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Anthony jammed his finger in the door the other day. his nail was bleeding a little at the time then it went all black under the nail and his finger all swelled up. and now his nail has completely lifted up and is just hanging on at the cuticle!
im scared to touch it, iv just been washing it under the tap to keep it clean. but he's constantly chewing his fingers and i think he'll end but biting it off and either choking on it or swallowing it. should i cover it with a plaster or something to protect it? or just leave it open to the air? or should i try to pull the nail off or just leave it to come off itself? its all raw flesh underneath and its freaking me out!! although he doesnt seem bothered!

It sounds like his nail bed has been damaged and the resulting haematoma has forced the nail to erupt. Kids will normally regenerate the nail, but it may be distorted, depending on the amount of damage. it is sometimes possible to re-insert the nail into the nail bed, but you have a 6 hour window to do this, as infection risks vs reattaching increase/decrease exponentially the longer you leave it.

As this happened the other day, it is safe to assume that it is now dead tissue and can be safely snipped off as close to the cuticle as you can without drawing blood. If he's not bothered by it, I wouldn't worry too much about dressing it unless it bleeds. Otherwise a finger stall will protect it until there is nail regrowth.

Personally, I'd cut off as much as possible. I'd be wary of putting a plaster on it if he's chewing his fingers in case it comes off in his mouth. Just try and keep it clean.

my husband managed to cut most of the nail off while i held him, although it was difficult as he was wriggling about a lot.
there's a few millimetres of nail left still attached at the cuticle. i gave him another bath in warm soapy water to clean it and now hes sitting on the floor quite happily playing with a ball. it doesn't seem to be bothering him, but it looks really nasty!
iv read on the net it can take up to 2 months to grow back. poor baby i feel terrible!