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Original poster

How Frequently do you brush your baby's teeth?

12 replies

highlander · 25/05/2005 21:53

didn't want to butt in on countessdracula's thread!

DS is 8mo and scoffing X3 daily. He has 8 teeth, and I brush them X2 daily. His teeth are brushed at bathtime, but he is BF before going to bed.

Should I brush them at lunchtime as well?

I have great teeth, but DH's are awful. Saying that he never brushed them as a child. But I'm worried he's not doing a thorough job at night with DS. He gets really shirty when I try to supervise him. He just doesn't get it that if he's crap at brushing his own teeth, then he'll pass on bad habits to DS.

OP posts:
Monstersmum · 25/05/2005 22:37

Ohh I read this cos I am feeling so guilty about my DS's teeth!

DS is 3.5 yrs and although we do brush his teeth every day, sometimes we miss night time as he just refuses - other than holding him down nd propping his mouth open I am at a loss.

We do them in the morning before nursery and they do them after lunch at nursery. But he still has a bottle at night and I struggle to get him to do teeth after that.

My DH is fine - even if he is totally pished he still cleans his teeth - me - well I might do night cream and eye cream but not necessarily teeth!!! Terible i know.

I think if you make sure not tto many sweets - choc is better than hard sweets etc. Drink lots of water - so reducing juice and rinsing teeth and making sure teeth get at least one good clean a day you should be ok .

F

dinny · 25/05/2005 22:39

God, Highlander, sitll haven't started ds's teeth cleaning yet. I brush dd's (3 years old) twice a day and she's not allowed anything to drink except water afterwards (at night).

sansouci · 25/05/2005 22:41

dd (5yrs) every day, at least once (before bed) but ds (21 mos) rarely, I'm afraid! Neither dh nor I can face it at the end of a long day. ds quite a handful, but not an excuse, i know. He doesn't eat sweets or drink sweetened drinks. Are we taking a big risk here? Feel free to have a go at me; I probably need it.

Shazzler · 25/05/2005 22:43

I started brushing my kids teeth as soon as they had a tooth. I am much more consciencious about brushing dd's teeth because ds has had so many fillings and I am always getting lectures from the dentist and it's not me that buys the sweets or treats for him. I am so embarassed when I take him to the dentist, I really don't know what else I can do.

elibelly · 25/05/2005 22:45

I read somewhere that you can brush too much, twice a day is sufficient. Although at 8 months it's amazing if you can manage it at all!!! DD is 4 1/2 her teeth get brushed each morning after breakfast and at night before bed. DS is 20 months and if his teeth get brushed 4 times in a week it's a miracle

Original poster
highlander · 25/05/2005 23:01

oh Gawd, have I been overdoing it?! He's actually pretty good as I've been forcing the toothbrush in his gob since his first teeth appeared.

monstersmum - I sooooo admire people who clean there teeth when pissed. I never do it and always wake up with 'badgers arse' mouth

OP posts:
blossomgirl · 25/05/2005 23:03

our ds only has one tooth (he's 9 months tom) and for that he gets to chew his toothbrush in the bath and we rinse out with the shower head..great fun! Don't remember every night thou

WigWamBam · 25/05/2005 23:03

You're meant to start cleaning them as soon as they appear, although you don't need to brush if it's too hard; I used to smear a tiny bit of paste onto a muslin and wipe dd's teeth with that to start with.

darlingbud · 25/05/2005 23:09

dd (2.4) has hers brushed every night but in the morning it is such a struggle. Must start though. I am such a bad parent

However, the night time brushing has become a problem as we have changed from pink shiny toothpaste to tweetie pie blue and she doesn't like it.

Gobbledigook · 25/05/2005 23:23

All the ds's brush twice a day - morning and night - they are 4, 2.5 and 8 months.

Took ds2 to the dental hosp last week as he has bashed a tooth and it's become discoloured (no infection so no need to remove) - anyway, the dentist told me that a good brush once a day was sufficient. She said for one of the brushes a day just let him do it (well, he just sucks the toothpaste off and chews the brush) and for the other make sure I do it properly for him as well.

As a child/teenager I only ever brushed my teeth in the morning and still don't do them every night now. Got 1 filling at the grand age of 32. I think a lot is down to genetics but I'm not suggesting of course that you don't bother brushing!

Frizbe · 25/05/2005 23:30

Twice a day, although dd does hers once and I do them once...a compromise!

SophieSkaterina · 27/05/2005 19:16

God - do I have to start cleaning my ds's very early teeth do you think? He is just four months old with two perfect pearly whites popping up from his bottom gums. It hadn't occured to me until glancing at the health strand in order to find out how to cope with the HEAT... XXX S

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