Morning and night our nine month old chews on his toothbrush to get him used to brushing his teeth (his first tooth popped up a few weeks ago).
As he's nine months old he regularly drops his toothbrush on th floor of the bathroom. I pick it up, rinse it, and back in it goes. Every time I feel guilty for putting something in his mouth that I know has been on the floor, but how can you clean a toothbrush?
I really appreciate all of the comments made. Thank you.
Bathrooms are dirty places due to the toilet being in there too. It's different to any other room in the house.
Mouth washes or other toxic chemicals can burn the mouths of young children and babies so I don't want to use them on my baby's toothbrush. I've since learnt that putting toothbrushes in the dishwasher can stiffen the bristles, which is OK for an older child but not for a baby.
I've learnt that the best way to clean a toothbrush for a baby is to boil a cup of water and leave the brushes in the cup for a few minutes. This advise came from my Dentist as well as some of the below comments.
I've also bought more toothbrushes so there's aways a clean one my baby can use.
Thank you again for your help. All the best.
I would not worry too much about it. Unless it falls into something really nasty. They crawl around inside and outside and put their little fingers in their mouth all the time....you can't wash everything all the time. Have you been to the beach yet?
there is a book called secret life of germs....they say to microwave the toothbrushes.....the book said that the dishwaher doesnt get hot enough to clean them......you are also suppose to put sponges in the microwave for 2 minutes to get them clean
Yep, read through the other responses and chuckled. When my kids were small, I got into the habit of taking down all toothbrushes with the rinse glasses and basin of water pick, soap dishes, etc, and loading them in the dishwasher regularly. I do the same with my decorative mouth wash bottles. When they are empty and before refilling, it goes into the dishwasher.
I keep a small amount of peroxide in a glass in our bathrooms. Every night, the toothbrushes go in the peroxide so they are clean the next day.
You boil it!! Hope this helps:-)
All i ever did with my kids toothbrushes when they were that little was rinse them off. They are still alive and healthy with no major illnesses. I did keep a separate one in the bathroom for brushing while they had there 'chew' one.
S.
LOL-sorry it just strikes me funny. He must be your first? Well sorry I don't mean to poke fun but like someone told me once about passy's falling on the floor. If it don't land in "sh*T* then it's fine.
Believe me I am the BIGGEST germaphobic out there but with twins it became very obvious and very exhausting to try and keep up with every single item that dropped on the floor-or shared or whatever. Kids need a little bit of germs so that their bodies can fight the bigger things off. Don't worry about it so much-he is still alive isn't he? Just enjoy him while he is this small because believe me it goes way too fast.
I personally do "disinfect" my entire families toothbrushes about once every two weeks. I just place them in the dishwasher which basically sterilizes them-(my dishwasher has a built in feature for just sterlizing; I noticed another poster said that dishwashers don't get hot enough but I'm not sure if she was referring to ALL or just the ones without the sterlization feature on it) you can also do it the old fashioned way and boil them but don't leave it in there too long because the bristels will spread out melted. Um I won't say how I found this out-um hum. Like my kids say to me - chillax mom it will be okay :-)
Rinsing doesn't do anything except adds water to the toothbrush...just like washing hands. You have to use soap to wash the germs off of your hands. I would wash with soap and water and return. Unless it was extremely nasty in the area where she dropped it, then I would boil it or put tree oil on on it or some people do perioxide. But honestly soap and water should be just fine. Done that many times myself.
WE have about 6 tooth brushes for our toddler, and they regularly go in the dishwasher. Also, after they land on the floor, I usually just rinse off and keep going too!
We either boil water in the microwave, put them in the dishwasher, or I soak them in Listerine. But definitely wash it with dish soap after dropping it.
J.
I have a three year old that likes to swipe the other kids toothbrushes and run around the house with them and they end up on the floor. We have boiled ours to make sure they are clean again. Only misshap is when I leave them in too long. I usually try to bring it to a boil and then turn it off and let it sit for 5 min or so. I don't know if it is long enough or not but it makes me feel better.
Blessings,
K.
