brushing babies' teeth....how?

[lulu25]

DS is 8.5 months and has 5.5 teeth.

i'm having enough trouble remembering that i'm supposed to be brushing them (bad mother), and when i do, i can't get him to open his mouth for long enough. any tips?

tia

I get dd to open her mouth and brush as much as I can then let her have the brush and she has a chew then I have another go etc. I also find that doing mine at the same time helps.

Just try your best... DS sometimes bites the toothbrush and grips it, I just keep persisting until I have done every area of his mouth. I open my mouth and say AHHH, he usually copies.

A dental nurse told me to lie the child on the bed,with head towards you, get them to open their mouth & brush teeth. That way you get a good view of all the biting surfaces. Hope that makes sense.

My dentist told me not to worry too much, beyond getting them used to the routine of it all....according to him, plaque doesn't start till they're over 2, and food/drink is far more important than brushing till then. In other words, stay away from raisins and fruit juice except for odd occasions - he says they're much worse for baby teeth than not brushing. He also said that it was better to keep it fun when they're under 2, to promote better tooth-brushing relations when older - not worth traumatizing child or parent over.

Of course, if you can, trauma-free, do - my dd2 is a BLW spoon refusnik and having a horrid time teething and won't let anyone near her teeth with anything. Luckily, she only has two partial ones so far...

At that age we didn't get too stressed about detailed brushing - especially if they were teething.
Now they are 2.9 and 16m we get them in a headlock and brush away!!
Plaque can start before they are 2, we took ds1 to the dentist aged 2.3 and were told that he has really good teeth, that some children that young already have decay. You should clean their teeth as soon as they start to appear.

If it doesn't upset your DS, you can slide your index finger into the oposite side of the mouth to that which you are brushing. This gets the mouth open, but its not worth battling if he gets upset by it. You can also get finger puppets, I think they're rubber, that you can use instead. Not sure where from though!

I do trust my dentist, he's very up to date with stuff - but suppose maybe he meant no plaque as long as babies/toddlers are not drinking fruit juice, eating too much sweet sticky stuff, and not going to sleep with milk in their mouths.

But I'm sure genetics play a part too.

I used to cuddle dd2 tightly so she couldnt free her arms, and go aaaahhh to show her to mimic what to do. I used to sing a song to her (usually abc alphabet song) when song finished brushing finished. She used to hate it, but got used to it after a while (a few months).

thanks all. got him to chew his brush this morning with a bit of positive reinforcement.

elibean that's reassuring - pretty much what i've been doing. i'm pretty lucky in the genes department - one filling at 33 (although they look shit) so hopefully he takes after me.

(brightwell yes your suggestion makes sense but your dental nurse clearly hasn't met my DS - can't get a nappy on him half the time without him wriggling off...)