Cleaning 1yo teeth.

[mrsleomcgary]

DD got her first tooth pretty early (about 4 months) and since then we've been cleaning her teeth,at first with dental wipes them with a brush when she got a bit older.

Now at a year old she has 12 teeth and cleaning them is a nightmare! We do them morning and evening with a spot of paste on the brush. DH or I will TRY to actually make contact with her teeth before she grabs the brush and chews it or sucks off all the toothpaste.

I know she's only 1 and she hardly gets anything sugary,she was given some tiny chocolate Santa's at christmas she got 1 a day,and she gets the odd rich tea biscuit (usually by my nana!). Despite that i'm worried that we're storing up problems for later on,i would hate to be one of those parents that takes their kid to the dentist for the first time with a mouthful of cavities.

Any toothbrushing tips?

Sorry hazey!

Still waiting for wheres to tell us if she has any children or not.

if you had read the thread you would know the answer

Sorry, wheresthelight, I can't see also where you say you have children, but assuming you do, I wonder if you could tell me what the alternative is, if the usual methods of trying to brush a child's teeth don't work? And what would you do if your child wouldn't take medicine? Have blood taken? Vaccinations? Medical treatment? I am curious, because I struggle with all these things with ds, it is not easy, but it is essential.

it's in my first post if you bother to read it!

and I have not encountered refusal as I have stated previously but I certainly won't be resorting to the behaviour condoned on here

I'm sorry, somehow I missed that!

Can I just suggest then, that you know nothing about the sort of thing that others are talking about, when it comes to 'refusal'. Dentists and paed's have talked to me about the necessity of dental care with ds, dental nurses and paediatric nurses have shown me the best and safest way to clean his teeth, administer medicines.

You call it abusive to gently restrain a child who doesn't want to have their teeth brushed, but when I ask what your alternative would be, you come up with nothing.

I really hope you never find yourself in the position of having to hold your child when he is having a cannula put in, or have blood taken.

1 child at 17 months that is a obviously a rare compliant toddler does not make you all knowledgeable wheres

I never said it did voddie but none of you have convinced me that putting a child in a head lock or using my weight to pin them down is the right thing.

I asked a question because I happened to disagree with the advice being given and have been insulted and attacked because of it. nice to the mumsnet reputation is valid

It doesn't matter how many children she has, she could have 20, but unless one of them blind refuses to have their teeth brushed, then she doesn't really know what she is talking about.

'Insulted and attacked' - you have implied that the way I deal with my child is abusive, and you feel insulted and attacked!

Please, please, please tell me what you would do if your child needed to have blood taken/take medicine/was a tooth brushing refuser - please? I really want to know what your suggestions would be, apart from what you wouldn't do.

gosh, we brushed DD's teeth via the her-chewing-the-brush method for ages. She's 5 now and her teeth are fine, certainly by the time she was a toddler we were brushing them properly, morning and night, no exceptions ever. My mum (retired dentist) seemed to think the chewing method was fine.

(I once had to lie DD down and trap her head between my knees in order to get antibiotics inside her. Only way to do it. Had to be done, no question. Over in a few second, and her infection cleared up fast. More abusive to just let her suffer, I would have thought, but each to their own.)

wheresthelight you really do seem to think you are the perfect parent, although I must say some of your old posts make interesting reading and suggest otherwise.

wheresthe I don't think anyone has insulted you, but considering you have 1 child who is most likely yet to reach the hell stage, you have come across as quite judgy and insulting of other people's approaches. The line with abuse might be quite close on this one for you, and that's fine if that's the approach you choose, but I can tell you now that for most people (children's services included), that a bit of gentle pinning, when done with care and reassurance as part of a normal loving parent child relationship, is actually quite far from the line of child abuse.

I've switched to this toothpaste
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JLESNIC/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1421697336&sr=1&keywords=Jack+n+Jill
It tastes nice so DS is a lot more inclined to let me in, I give him a toothbrush with some on and one for me to use, which tends to help. Still have to restrain him though! Most parents do and it's ok!

As a child that had lovely liberal don't force anything on your child parents I then had to have several teeth pulled out under general anaesthetic at 6 I did NOT want that for my DS. He does not have bad teeth like me or a fear of dentists because I taught him that brushing is non negotiable. That dentists are there to help and should be seen every six months. I am his parent and sometimes shit needs to be done.

whereisthelight I checked your posting history as I was sure you were a troll as you in effect called most of the posters on this thread abusers and I don't like it that my actions, which I feel were for the best of my child were abusive, I was hoping you were a troll. I noticed that you use controlled crying with your child you say that some nights she cries for hours and hours, that's your choice and I'm not judging that choice although it's not something I would resort to, but how on earth can you say that holding your child for 60 seconds whilst you brush their teeth is abusive but allowing them to cry for hours is fine?

It's so lovely to have lots of fluffy airy fairy views on "I'll do this" and "my child will do this".

Then reality smacks you in the face (or sits on your chest)

My DS is 2 and tooth brushing can still be hit and miss. When it does work, usually he has one brush and sucks off the paste, then I let him watch a video on my phone which usually distracts him long enough for me to get in with a second tooth brush.
We tend to have more trouble rinsing afterwards, by then he's had enough of the brush in his mouth.

I was worried about lack of a proper clean too and our lovely HV said it's more important to just keep trying as it's much harder to introduce brushing the older they get

But fairy she was going to buy the neighbours a bottle of wine to apologise for any disturbance. That maybe makes it ok

I don't agree with wheresthelight that using restraint is abuse, but I do think she has been given quite a tough time on here. Her tone is quite provocative.

Like a PP, my DS is also asthmatic and needs an inhaler twice a day, every day, without fail. The paediatricians showed me the safest and least frightening way to restrain him whilst administering the inhaler. He still screams and cries, but it still needs to be done. It is not on to have a go at other mums for doing the best for the children, especially when they have the full support and guidance from healthcare professionals to do so

wheres Ok, I'll try and convince you that gently restraining (I don't think anyone on here said anything about using their weight) a child to get an essential job done for the sake of the child's good health.

1. If a child doesn't get their teeth brushed they will suffer very painful tooth decay.

1. If a child doesn't take their antibiotics they won't get better, and the illness may progress and lead to hospitalisation.

1. If a child doesn't take their inhalers they may suffer a potentially fatal asthma attack.

If a young child is refusing to co-operate with these tasks the parents have two choices,

a) gently restrain the child for a matter of seconds, or,

b) knowingly put their child at risk of some very dangerous and harmful health issues.

The list could kind of go on really. If that doesn't convince you then I don't really think it's worth discussing any further.

Can I just add a bit of light into this thread and tell you all about my baby tooth brushing experience this evening...?

Inspired by the horrors of this thread, I thought "God, it's time to start brushing my 7 month old baby's one tooth" It's only come through in the last couple of weeks and we've not been brushing it til now. We got him all ready for bed in his cute little babygrow, got his teeny toothbrush ready and smeared it with Milk Teeth toothpaste, took him into the bathroom in braced ourselves for extreme difficulty.

DH popped the toothbrush into his mouth and started gently brushing - DS broke out into the biggest smile and absolutely loved it. We couldn't stop laughing about how cute and smiley the whole thing was! He had cute minty breath afterwards!

Lets hope it continues this way!

Oh yes, Mamushka the tiny babies LOVE having their teeth brushed! You wait until they want to do it themselves though - that's when the trouble starts!

(unless you're one of those mums who ends up with an entirely compliant child)

Ladies and gents please hold your flame throwers for a moment

I have two children with 18 years between them and anything but the perfect parent. So I am not being judgemental in any way shape or form so please do not take offence.
I've read a similar thread on administering medication to toddlers and decided after reading it not to bother asking for advice as it ended up in a total cat fight about child abuse or brutalisation (starting to question if mumsnet is the right site for me).
I did not hold my DS down to administer the medication he refused to take foul tasting antibiotics. Both my GP and health visitor agreed with my course of action, so I find it very strange other GP's or health visitors are advocating doing so. Advice seems so different depending on where you live.
Maybe if people who disagree with some parents methods they could in an non-judgemental way say "have you tried this or that?" I am sure if there were an easier way less upsetting to both the child and the parent they would choose that route. If you don't have an alternative to offer don't tell them it's wrong, it's the right way or only way they've found that works.

A parent that advocates CC which involves leaving a child alone, crying and distressed for a far longer period of time than what the parents above have been describing is just hypocritical. Surely there is a gentler way to solve sleep problems? Yes there is I managed to do it.

I was abused as a child and I get very upset when people band that term about so easily. Abuse is a form of harm it's not done with any interest in what is good for the child or in their best interests.

Sorry rant over.

Morethanawoman - I know that sometimes there is an alternative medication available, ds has had suppositories in the past due to problems swallowing meds. However sometimes there is no alternative. Ds has had to have 6 week courses of the foulest antibiotic, 4 times a day (this on top of his other daily meds) the alternative being pneumonia, hospitalisation and antibiotics administered by drip. On top of this, if in hospital he would need oxygen, getting oxygen into a child who refuses to wear the mask is pretty challenging!

Having a child is bloody hard, you have to do things which the child may not like and it is horrible, dd2 has 4 different inhalers a day and regular courses of horrible steroids due to her asthma, it took ages for her to understand it was non negotiable - there is no alternative.

hazey you're not abusing your children. You're doing a wonderful and very difficult job of doing the very best you can for them. Forget this crap and go have some x