Noticed an area of red, swollen skin at the side of your baby’s toenail and wondering if it’s possible that they’ve developed an ingrown toenail? It absolutely is – we’ve treated ingrown nails in infants as young as three months old – and it can happen earlier than that, too.
Signs Your Baby Has An Ingrown Toenail
The image to the right shows an ingrown toenail uncovered by a parent at just 3.5 months old. Some signs that your baby may have an ingrown toenail include:
- A peeling skin appearance at the corner of the nail and toe, as illustrated
- Redness and swelling on one distinct corner of the toe (or both if baby has an ingrown nail on both sides of the nail)
- You notice them cry or squirm when the toe is touched, either accidentally or from things like swaddles and clothing
- You see any discharge coming from the toe (this indicates that the nail has likely pierced the skin)
Why Has My Baby Developed An Ingrown Toenail?
The most common reason we see for ingrown toenails in babies is simply having a genetic predisposition for it – such as naturally having curly toenails, or still having a lot of skin surrounding the toenail for the nail to grow into. Other causes include the position of the babies in the womb – particularly if the foot is squished up with pressure being applied to the toes. The use of tight swaddling, tight booties or other clothing can also contribute to ingrown toenails, though this is less common at this age where footwear is not often worn.
An incorrect nail-cutting technique is a very common attribute in adults, but is also much less common in babies. However, it can occur if the nail was ‘pulled’ off and a sharper or prominent nail edge was left behind at the side of the toenail.
What Should You Do If Your Baby Has An Ingrown Toenail?
The most important thing at this stage is to help get your baby out of pain and discomfort. Ideally you want to trim back the part of the nail that is pressing against the skin and causing the ingrown nail, though you will need very thin nail scissors and not standard clippers to achieve this.
There are a few things parents should know: most likely, your baby will not enjoy the process of their sore and painful nail being trimmed back. This is normal – you are not hurting them, their ingrown toenail is. Once the nail is out of the skin, they will get so much relief. The next is that in some cases, there may be a little bleeding. If there is, again know that most likely it is not you that has caused this – think of the nail as a potential dagger that has embedded itself into the skin (depending on the nature of the nail). It makes sense that when the nail spicule is removed, there may be a little bleeding. Dress it, care for it and monitor it carefully.
For many of our patients, trimming the nail back does feel a bit too much, and they’re uncertain on exactly what to do, how to do it safely, or the right tools to use. Many just don’t want their baby to be in pain. If that’s the case, you are always welcome to bring your little ones in here to see our podiatrists. We’re parents too – so we’ve been there, and we absolutely get it. We’ll get rid of the ingrown nail quickly and easily using our safe, medical podiatric tools – while you entertain your baby and keep them distracted. It’s often a very fast process and parents find it a big relief – and much more enjoyable than trying to manage things at home.
Book your appointment by calling us on 09 523 2333 or book online here.
Does your baby have a red, swollen toe by the side of their toenail? Could it be an ingrown toenail – and do babies even get ingrown toenails?
Yes, they do – and yes, swelling redness and tenderness by the side of the toenail may be an indicator of ingrown toenails in babies. Here’s an example of what happened when we saw an ingrown toenail in a baby that was just over six months old recently.
Assessment – Baby K came in with her mum, who was concerned about her big toe, and suspected an ingrown nail. There was redness and tenderness present by the nail edge of one of her big toes, on one side only. Aside from this area, the rest of the toe was not red or inflamed. Baby K was not sick and had not been unwell, had no fevers in the last months, and didn’t have any other symptoms aside from being more irritable and showing signs of pain when socks or onesies were put on that pushed against the toe.
Baby K’s mum had previously called the Plunket line to rule out any serious issues by the nurse – something we always recommend if you’re worried about anything to do with your child’s health.
Assessing Baby K’s toe, she had all the typical signs of an ingrown toenail that we see in adults, without any signs of infection. We could see the elongated nail disappear beneath the inflamed skin. When nails do this, it can be difficult to remove the nail edge that has penetrated the skin as it can soften or become almost translucent – particularly in young baby nails.
Treatment – treating Baby K’s toe was simple and quickly completed. She sat on mums comforting lap who extended her leg out to us and was given a toy to help distract her. We cleaned the area and used our medical-grade podiatry tools to seamlessly trim across the nail edge where it had disappeared beneath the swollen skin. The clean trim that we made across is something that often goes wrong when trying to trim baby toenails at home, as parents find it difficult to know where the nail ends if they can’t see it. In an effort to be cautious and careful, many do not trim far enough, end up pulling the nail, and leave a sharp edge behind.
Once the trim was made, we removed the small piece of the offending nail away and out of the surrounding skin. We did a quick check to make sure no sharp nail edges were left behind. The effect was instant. Now, when we pushed onto the toe, the reaction from baby K was very different with significantly fewer signs of pain or distress.
We dressed Baby K’s toe with a gentle sterile dressing and we talked her mum through what to look for and how to take care of the toe until the redness went away, which we’d expect to happen in the next day or two. We called two days later to check how baby K was doing – she was great, and the toe had returned to its normal pain-free state.
Are you worried that your baby may have an ingrown toenail?
We have children too – so we know how distressing it is to see your child in pain and feel like there’s nothing you can do to help. If you’re worried, bring your child in to see our experienced podiatry team. We specialise in ingrown toenail care for children of all ages. We have both one-off solutions available like we described here for Baby K, as well as permanent solutions for kids with recurring ingrown toenails.
Book your appointment online by clicking here or call us to make your appointment on 09 523 2333
