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.

Just give him a tiny amount to smear around so there isn’t a load to spit out. This really isn’t a big deal, toothpaste isn’t toxic.

Advice now is to not rinse after brushing. So they're can't be any significant downside to swallowing it.
Just put less on the brush and slush it into the brushes as a pp suggested.

He's almost certainly doing it for attention now that you've got so wound up about it.

It really doesn't matter

Excess flouride impacts IQ in children - I was reading something on it yesterday. Not sure if swallowing toothpaste would be sufficient to give high levels, but someone mentioned low flouride toothpaste above, so I'd go that route.

Apologies, couldn't edit my post to add

Oops I’m getting this totally wrong my kid 2.5 is washing it down with squash so rinse and swallowing! Im just relived she’s now happy to be brushed

@k1233 that's really not helpful on this thread. That is talking about having TWICE the recommended amount in drinking water, not swallowing some of a pea size blob.

This has never crossed my mind. We use such small amounts for my 7yo, and it’s age-appropriate for him so I figure it’s not going to harm him.

If you’re concerned about the amount of fluoride he’s ingesting you could change his toothpaste to one for much younger children who aren’t expected to spit it out. Or to a fluoride/free toothpaste if that’s what is bothering you.

Let it go. It won't harm him and it's not worth the agro.

Do you mean you're giving your toddler squash after he's brushed his teeth?

Not sure why I just saw this now. Yes. It’s sugar free I don’t think the squash is an issue. She refuses to drink water. I’m picking my battles

I might be wrong but I think you also need to think about ph levels. This attacks enamel even without sugar. If you google ph levels in sugar free quash you might be able to work out if it’s an issue. Ideally only ph7 is ok after brushing

More something to think about once her adult teeth come In especially

What? My 6yo still swallows most of hers too. Sometimes I prompt her to spit, sometimes she remembers herself and will spit but I'd say 75 per cent of the time it gets swallowed. It's hardly a big deal is it? They will grow out of it.

I used to sneak little tastes of the toothpaste direct from the tube at around 7 or 8 as it was fresh and minty.

I was caught and the punishment was that an entire tube was squeezed on my jacket potato and I was forced to eat it.

So I don't recommend that. 45 years later I still hate very minty toothpaste.

Anyway, my IQ is absolutely fine, my teeth are fine and I never had stomach issues from the little tastes.

If it's just what's left after brushing I wouldn't worry about it, just continue to encourage to spit regularly.

Make sure he only uses a small amount on his brush and use a children's one until he grows out of it. Some of the adult ones are worse for you to swallow, although In the scheme of things I'm not sure it would be that bad for you.

@ChampagneLassie

I understand. It's not about the sugar content but it's best not to have any drinks after brushing teeth as you're washing the fluoride away. That's why you shouldn't rinse after brushing.

The US has gone into LaLa land. I wouldn't be paying any attention to anything they say.

I really doubt that the quality of research done at Harvard medical school has been affected by the mentality of US politics.

I would be careful about the amount f fluoride my kids were ingesting- I would buy low fluoride of 0 fluoride toothpaste.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/

You really don’t want fluoride free toothpaste. Fluoride is enormously helpful for dental health. It’s just a matter of getting the dose right, because it’s toxic in high doses. It’s most effective when applied directly to the teeth which is why they put it in toothpaste, which you then spit out, maximizing the benefit. But they give fluoride drops to babies who are too young to have teeth yet and many areas put a small amount of fluoride in the town water supplies. In some places too much fluoride naturally occurs in the mineral content of the local water supply so they remove some to get it to the correct level.

I didn’t know this (age 41) oops