TTMA Brushing Teeth

[eliza040502]

cowplanet mentioned brushing A's teeth in another thread. Now that our LOs have teeth, I suppose I need to start doing this too. What does everyone use? Can we use toothpaste? Any tips? Every time I put my fingers near my kids mouth, he bites. Hard. I'm not so sure about putting my finger in his mouth to clean his teeth!

[obie1680]

Toothpaste isn't necessary at this point, but you can use a baby tooth brush, finger brush or a wet wash cloth.

Val has the banana tooth brush/teether, I have used the finger brush but you can get bit. The wash cloth I usually let Val chomp on one after meals you can give them a quick wipe them she plays with it and does the rest

[southernpeach89]

Callie has the banana tooth brush and she LOVES it! She uses that every day but I use either a wet wash cloth or those teeth wipes and wipe down her teeth and gums. She likes to bite on the wash cloths.

[London]

I got a toddler tooth brush when I went to the dentist last weekend and A lurves it. It's a go-to toy right now and I have in fact found bits of food in the bristles. Win win.

[radiantly]

We've got 8 teeth over here and I use & love Dr Browns toothbrush and toothpaste. We try to do it AM and PM. I bought it on amazon, it's great. My understanding, from reading a lot of Amazon reviews of other toothbrushes is that the silicon banana falls apart once they start chewing it with real teeth. Gumming it is fine. Since we got teeth so early I went for the regular type bristles.

The Dr Browns one has real bristles - not silicon - and I like how it can stand up on on its on. I put just the tiniest bit of toothpaste on it and then attempt to brush her teeth. It is pear and apple flavor and flouride free, "safe to swallow". She usually grabs the toothbrush and does it herself. Mostly not actual brushing tho haha - it's more training anyway for later. However I've noticed that if she pulls on the bristles hard (chomping down and then pulling hard out), the bristles can get bent (just like an adult brush). So my suggestion is to buy it and then coach not to pull it hard against her teeth.

[emejay]

Arthur loves his tooth paste so much that when I lay him down in his bath, he opens his mouth waiting for me to brush his teeth (with a toothbrush to goes on my finger)

It's this one:

[cowplanet]

We have a bristle brush that has a suction cup on the bottom and use Tom's fluoride free toothpaste (cuz fluoride is poison is consumed). She brushes her teeth with H in the morning and loves it because she's imitating him. We'll let her do it herself, then talking all happy will ask if we can help and then move it back and forth and yet spots she doesn't reach on her own and then let her do it again. She sucks on a wet washcloth to rinse. Now she must have one during baths.

I admit we sometimes forget to brush her at night.

[sdfonz619]

We were given practice toothpaste and tooth brushes at our shower. The bristles on the toothbrush are super soft and the practice toothpaste is sugar and dye free and smells like berries. Has anyone used this? I'm paranoid about making sure we take care of M's teeth since I keep hearing that if babies get teeth early they tend to be weaker. I really hope that isn't true.

[cowplanet]

Jun 21, 2016 8:10:40 GMT -5 sdfonz619 said:

We were given practice toothpaste and tooth brushes at our shower. The bristles on the toothbrush are super soft and the practice toothpaste is sugar and dye free and smells like berries. Has anyone used this? I'm paranoid about making sure we take care of M's teeth since I keep hearing that if babies get teeth early they tend to be weaker. I really hope that isn't true.

Sugar? Isn't that cavity-inducing? Hmm, now I want to look at my toothpaste. I know adult stuff is sweetened with artificial crap but I've been so focused on other stuff I never bothered to look at A's ingredient list. Bleh. Crunchy mommy fail! 

I thought water was all you needed until the teeth popped in, and then you needed paste? I dunno. A likes it with or without, but this morning she started doing her impatient butt hop when H was putting the teeny bit of paste on. And she wouldn't let him help, she's a big girl, don't you know?

[sdfonz619]

Jun 21, 2016 8:43:01 GMT -5 cowplanet said:

Jun 21, 2016 8:10:40 GMT -5 sdfonz619 said:

We were given practice toothpaste and tooth brushes at our shower. The bristles on the toothbrush are super soft and the practice toothpaste is sugar and dye free and smells like berries. Has anyone used this? I'm paranoid about making sure we take care of M's teeth since I keep hearing that if babies get teeth early they tend to be weaker. I really hope that isn't true.

Sugar? Isn't that cavity-inducing? Hmm, now I want to look at my toothpaste. I know adult stuff is sweetened with artificial crap but I've been so focused on other stuff I never bothered to look at A's ingredient list. Bleh. Crunchy mommy fail! 

I thought water was all you needed until the teeth popped in, and then you needed paste? I dunno. A likes it with or without, but this morning she started doing her impatient butt hop when H was putting the teeny bit of paste on. And she wouldn't let him help, she's a big girl, don't you know?

I mean sugar free but after reading the label better, it isn't. I won't be using this for her.  Up until now we have just been using a warm wash cloth to wipe her teeth and gums after she eats.

[cowplanet]

sdfonz619, ha, I can't read properly before my second cup of coffee, apparently: "practice toothpaste is sugar and dye free"

I've got Tom's, too. Why the heck would they put sugar in toothpaste? I don't want artificial sweeteners in my girl's belly, but heck, they could have shoe-flavored toothpaste and Anna would be all about it. Girl loves her leather.

[southernpeach89]

Jun 21, 2016 8:18:44 GMT -5 Fearsy said:

C's teeth haven't been in for long so we just brushed them for the first time last night. I just got a toddler toothbrush and used water. It's my understanding that toothpaste isn't needed right now so we'll skip it until/unless brushing becomes a fight. She loved it last night, though!

I also thought those banana toothbrushes weren't meant to be used as an actual toothbrush. I thought it was just a teether shaped like a brush...

I don't think they are either. Callie just uses it for teething and I think it also helps her get used to the bristles. I wipe her teeth with a wash cloth or those teeth wipes and then give her the brush. I bought a toddler tooth brush the other day but haven't opened it up yet. I was going to wait until she got more teeth in since she only has two right now.

[sdfonz619]

Jun 21, 2016 9:32:19 GMT -5 cowplanet said:

sdfonz619 , ha, I can't read properly before my second cup of coffee, apparently: "practice toothpaste is sugar and dye free"

I've got Tom's, too. Why the heck would they put sugar in toothpaste? I don't want artificial sweeteners in my girl's belly, but heck, they could have shoe-flavored toothpaste and Anna would be all about it. Girl loves her leather.

That was a misstatement on my part.  After looking, it appears that it does have sugar.