Babies first tooth - dental hygiene

[Dipsydoodlenoodle]

Hi,

Just looking for advice, my baby has her first tooth and I'm wondering what the best schedule is for teeth brushing

At bedtime we usually bath, bottle (fall asleep quickly after this) then bed...should I brush her teeth after bath or after her bottle? - tonight i brushed her tooth in the bath (it only appeared yesterday) does it matter for a little while that she's having 1 milk afterwards, or should I teeth brush right before bed?

2nd question, should I brush after every meal or will once/twice a day be ok?

She has a dentist appointment for September, but obviously I want to start us off right.

Thank you

Brush twice a day and after the last bottle of the day.

Yup. Ideally wait 30min after any food or drink to brush.

Possibly horrendous advice, but I’ve always brushed DS teeth in the bath, and he was having milk after that every night until about 2.5 and then sporadically after that. He’s 3 now. Gone to the dentist every 6 months (4 times in total). And we’ve not had any problems. So completely anecdotal. But just in case trying to brush teeth after milk causes bedtime problems, just wanted you to know there may be an option of doing it in the bath as you are.

Unfortunately this is bad advice, especially if baby is bottle fed. Drinking milk from the bottle allows milk to pool in the mouth and coat the teeth, exacerbating decay if it's then left there all night. It's less of a problem with babies fed from the breast, or from an open cup.

Thank you everyone. I know last thing before bed is best...I even brush my dogs teeth before bed 😂.

Brushed in the bath again tonight, but I'll give her a few days to get used to the idea of the toothbrush and then we'll start doing it after milk. Thank you.