younger and older babies, is a nice touch. It does work to distract 5 month old Rory – although it’s a two person job, one to hold the baby and phone, and one to do the nail cutting.
Three year old Arlo likes the app too (although he does take offence to being called a baby, the app says “hello baby” no matter what mode you choose) Any of his favourite phone apps would work just as well to distract him – but the bonus of this one is that it’s not designed to encourage them to tap the screen, so their nails are free to be clipped.
My verdict? It does make the task a lot easier, and has given me more confidence to cut little nails. I plan to continue using the Nipper Clipper over the nail-biting method now.
The Nipper Clipper is available from Amazon, priced £9.55
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I was provided with the Nipper Clipper for the purpose of this review.
