Baby teeth 8 months

[UnicornsAndGlitterxx]

Baby's first tooth has come through but she hates it when I try brush her tooth. To be honest I can't use a toothbrush (baby one) on her as her tooth is just to small and I fear it's brushing on her sore gums as she's teething now. I use a thin piece of material to brush her tooth but any ideas how to make them not cry? Feel terrible but I know she needs to keep them clean. It's then when I go to put bonjela on she gets scared of that . Thanks for any advice

Any chance you could get a rubber teething monkey or something similar with a bumpy surface and put the bonjela on that and then rub in? I know a child who loves it because the rubbing soothes it somehow. Let me find a picture of what I mean

I believe the other side of the head is where it's bumpy

@shopaholics I've never seen these before! Thank u! I mean it isn't like I can't get it on her because I can but I don't like the way she gets all stressed because of it, like I don't want it to scare her? I'll definitely try this though! As she is biting anything she can lol

Just stop. You will make it worse. The vital thing at this moment is that no sugar enters her mouth. All I would do at this stage is to put a smear of toothpaste on a soft cloth and let her suck it to get used to the taste and an intervention in her mouth. While you want to look after her teeth, it is a gradual process and she is not at risk of tooth decay unless she has sugar in her diet. There should be absolutely zero. Not cake, not biscuits, in yougurt or ANYWHERE. so read labels Her gum with the new tooth will be tender. You dont want her to start resisting so dont try and force her. I am married to a dentist and have 4 children in their 40s with no fillings. Toddlers should have tooth brushing established so that give you a time frame

PS Bongela has little value as the saliva washes it off very quickly. Let her bite a cool teether

@Confusedbeetle thank you for your advice. I've been told by many people like it was vital that I had to brush her tooth as soon as it appeared! Thank u for telling me this. I don't want to make her resist no and don't want to put her off at all

@Confusedbeetle thanks for that too, I thought it stayed on , I'm only 19 so I'm new to all this I just want to make sure she is looked after properly and isn't in pain, she has teething keys that have a gel inside but I'll look to buy something different

@UnicornsAndGlitterxx
Am really quite horrified at the advice given to you by the poster who is married to a dentist.
You absolutely must brush her newly erupted teeth twice daily with 1000ppmF toothpaste. After she turns 3, use 1500ppmF toothpaste or adult strength toothpaste. It's really poor advice to say just stop and let her just suck a cloth with toothpaste on instead.
Children's dentists in this country ( of which I am one) use the Delivering Better Oral Health government policies as their bible. I will link to it and you should read page 20 to evidence everything I've said.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/605266/Deliveringgbetterorallhealth.pdf

Also, am also going to take issue with "the advice re sugar" given by the earlier poster.
There is wealth of evidence linking extended breast feeding (especially at night) and dental caries. So it's not just the obvious sugary items that can cause dental decay.
I can link this too.
Best advice I can give you is to stop worrying that it's hurting/ distressing her. You are doing it because you love her and want to do the best for her.

@shatteredandstressed I did think surely I can't not brush her teeth? As when I go to she's gonna think wtf am I doing when I go to do it?

Sorry to hijack, but please could I ask @shatteredandstressed to talk more about breastfeeding and dental caries? I'm breastfeeding my 10-month old still, including through the night, as it's the only way she'll settle. I don't want to damage her teeth though. What can I do to mitigate? Thank you.

I've found this article on the relationship between breastfeeding and dental caries in the meantime www.laleche.org.uk/breastfeeding-dental-health/ I know La Leche League will want to promote breastfeeding and may be biased, but the research looks sound. Breastfeeding not considered key factor in tooth decay.

www.nature.com/www.nature.com/articles/sj.bdj.2017.652/sj.bdj.2017.652

This is a recent article in the British Dental Journal re extended breastfeeding & dental caries.
I must stress it's extended breastfeeding ie 2yrs +

On a clinical level I have come across this too.

Thank you! And apologies again OP for the hijack.