Given the need to accomplish teeth-brushing of infants/toddlers, do you (personally, not generically--I'm looking for anecdotes, not advice per se
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Lillian mostly brushes her own teeth now at 2--we help her with the difficult parts, but she's very keen on the whole event, so there's not too much help needed. What really helps is to have one of us brush our teeth while she's brushing, so she can see what we're doing.
We started one of the finger brushes, and moved to a real brush (I think) before she was 18 months. We used toothbrush and water until her first dentist appointment (somewhere between a year and 18 months), where she was given child's toothpaste. She gets a very small amount of that, with one by-request refill.
1) I asked our pediatrician whether it was more important for toothbrushing to be a positive association for our son or for it to be thorough. He said thorough. 2) We have three toothbrushes... one for each of his hands and one for us to weild. 3) Children's toothpaste is a bribe. It's to encourage the kids to put the toothbrush in their mouth and enjoy the toothbrushing experience. I recommend treating it as such. 4) I actually sit on my son (like him down on the carpet and kneel over him) to accomplish toothbrushing.
I'm about 50/50 willing participation and screaming.
My husband has the brushing-teeth job (before bed), but what we do is use 2 toothbrushes - one for her and one for him. They take turns. Some days this works well; on other days, there is lots of sticking-out-of-the-tongue and so forth.
She has also started watching me brush my teeth in the morning. I'll get out her brush and let her do it on her own while I brush mine. I've been trying to emphasize back-and-forth motion to her, as otherwise she mostly just sucks on it, but she is at least watching me and seeing how I do it, so I figure that has some value.
No toothpaste yet. Our pediatrician prescribed some fluoride drops for her, because our water isn't fluoridated. My husband just went to our dentist, and they said they'd like to see her some time soon-ish, but no rush (she's just past 2 years old now). I figure we'll talk to them about toothpaste.
This is one of the battles we insist on winning. He gets a go, with his brush, and then we do it properly, with another him-sized brush. Usually this goes fine. Just occasionally I have to pin him to the floor (quite difficult when you have only one free hand, as the other's holding a toothbrush)
We let her pick a toothbrush with her choice of cartoon pictures, and we use very tasty strawberry-flavored Tom's of Maine kids' toothpaste. We do the brushing. It's pretty short and perfunctory, but I figure we're doing well just to get the brush all the way over the back molars. We sing to her while we brush.
For a while, the only thing that worked was flipping her upside down and brushing her teeth while her mouth was open from laughing.
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We started one of the finger brushes, and moved to a real brush (I think) before she was 18 months. We used toothbrush and water until her first dentist appointment (somewhere between a year and 18 months), where she was given child's toothpaste. She gets a very small amount of that, with one by-request refill.
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2) We have three toothbrushes... one for each of his hands and one for us to weild.
3) Children's toothpaste is a bribe. It's to encourage the kids to put the toothbrush in their mouth and enjoy the toothbrushing experience. I recommend treating it as such.
4) I actually sit on my son (like him down on the carpet and kneel over him) to accomplish toothbrushing.
I'm about 50/50 willing participation and screaming.
Reply
She has also started watching me brush my teeth in the morning. I'll get out her brush and let her do it on her own while I brush mine. I've been trying to emphasize back-and-forth motion to her, as otherwise she mostly just sucks on it, but she is at least watching me and seeing how I do it, so I figure that has some value.
No toothpaste yet. Our pediatrician prescribed some fluoride drops for her, because our water isn't fluoridated. My husband just went to our dentist, and they said they'd like to see her some time soon-ish, but no rush (she's just past 2 years old now). I figure we'll talk to them about toothpaste.
Reply
He gets a go, with his brush, and then we do it properly, with another him-sized brush.
Usually this goes fine. Just occasionally I have to pin him to the floor (quite difficult when you have only one free hand, as the other's holding a toothbrush)
Reply
For a while, the only thing that worked was flipping her upside down and brushing her teeth while her mouth was open from laughing.
Reply
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