Getting 4 Year Old to Give up Toddler Toothpaste

Try doing like a half and half thing with the past and see how that goes. You could call the dentist and ask him. I would say the toothpaste he likes is fine aslong as you can get him to swoosh some floride mouth wash and spit that out. Ask the dentist.

Hello there - my five year old is extremely fussy about toothpaste. He absolutely hates anything vaguely minty. We are using Kids Colgate 2 in 1 Strawberry flavor which he really likes. I realize that's not going to solve the spitting out problem - but perhaps if he likes the flavor, and just swallows small amounts, you'll get on the right track. Good luck - Alison

Find a milder flavored toothpaste. Toms of Maine has an apricot flavored paste. Mint and cinnamon may burn his mouth.

My kids HATE the flavor of Minty Toothpaste. I'd try something else. If you can find "Squiggle" brand toothpaste whith Xylitol that has a nice flavor and contains no floride so it's safe to swallow. Xylitol is a natural sugar that inhibits tooth decay.

My mother works for a dentist. He swears that toothpaste is nothing more than incentive to clean your teeth. The flavor makes it feel cleaner, but the actual act of brushing and rinsing is what does it. No toothpaste (no matter what they claim) is necessarily better at cavity protection than the other.
as long as he is brushing, and brushing well...let him use the toothpaste he likes.

My 5 year old has the same problem. He tells me the toothpaste is "spicy". It does have a strong flavor. My dentist said it was fine to keep using the toddler toothpaste because he gets plenty of flouride other ways. I didn't go back to the toddler stuff but I am currently using a "Dora" tube that my daughter picked and it is more fruity then minty. Good luck!

If spitting is the issue then have him practice for a while longer with the old toothpaste and praise him for how well he does (no toothpaste should really be swallowed - we had our kids try to spit it out from the day they started using toothpaste). Our kids' biggest problem was the flavor and that is just solved by trial and error. Look for a "big kids" toothpaste that is as close as possible in flavor to what he currently likes. I think most of the toddler toothpastes are bubble gum or fruit flavor, so experiment and try to get something similar. Once he is used to spitting with his old toothpaste, it shouldn't be a big deal to switch to a "big kid" toothpaste.

This too shall pass. Give it a rest for a while and when the next toddler tube is gone, give it a try again.

Just switch him back. It really isn't okay if he swallows some of it. Too much flouride can cause dental flourosis, in it's mild form this is light discoloration of the adult teeth, and in it's extreme form, it can causes pitting, and fractures. If you have city water, there is flouride added to that, if you also use nursery water for drinking, there is flouride in that, and it also occurs naturally in well water, you would need to get yours tested to know how much.

At this point it is probably more important that he brush and go to the dentist 2 times a year, than it is that he use flouride toothpaste.

Make sure and double check all of this advice with your dentist.

forgive me if this sounds strange... but it could be that your son is intuitively aware of the possible negative health effects of flouride! (any search on the internet about flouride will give you hundreds of documents pertaining to its degenerative nature and negative effects on the health and well beings of any living thing!) We give my daughter an all natural tea-tree oil based toothpaste and she tries to get me to brush her teeth at least three times a day! Check out the health-food store and see if it helps!

S.,
We Crest kids with our son, it looks like ours so he is able to use ours if he wants. We also use crest but not the strong flavor. They have so many flavors out there. We also let him pick the toothbrush. Maks him feel important. Hope this helps.

S.,

My 5 year old still uses the bubble gum flavored toothpaste. He just doesn't like the taste of the minty kind. Everyone else here uses regular toothpaste and we offer the mint flavored kind to him regularly, but he just does not like it. Otherwise he is a good brusher so I figure its just one less issue that needs to be a battle. He will change over eventually I'm sure.

I think that is a common problem when trying to switch. My boys did the same thing, they said it burned their mouth, with the mint. They used kid's toothpaste way past 4 years old. I wouldn't rush him, especially if he still swallows it.

My 4 year old is very picky about his toothpaste and kept wanting to use the toddler fruity toothpaste. I tried the sparkle (crest), bubblemint Aquafresh, the only one he will use without crying and complaining is the strawberry flavored colgate toothpaste. It is a couple dollars more expensive then the other toothpastes but as least he will brush his teeth!!! Your son could just not like the taste of toothpast since the toddler toothpaste is sweet.

L.

Try Tom's of Maine all natural toothpaste for kids in cherry flavor. I don't believe it has flouride either.
C.

S.; yeah it can be difficult, try to use original crest is usually a little less stronger, also dont tell him to swallow it, read the label on toothpaste, you will be surprised, it tells you not to swallow it, any way , keep trying and enjoy life, D. s

Hello S.,

let him use the toothpaste he likes. what's important is that he brushes his teeth. I can almost bet the other toothpaste burn his tongue (peppermint, cinamon flavors are too strong for kids) there is enough fluoride in our drinking water...so don't worry about using fluoridaded toothpaste. good luck! ~Carmen~