Tell me about teeth

[Fantail]

My 7 month old DD has just cut her first teeth last week (yes that is teeth plural, not tooth - she got both bottom ones at the same time).

How fast to they grow from being little razors poking out of her gum line to full sized teeth?

Also, there seems to be quite a gap between them, I presume that they will move closer together?

When do I start brushing them? What is the best way to do this? Any product recommendations for toothbrushes and what about tooth paste?

I got a booklet from my HV about caring for baby teeth a few months ago. I lost mine, so this is what I ended up doing. Use baby toothpaste just dabbed onto your finger or, even better probably, a small piece of muslin, and rub onto the teeth twice a day. It didn't say not to do it till you have x number of teeth, so I try to do it regularly to get my baby into the habit so he doesn't protest too much when we move on to using a toothbrush, which I imagine won't be necessary till he has a few more. Can't tell you any more as I'm more clueless than whoever else will answer this post, this being my first too.

It's very exciting when they start getting teeth isn't it.
It means they can give a properly painful bite though!!

How long the teeth will take to come in fully completely depends on the child.
Some teeth will grow steadily until they are fully in, while others will grow, stop for a bit and then grow again.
Don't worry if they arrive in pairs or if they arrive in an order different from what you might expect. They can be quite random, which is not a problem at all.

There might well be gaps between them. Don't worry about that either.
Again, different children have different sized teeth and different sized mouths.
They might be tightly packed like my DD's or have big gaps like many of her friends'.

You should start brushing them as soon as they come in.
You can use a muslin, but I never did, I went straight to a children's toothbrush.
Use a tiny amount of toothpaste. Be careful about which you use. Amazingly, some children's toothpastes contain sugar!!!
Personally, I have always used whatever adult one DH and I have been using. I have never bought special ones, but you can ask your dentist for advice about that.

Your DD will no doubt want to hold the toothbrush herself. That's fine. Let her get used to it and have a play. (Keeping a close eye on her for safety, obviously.)
But always be sure to finish the brushing yourself.
It's a very good habit to get into with tooth brushing as it will continue this way until she's about 7 years old.

Good advice so far - I just went to Boots and got the baby toothpaste and a baby toothbrush.

However, when we took DS for his 8-month check the HV let us know that we are in a low fluoride area for water, so to use adult toothpaste - do just check on that, as you maybe in one too :)