toothbrushing!

[bizziebee]

Dd has two little teeth - hurray! Silly question but when do I start brushing her teeth?

Right away! Tiny bit of baby toothpaste on either a little brush or there are these things that you can put onto your finger which are softer.

I started straightaway with dd (when she was 7 months) just gave her a toothbrush with a teeny tiny amount of toothpaste - & I mean tiny at 12 months we haven't yet run out of the free tube that came in the bounty pack - She just chewed on it but has slowly got better. I wouldn't quite say she is brushing now but I'm pretty sure all her teeth come into contact with the brush... If she is particularly quick with it then I redo them myself now but didn't bother with this whilst she was still getting used to the toothbrush.

HTH

My DD - aged 10 months - is pretty resistant to me holding the brush to clean her teeth, though she is happy to suck on it herself. I spoke to my HV about this, and she advised me to keep persevering so that DD knows that it is part of the routine, but that at this age, even just sucking the paste off the brush is beneficial.

as soon as my DD's first two teeth appeared i went off to get a brush and toothpaste. however, i then read on the toothpaste tube that she should be able to spit first so haven't started brushing teeth yet. DD is just 1 but only has 2 bottom teeth, and only stopped bf on her birthday so glad she doesn't have any more. top 2 are almost out so will start now. good to hear that just sucking the toothpaste will have a beneficial effect.

The moment the teeth erupt through the gum there a prone to decay, so you need to start brushing now. You need to do it yourself (even if they do it) until they are around 6-7 years old, as until then they don't have the manual dexterity to do it properly.

Sucking the toothpaste of doesn't really have any benefit. It is the mechanical brushing that is most important.

good to know. will get on with it tonight and see how we get on. She isn't that keen on us trying to get things into her mouth (dosing syringes of calpol or nurofen being a good example) unless it's petit filou. although i now know that it's not beneficial..... will have to suck it and see!