to not believe how bloody lucky I have been tonight

[GreatBallsOfFluff]

and also to have learnt some valuable lessons.

DD's first tooth fell out today.

Mistake number 1: Childminder had wrapped said tooth very nicely in a tissue. DD asks to look at it again before going to bed. I say ok. She unwraps the lovely folded tissue, looks at it, then takes it upstairs to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

Mistake number 2: Not tucking DD in in bed as was doing the ironing - therefore not checking that DD had put tooth under pillow.

Mistake number 3: Allowing DD to have three pillows in her room. She has a double bed, has two pillows side by side at the head of the bed, but tonight has decided to sleep sideways with her stupid square HSM pillow.

I walk in tonight with said coin, look at the three pillows and "which one!". Feel under the two that she is not sleeping on - not there. Have a feel under said HSM pillow and feel the tissue "YAY". Pull tissue out and no longer is it nicely folded up, but more scrunched up. Whilst I am fumbling in the dark and making sure the tooth is in there, I feel it drop. Yes it dropped onto her scrunched up very messy duvet.

After lots of whispered swearing, help from my flashlight app on my phone and a lot of luck, I managed to find the tiny tiny tooth in her bed (and sods law put her white sheet rather than pink sheet on at the weekend 'for a change!').

Moral of the story, when a tooth falls out, tuck DD in at night and find out which pillow it's under and make sure it's wrapped up well.

I think I will always put it under there by myself to save all that LOL

I thought, by the title, you were going to tell a story of someone choking on a tooth and you saving them.

Yanbu btw.

NO! NO! NO!

Just pre-warn them that sometimes the fairy has too many teeth to carry so they don't always take them when they leave the money.

This covers you if you're a really bad Mum and forget from time to time (like I did!)

It means that when they're screaming blue murder the next morning because the tooth's still there and there's not money, you can slyly grab a pound coin and 'help' her look under the bed...then drop the coin sharpish while she's on her hands and knees searching!

Yes TaylorSwift13Fan - that sounds like a better idea

Sorry to disappoint Chipsandmushypeas

I think everyone's had the 'oh dear, perhaps you haven't looked hard enough, I'm sure the money's here somewhere...' conversation at some point...

Sorry the title threw me a bit!

BRILLIANT Worra

Will definitely remember that one as there's several more to come out so will definitely forget (or fall asleep ) at least once.

Another crafty way is to slip it inside the pillow case whilst they're on their hands and knees searching under the bed

Not talking from experience at all there Worra are you

I'm going to get my lovely arty/crafty friend to fashion a wee 'tooth purse' big enough for a £1 coin. DS puts tooth in purse under pillow, DH tooth fairy swaps it out for a quid when DS is asleep .

Ooh, good save! These blooming teeth cause me loads of hassle too.

Last time DDs tooth fell out I had absolutely no spare change, nothing in my purse and DH was away from home at a conference! I had to phone my friend at 10pm, who came up with a pound coin for me to put under DDs pillow!

I have also "lost" a tooth. Luckily as far as DD is concerned the toothfairy has it, but I thought I had put it in my dressing gown pocket... only it's not there anymore and I can't find it anywhere. I just know it's going to turn up somewhere random and DD will be the one to find it!

Put the tooth in a "special " box on her dressing table. No groping under pillows.

Always put the coin on your own dressing table as soon as it happens so that it reminds you to do it. the first time is special, but after a while it's easy to forget.

me?? Noooo

haha I was searching for dd's after a few vinos and she woke up and said "what are you doing?" I told her i was checking it was there for the fairy.
Our tooth fairy is often late too.

The other thing is to keep the first one. I've heard a few stories of parents children losing subsequent teeth and mayhem being avoided by parents being able to find it unearth an old one from a drawer Very handy to have a spare or two around.

These are all fantastic tips and stories. Have really made me laugh

I once forgot and told my son the story of how the poor tooth fairy had gone to the wrong address because he'd just been on holiday, had been half drowned by the waves on the sea, met a friendly whale who told her he was back home now etc. etc. etc. It went on and on and on.

DS was riveted; poor tooth fairy was forgiven; my story telling inspiration was exhausted for weeks afterwards and I never, ever, ever forgot again!

My dd had 2 come out the other day. Dh had wrapped £2 in sellotape with a tiny note attached saying thanks for 2 teeth etc. I did the swap and could only find one. Kept trying but had to leave it in the end. Dd was excited in the morning and said the fairy had left one and it had got stuck to the Sellotape. We said she must not have managed both (even though she managed £2). Went through it again the next night- couldn't find the bloody thing again! Ds woke up whilst I was checking under his pillow (they'd swapped beds the night before). Good excuse for that one was "just checking whether the fairy had been yet". Anyway it was on the side still and dh snaffled in in morning when he saw it in the light. It's currently on top of bathroom cabinet till I get round to moving it to the tooth graveyard! (knicker drawer in a pouch)

I began to suspect the whole Tooth Fairy shebang the day my wobbly tooth came out at school dinner time, just as I was swallowing jam roly poly. Was a bit worried at home time but my Mother was strangely confident that it would All Be Fine. That's when I started on my childhood career of uncovering the ways in which grown ups were seriously weird...

Everyone knows that the fairy is ^too short& to jump down onto the pillow and then climb back up again. In the interests of Health and Safety, we leave the tooth in a small box on the shelf in DD1's room....that way the tooth fairy knows where to find it

Sometimes the Tooth Fairy is just too busy. But they always mange the next night ( well nearly always sometimes there must be a rush on )

I had a special pillow with a little pocket on, to avoid situations such as this!

When do baby teeth start to fall out? DS1 is 3.9, how much longer have I got?

Oh dear I'm afraid I had to give up the 'under the pillow' scenario. With 3 dc my nerves couldn't take it anymore. They have a special pot now they leave outside the bedroom door.

Not only have I done many a pillow fumble, my other problem is that we have such incredibly creaky floors it's impossible to get across the bedroom without waking someone up.

Once dd sat bolt upright in bed and we were staring directly at each other for what seemed ages - me mid tooth-fairying duty. She was half asleep and laid back down but then what could I do? I was frozen eyes bulging in the middle of the floor. I got out in the end like the Pink Panther negotiating squeaky toys, the potty and bits of lego.

I've even tooth fairied in a tent when dt's each lost a tooth within a couple of days of each other one camping holiday. Oh the stumbling around and falling on top of dc in their sleeping bags that that entailed. It seems the tooth fairy knows some rather colourful language after all

You get a square of tissue and put the tooth in the middle with a cotton wool ball. You pick up the sides and gather up into a package and tie with cotton (imagine how you'd wrap a bath bomb for example just a tenth of the size). Cute little parcel for the tooth fairy and no tooth falling out :)