Baby teeth cleaning

[PTTG]

Hi all,

I am a FTM and have a dd who is 10 months old. She has 7 teeth now and I have no idea how to start with brushing her teeth. Do I use a toothpaste? How do I make her spit it out? Any help please...

Sit her on your lap, tiny smear of baby toothpaste on a baby toothbrush and brush them. The tiny smear is because she will swallow a good proportion of it (and dribble the rest down whatever she's wearing).

Use a child sized toothbrush and a smear of childs toothpaste (she will not be able to spit until she is older so thats why you use a smear rather than a blob) - at that age I just let them have a bit of a chew on the brush and then had a go at moving the brush over the teeth. It's more to get them used to the brush in their mouth to start with so dont worry if it doesnt go well at first.

Agree with MrsHoarder

Buy a tiny baby toothbrush, mine came with baby toothpaste. I put a tiny amount on and brush for as long as DS lets me. He also likes chewing the toothbrush so at the end I rince it and give it back to him so he can suck the water off and "rinse" his mouth.

Do be warned though, sometimes he won't let me near his mouth - invariably this is when he's teething. At first I thought he would never let me do it again, but once the teething calms down he lets me.

Thanks for the wonderful advice. I will get going like this from today!

No t

No toothpaste before age 2!!!!! Just brush the teeth then let dc play with toothbrush! Absolutely no tooth paste! Head dental surgeon where I live was strict about this!

My dd got first teeth at 12 wks, 18mo now and all perfect.

we are advised to use toothpaste with at least 1000ppm fluoride from when teeth first appear (Scotland) so I dont agree with the pp.

In Scotland we have the childsmile programme for children. Lots of useful info on keeping their teeth healthy

Thanks... I will check the above link and the NHS website as well to be sure.

It's perfectly ok to use toothpaste, but a tiny amount, and preferably one for children. You can get toothbrushes that you fit over your finger or ones they just chew - both easier than a normal toothbrush.

You will get different advice regarding toothpaste depending on if there is fluoride in your water supply, we don't have any in our area so have been advised to use adult toothpaste, areas where there is fluoride in the water supply will probably be advised to just use water or baby toothpaste.

Give your HV or dentist a call to find out more.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/teething-and-tooth-care.aspx#close

this specifies a toothpaste with 1000ppm fluoride for babies and children up to age 3

Thank you all. I have started brushing my daughter's teeth with little bit of toothpaste. All the tips that you all gave were extremely helpful and am so thankful.