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Original poster

TEETH CLEANING

12 replies

MollyMooMin · 15/02/2006 09:21

How easy is it for you to clean your baby's teeth? My DD is 13 months and she hates letting me anywhere near her mouth! Any tips?

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lazycow · 15/02/2006 10:13

Looking at this with interest. I tried all the tricks, singing, playing, letting him brush mine at the same time, daddy singing and destracting while I did it or vice versa. Some of these worked for a while. Now I just hold him and do as good a job as I can as quickly as I can (not very good I admit) with him crying. It was taking ages before.

He is just too young to understand it is for his own good so I just bite the bullet and do it as quickly as possible.

Am very open to any other ideas though as it is pretty stressful and I really hate doing it.

Lakota · 15/02/2006 10:43

Was just talking with Flamesparrow about this on another thread. I have a dance/song which sometimes works, otherwise having him hanging upside down off my lap occasionally helps, or letting him play with the light switches he'll sometimes keep his mouth open. Think like lazycow says it's just something we have to grin and bear for the moment...

nowanearlyNicemum · 15/02/2006 10:53

I do mine while dd is watching and then she's desperate to do hers too. It works for us

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throckenholt · 15/02/2006 10:57

pretending you were looking for the food they had eaten that day (eg - aha - here's a bit of toast) worked with mine for a while.

madmarchhare · 15/02/2006 10:57

two toothbrushes?

lapsedrunner · 15/02/2006 10:59

I seem to remember DS only had 2 teeth at 12 months so I didn't make too much of an effort!

Original poster
MollyMooMin · 15/02/2006 11:04

Thanks, some good ideas there. All she wants to do is take the toothbrush from me and brush the carpet with it! Will keep trying though. Her teeth may become rotten but at least we'll have a clean carpet!!

OP posts:
melissasmummy · 15/02/2006 11:07

Give a toothbrush for playing with. They will pet it in their mouths & get used to the sensation. Let them brush your teeth, see them brushing your teeth etc, so it doesn't seem so alien! If they are old enough let the choose their own toothbrush.

charliecat · 15/02/2006 11:10

Electric toothbrush?

Original poster
MollyMooMin · 15/02/2006 11:15

I think she'd be scared of that..

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nowanearlyNicemum · 15/02/2006 11:17

I would be too

mumfor1standfinaltime · 15/02/2006 11:26

Ds is 13 months too.

He loves 'brushing' his teeth. I started giving him a tooth brush to 'Play' with when I got him dressed before bed. He would chew on each end.

But I figured that at least he was kind of 'brushing' his teeth and gums.

When he was around 11 months, I put a tiny bit of tooth paste on the brush and said ' oh look Mummy wants to brush your teeth'
I then took the brush from him and as quick as I could I 'brushed' his few teeth. I then gave the brush back to him to 'play' with.

Now I can brush them first and then tell him to brush them, he usually chews the bristles! My friend is a Dental Nurse and she said it is a common worry from Mums about how/when to brush teeth.
She advised me to let ds 'play' with the tooth brush and to not make a big deal about it.

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