Brushing Teeth - Phoenixville,PA

My daughter is 17 1/2 months, she doesn't take a bottle anymore, or a nightime sippy of milk., but I only brush her teeth about every other day, usually after breakfast. It's too hard to keep her hands out of her mouth and off of the toothbrush and keep her mouth open and tounge inside with my 2 hands haha, I would give him some time. I let her brush her own teeth daily, which means she just chews on her toothbrush for about 15 minutes, I think it gets them clean enough.

I started cleaning my son's teeth when he started getting teeth.... I would wet a small wash cloth and rub it against his teeth. He started brushing when all of his teeth started coming with Oral B kids toothpaste now he uses kids crest in fruit punch. He brushes when wakes up in the morning before he goes to school and at night when he showers beofre bed. He loves brushing his teeth!! I have bought so many spin brushes & light up toothbrushes, but it's ok..

We are started around 12 months. I know that dentists want to see kids around that time anyways just to check the teeth. My daughter also took a bottle before bed, not in bed. She brushes her teeth in the morning or night. I can say that we are not consistent because she can fight us sometimes. We try to brush out teeth together. My husband helps her while I do mine.

If he has teeth i would start now. we started with my daughter around 6-8months, and she is 2 now and we used a battery tooth brush twice a day!!! Best to start good habits now!!!

I started at about 8 weeks when my ped said it was never too early. It is never good to let breastmilk or formula (or anything else) sit in your mouth or on your teeth overnight. (I would also wash out his mouth after spit ups.) Of course back then I would just use a wet wash cloth to swipe gums and tongue. This gets babies used to having something in their mouth and used to 'washing' their mouth out. I started using a wet toothbrush at first tooth, then added toothpaste (TINY bit - about 1/4 pea size) later. When he learned to spit, I increased the amount of toothpaste to pea-sized, making sure he knows to spit most of it out.

START NOW! ASAP! Get a toothbrush TODAY if you don't have one already. Get the smallest, softest one you can find.

It's not too early to start, but I wouldn't be so insistent on it that he doesn't like it. As others have said, let him copy you, chew on the toothbrush, and make it fun.

My daughter fell asleep right after her nursing or bottle for several months past 12 months old. I don't even remember when we started brushing, but I know we were not at all consistent until she was older. She has perfectly healthy teeth now at 8. Teeth health is partly about brushing and partly hereditary. There's only so much we can do...

I am paranoid about my son having brushed teeth because I have very bad teeth as an adult. They look nice, but I have had lots of cavities and dental work done. As a baby, I had bottle mouth and my teeth were literally like mush. I started brushing my sons teeth as soon as he got them, to get him used to it. He still fights me some nights (he's two).
Everything i have read says to brush them at least once a day and the most important brushing is in the evening before bed. I would try to brush them right after his bottle, or if you can't, do it at least right before his bottle so you get everything else off his teeth from the day of drinking and eating. Good luck!

I have been brushing my 7 month DD's teeth every night before bed, and after her first morning feeding since she was about 5 months old. She got her first tooth yesterday (YAY!!) so I am probably over-doing it... BUT my parents never taught us good oral hygiene, and as a result my teeth are shot. I figure that this way she will not remember ever NOT brushing, so it would be abnormal not to brush. lol. we just got a 'tooth and gum' cleaner that has infant 'toothpaste' (just a gel that only takes a drop) It's her favorite part of our bedtime routine. :)

As soon as the first tooth appears is when you start tooth care. You can check out infant tooth brushes and use toothpaste for infants that do not have flouride because babies will swallow the paste. Just a smear of paste. Start a morning (after breakfast) and bed time routine. They're not to have anything to drink or eat after brushing teeth and do not allow baby to fall asleep with a bottle. Have baby sit up for last bottle, although at this age they should be done eating and drinking at dinner time with the family and then bath and bed. Bath time is a good time to do tooth brushing while getting on pajamas. You can do a quick brush and then let them chew on it for a bit, as long as their teeth are brushed first.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Start now! Better if you can get him to do it after the last bottle - but if that's too hard to do cold turkey, still start now by brushing at jammie time and then bottle and sleep. Might seem futile to brush then drink, but it is definitely better than waiting - you are teaching routine and still removing all the gunk from the daytime. But most importantly, when he is done with the bedtime bottle routine, the 'brushing at jammie time' routine will already be in place. Good luck!

As soon as my son's first teeth arrived (2 came at once), we had him gnawing on the Baby Buddy Baby's 1st toothbrush (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Buddy-Babys-1st-Toothbrush/dp/.... It was his favorite teething item, and he was glad to chew on it after every meal of solids. At 12mos, he had 10 teeth and loved our vibrating toothbrushes - with the peed's and dentist's permission, we got him one as well. Some days he just sucks off the toothpaste, but for the most part he really enjoys it. Good luck!

Not too soon! You could even keep a damp cloth by his chair and just wipe them off before he goes in the crib.

start the routine now, bath, teeth brush show him how, you will have to help now but he will know how soon.

I started it as a morning and bedtime routine as early as my son can remember being with me in the bathroom and watching me do it. Naturally he wanted to do it too. As momma stated below- usually involves him chewing on his toothbrush- but he usually is tolerant of me brushing them first then he gets to chew and spit for about 20 mins. ;)