At wits end, 6 year old swallowing toothpaste

[bakewellbride]

I'm feeling very frustrated tonight, my son just swallowed almost all his toothpaste instead of spitting it out. It's been going on for months now and I've tried EVERYTHING. Every single consequence, reward, bribe, everything. Nothing works. It is just so hard! When will he outgrow it? Anyone been through similar? Any words of wisdom welcome but no ripping me to pieces / unkindness please as I'm having a difficult time at the moment generally.

What bothers you about that?

What's the problem?

I've honestly never thought about this.... Is it really bad for you? My son is autistic so I'm just so relieved when I can brush them at all I take the win!

My older one is 8 and still does this... I don't see a massive problem?

So? It's not going to kill him.
Find yourself a much much bigger hill to die on.

I think I was in high school before i realised you were meant to split it out. I'm alove and kicking still touch wood

Whats the problem?

This is not worth the energy you’re giving it. Drop the rope.

Doesn’t make a jot of difference other than he’s now learnt it gets him some attention

ignore ignore ignore

I would not worry about this

Are you expecting him to go 2 mins before spitting? We had to spit at 5 seconds in, then 10 seconds, then next week make to to 30 seconds and so on.

It's fine. Perhaps take a glass of water in with him (or brush in the kitchen) so it's easier to either swill it around and spit it out or to dilute it when he drinks it. It really isn't going to do him a massive amount of damage though, there is fluoride in the water in most places.

My dad swallows toothpaste and he's 75. I think instructions not to rinse were misunderstood. There's some alarmist Google results about swallowing toothpaste but nowhere reputable that I can see.

I used to squeeze out little iced gem style 'cakes' of toothpaste onto my finger and eat them.

I'd try to ignore it. Just model spitting it out and he'll probably stop eventually.

Ok thanks

Smoosh it into the bristles if he's eating it before it's getting on his teeth to clean. But otherwise, I'd not worry about it. The issue is he might ingest too much fluoride and give himself an upset stomach. It is hazard a guess that he would need to consume a lot in a short space of time due to how digestion works.

Swallowing what's left after brushing or chomping down entire tubes at a time?!

I'd like my 7 year-old to have the toothpaste on his mouthing enough for his swallowing it to get possible 😀
In your case, though, try not to worry - I swallowed my toothpaste until I was at least ten, I think. It's done me no harm other than I now find the thought of doing that revolting

I’d just keep him on the kids lower-fluoride toothpaste (eg one for ages 2-6 or 3-8 or something like that) until he figures out how to spit it out. This is exactly why kids’ toothpaste exists.

It won't poison him, OP.

Can swallowing toothpaste when they are little not cause hypoplasia in the teeth? I ask cos thi is something I also worry about

No, it can cause white spots. Hypoplasia is when the enamel doesn't form properly, usually caused by illness at the wrong time of pregnancy (can just be a cold) or antibiotics in the early years.

Ah, thank you

OP, stop beating yourself up about it. I went through a long period of this with my son (he's autistic) because I had to keep trying so many different ones just so I could try and brush his teeth. It's really difficult. My advice is don't make a fuss about it. He's unlikely to harm himself. I'd be pleased he's actually brushing. Don't make this a battle because it will become so stressful for you both. He shouldn't be rinsing anyway after brushing so just let him get on with it. I think it's wise to remember that whatever weird things your kids do, they don't do it forever

It's really not worth the battle.

For what it's worth it's not going to harm your child, they swallow the toothpaste on the space station.

Brush your teeth next to him and put a sticker on the wash basin - have a competition on who can hit the sticker with toothpaste spit ;-)