Confused about baby brushing teeth

[TwoSwans]

My baby is showing signs of a first tooth emerging. I've read that I should apparently start brushing teeth as soon as they emerge. I don't know if this is a daft question, but how and when do you brush a 6 month olds teeth? I give a bottle just before bed (FF) - not feed to sleep but definitely helps baby become drowsy. The last thing I need is to then scoop baby up back into bathroom and start brushing teeth - surely this will just wake her up?

Please can anyone advise how you do brushing? Thank you!

Following! Ive also been wondering this. What does everyone else do?

To be honest I did it before the last feed until my daughter was very much not feeding to sleep/being drowsy after the last bottle, so more like 9m/a year. We do it in the bedroom where we do story as the baby doesn’t spit it out at that age, you just rub it on their gums/teeth and leave it.

I do it in the bath or sitting on the toilet seat after the bath( this one is easier on the days dad is there to help). When ds was 6 months and still having a night bottle this was before his bottle. Hes now 1 and doesnt have a night bottle any more.
I always think of it as getting them used to the concept of teeth brushing rather then aiming for a perfect job everytime. But this is my general approach to parenting. I'm just introducing the ideas and seeing where he goes with them.

In the bath. Most mums I know fed to sleep and so none brushed after last milk at that age.

I was brushing my 2yo's teeth before her bedtime milk, obv HV told me after but it worked to get her to sleep. We started moving milk downstairs as part of her routine and then pjs and teeth. Do what works with a little baby then transition when they self settle fully.

The last thing I need is to then scoop baby up back into bathroom and start brushing teeth - surely this will just wake her up?

This is exactly what I've been wondering!

In the bath beforehand is fine. It's the mechanical removal of plaque that's important but more important is baby getting used to brushing which will become more important with more teeth and solid foods.

Any time you want? Just clean thoroughly every 24 hours and get them used to it

Maybe bath time?

We take the tooth brush to her bedroom and do them just before the last story. She hates having her teeth brushed but she knows the drill and it's all forgotten again by the last story.

She has a cup of milk downstairs but when she still had bottles, we always gave the bottle before stories.

I give my baby the toothbrush with a tiny tab of toothpaste to chew on when I’m putting on her pyjamas after her bath, which seems to be the time she’s wriggliest and gives her something to do, she’s 9mo

My concern about doing it before the bedtime milk is that you're not then removing the milk from the baby's teeth after drinking, so it sits on their teeth all night. Is that okay from a plaque POV? I don't want DS to get rotten teeth!

I always used a finger toothbrush in the bath when mine were tiny. Now my DD has four teeth at 13 months she has a "proper" baby toothbrush, I still do it in the bath, although I'm sure she's able to have it done normally by now, but who needs that palaver after a long day

@newmum234 yes. You need 3 things for decay (tooth, plaque, and sugar). Remove the plaque, sugar can't cause decay.

@newmum234

My concern about doing it before the bedtime milk is that you're not then removing the milk from the baby's teeth after drinking, so it sits on their teeth all night. Is that okay from a plaque POV? I don't want DS to get rotten teeth!

No, it's not OK. People in real life will tell you it's fine, but HVs and dentists will tell you it's not.

We broke the feeding to sleep habit when DD got her first tooth. It would probably have been more convenient to keep on with it, but tbh my convenience isn't nearly as important to me as her sleep.

It also had the added bonus of getting her to self settle, which meant night wakings dropped from every 40mins to every 2-3 hours, and i stopped crying in the shower every day.

[Speaks in invisible dentist...] @Ohalrightthen ¯\(ツ)/¯

I know science is out of fashion but indulge me for an hour or two?

I always brushed my babies teeth after milk.

Just change the routine around so they have milk-bath-teeth-bed.

Ideally you should brush last thing before bed. But in a 6 month baby it matters really little. The amount of sugar in milk is minimal and as Mrs morton says if you remove all the plaque then you shouldn't get decay.

I was told by a friend who had a friend whose friend was a friend of a dentist (or some such chain) that until the molars come in you're just getting them used to the sensation, taste and mechanics etc. Makes sense to me, so once molars are through it wants to be the last thing, until then, in the bath etc suffices. Incidentally, have you checked whether your la adds fluoride to the water? Ours doesn't so we need to use a full strength toothpaste.

This is really interesting. DS is one but has a bedtime bottle, he eats lots of solids now and proper three meals a day plus snacks so the bedtime bottle is the last one to go but I still brush his teeth before his bottle because that’s just our routine and he seems to wake up if I brush his teeth after the bottle
I might try it again tomorrow though I don’t want him to get bad teeth. At the moment he chews on it then I gently brush his teeth and gums

My DS is 15 months old and we do it last thing before bed, I have since he got his first tooth. He had his last milk and then I’d brush his teeth and read a book. It took a while for him to get used to it, but after a while it became routine.

@Mrsmorton

[Speaks in invisible dentist...] *@Ohalrightthen* ¯\\(ツ)/¯

I know science is out of fashion but indulge me for an hour or two?

Not sure what you're getting at - both my HV and my dentist (and my granddad who was a dentist) told me i needed to brush DD's teeth after milk before bed. Sure, it's a pain, but so is rotten teeth.

@Ohalrightthen yes. I am an actual dentist. You do you though.

Mine is 18 months old and we brush his teeth 2x per day as adviced by dentist friend because DS usually still drinks a bottle of formula halfway trough the night (her DS has the same issue). I brush his teeth when 1 hour has passed after his dinner and do same after breakfast. The reason to wait is to give the enamel enough time to reminalize itself after eating esspecially when he had something sour like kiwi fruit during his meal.

I do it in the bath for my baby; once my DD(now 3) was around 12 months and had more teeth I started giving her milk a bit earlier and brushing her teeth before bed as I’d been told to do that by the health visitor. It worked within our efforts to break the feeding to sleep habit.

[quote Mrsmorton]@Ohalrightthen yes. I am an actual dentist. You do you though.[/quote]
Would you really recommend not brushing teeth after milk!? Professionally?