When to brush teeth

[SallyDom]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question; when do you brush your lo's teeth? Dominic (8 months) has 7 teeth now and we usually brush his teeth when he gets out of the bath on a nighttime. Should I be doing them twice a day? Also, I brush his teeth before his bedtime bottle, should it be done last thing like we do? I don't want to give him his last bottle and then brush his teeth as I think it would disturb him too much. On the otherhand I'd rather do that then have his teeth rot!

Sal
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[binxyboo]

LOL Riley had 1 tooth at 8 months!

We brush teeth at night after his bath and also after breakfast. He drinks his milk after wards. He LOVES brushing his teeth and if I brushed them afterwards there is no way he would settle easy for bed. I am thinking it would be more of an issue if he was falling asleep while drinking as then the milk would pool in his mouth, but this doesn't happen with us. I will keep an eye here to see what everyone else does.

[*Kimberly*]

I brush my lo's teeth right after he gets up in the morning and right before bed.  I tried to think about when I brush my teeth and why and I applied that to him.  We just made it part of his getting up and bedtime routines and he does fine with it.

Kimberly

[SallyDom]

Thanks guys,

LOL Riley had 1 tooth at 8 months!

It's so funny how they do everything at different times isn't it. My ante-natal group (now very much post-natal group!) still meet up each week and all 9 of the babies are so different, a couple can crawl, Dom's got loads of teeth, one of the babies could pull himself to standing at 6.5 months. Babies are so cool!

I brush my lo's teeth right after he gets up in the morning and right before bed.  I tried to think about when I brush my teeth and why and I applied that to him. 

This was what I was thinking, I brush mine after brekkie and before bed, Dom doesn't fall asleep on the bottle so maybe I could try doing them last thing. I want him to someday so why not start now I suppose.

Sal
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[**Clare**]

I didn't realise but you are supposed to brush them after there milk which I will admit I don't do.  Harvey takes his cup to bed as he likes to hold it to go to sleep with, he tucks it under his arm, its like a comfort thing hes always done!!

If I was to brush his teeth when he'd drank his milk it would disturb him and also it would mean him having to take an empty cup to bed with him which seems strange and I'm not sure how it would effect him!!

So we do them in the bath and when he wakes!

[The Vern]

I was just at the hygienist today (for me, not my 11 month old  ), and she told me that brushing with an actual tooth brush is not really necessary yet. She said the most important thing is to wipe their gums and palate with a washcloth. One, that gets rid of any build-up and plaque (which apparently can form on the gums, which I didn't know) and two, it gets them used to having stuff in their mouths (which will make the first dentist appointment a bit easier, hopefully).  I have been using a tooth brush since her first teeth came in, morning and night (after breakfast and after bottle), but I started adding the washcloth tonight.  She didn't seem to mind too much.  She likes to play with the brush and I think it's good for her to play with it and get used to it as well, so we'll keep both in the routine.

[Marisa's Mom]

We haven't been very good in the teeth dept. We got a toothbrush a long time ago, but was never very good at consistently using it, or rather, getting her acquainted with it.

Now at 20 months, she likes to chew on the toothbrush.  We try to brush our teeth in front of her so she gets the idea that it's something everyone does. We try to help her brush her teeth, sometimes she's ok with it, most of the times she is not. There was a short period when DH was successful at wiping her teeth with a washcloth, but now she won't let us do that at all.  Anyhows, we mostly try the teeth brushing in the mornings, we always forget in the evenings.

I didn't know they were supposed to brush after milk.

When do you first introduce tooth paste?

[M2W]

My good friend (and Weston's best gal pal's mom) is a hygenist and her reply to this question when I asked was: she brushes her daughters teeth 2 or 3 times per day & flosses! 

Now back to reality...LOL 

I brush Weston's teeth anytime of the day when I think of it...we have always just given him toothbrushes to play with and chew on...so in the morning if I think of it, I'll brush his teeth and then it's HIS turn and he has the toothbrush from that point on. I will 90% of the time do it after a night time bath. and sometimes after dinner in the evening...but never consistant. I sort of do it when I think of it...some days it's 3 times others it's not at all...but on average I'd say he's teeth get brushed at least once (by me) if not more per day because like I said he typically does have a toothbrush in his play area and he likes to pretent play with it...

He sleeps with a bottle and my above friend said the main concern with that is that once asleep the saliva production decreases and babies that sleep with a bottle dripping in their mouth do not have enough saliva to wash it away...but if they drink the bottle and then fall asleep it's not a problem...so I would imagine that if you are brushing, then feeding the bottle and then off to dream land it would be AOK. But if the child is sleeping with the bottle in it's mouth that would be a problem. decay of the teeth problem. Weston drinks and then throws the bottle out of his crib and goes to sleep. so according to her info decay is not a problem for us. (knock on wood)

[M2W]

We actually have given Weston a "toothbrush" since he was about 5 or 6 months old. He would hold it and chew on it (similar to what he did with his spoon) LOL...and I brushed his gums with a finger nub brush from birth on to about 6 months...then I brushed his gums with a toothbrush...he only has 6 teeth (4 top front 2 bottom front) so his gums in the back get brushed with a toothbrush and / or a finger nub...whatever is handy (we have a container FULL of his toothbrush equiptment) And after a day of playing with one, it goes into the dishwasher for a cleaning. LOL

[SallyDom]

Hi Marisa's mum, I'm still not very good at brushing Dominic's teeth in the morning, I just don't seem to even think about it. Maybe I ought to keep a toothbrush downstairs as well. He has 8 teeth now so I really need to get on with it!