another issue .. brushing time is a fight off , proper battle zone ! my husband even catches a hearty laugh with all the noises coming from the bathroom while baby and I are busy brushing his teeth !
But what is not funny anymore is that I have to battle so much with him .. he simply sucks off the toothpaste from this brush , wont let me put any brush into his mouth. I have tried reading him brushing books, show him videos of kids brushing their teeth, i have myself done it infront of him, we try to do them together, etc .. but the fight in the end is that he wants to hold the brush and eat up all the paste out of it but wont himself or let me brush his teeth .. I am worried for his teeth now..
Tried doing that Lusi , its the same story .. he has two of his own brushes , and I give him mine too , but still all he does is suck the pasta off them and then wants more toothpaste ! as if he is eating biryani !
At least he puts the brush in to lick the toothpaste off my daughter won’t entertain a toothbrush even to just hold! She is 21 months and i have the battle too , i get her from behind so she can’t get away and really quickly brush her teeth. I have installed the aquafresh brushtime app , havent used it yet but it is to encourage brushing and make it fun. Try it!!!
Problem is my son is pretty sturdy and I am not strong enough physically to handle him when he becomes aggressive , so I try my best not to let the situation get that bad .. I try to brush infront of him but doesnt look like its helping much !!
Since he is under 2, are you using the fluoride free toothpaste? You use the one with fluoride once they are 2 and even then you should stick with the kids toothpaste since it has a lower concentration.
Let him brush his teeth but let him know that once he’s done, you will take over and finish brushing his teeth for him. He will complain and fight against it in the beginning but just be firm and take the toothbrush and try to brush as much as you can. You’ll hardly be able to get it done properly in the beginning because of all the squirming and screaming but once he realizes that this is routine and you will be brushing his teeth no matter what, he’ll become more compliant and hopefully it’ll be stress free from there onwards.
Use electric toothbrush. The head spins so fast that he wont even have time to suck any paste off it.
And Cherry, I would avoid using Kid’s toohpaste. Those damn things taste like candy, and I dont know how high in sugar they are, but kids would obviously like to suck on them for the taste,
^ I realize that but kids love to swallow toothpaste and I’m just not comfortable with brushing their teeth with fluoride toothpaste at this age. Plus the ADA has always stated that children under 2 should use a fluoride free toothpaste because of the risk of swallowing. Apparently there is a risk of enamel fluorosis but that risk occurs only when permanent teeth are forming under the gums. Once teeth break through the gums, they cannot develop enamel fluorosis.
Awww that sounds cute…My girls ate toothpaste too when they were around that age. They didn’t properly started brushing till they were 3 If I remember correctly
I have gotten baby his own tooth brush but I let him hold it and use the finger brush to clean his teeth…kid has only got a handful teeth for now
I let Ismail play with his brush first he will chew on it, suck the paste etc and than I do it for him. It was a struggle in the beginning but now it’s getting better.
Thanks so much , I havnt tried doing this yet , as in , let him play it out and then take my turn .. will see if that works
TLK, I asked our health visitor about that electric brush and they advised against it. I was told at this age the gums are extremely delicate and they can get hurt ..
I agree with this completely. We have been told in the UK that enough flouride is not included in the water and that is the reason why they want us to use toothpaste with high flouride content. Even for kids , they encourage us to stop using the baby specific ones and use a tiny dot of the usual toothpaste we adults use.
RV , beta, let me tell you what happened to me ! I too used to find them all so cute and little angels .. then I found out that in real life , cuteness comes at a cost! heck loads of hitting and biting and headbutting and you having to do the same thing million times coz the little monster following you everywhere at your heels is undoing everything you are trying to put in its place!
Everything is a battle from nappy change to clothes change to wearing shoes to eating meals to going out and trying to keep them safe and next to you !
but as soon as the baccha’s sleep , mothers start feeling the love all over again. They are worth every moment of hardwork :))))
^CB, my mom once said that there’s a saying either in Urdu or Punjabi…,most likely the latter about the love a mother feels when the child is sleeping. Bow is that cuz they look so angelic when they’re asleep or because the love stems from a surge of relief in having a break from all the madness or both?
lol monk , you hear all the wrong stuff , na jaane kaha sai lol
RV , I agree to the tee , that intense feeling of relief is unimaginable , that moment when the kid goes to sleep and you can peacefully sit with a hot cuppa and a cookie .. I dont remember experiencing that feeling of relief ever through out my career life ! must be something special to motherhood
My older two were pretty easy at it, they wud happily brush their teeth, the third one was difficult but the youngest is absolute pain. We have tried all tricks that we used on others but no avail, its a battle every day.
CB, brushing time is a family affair in my home. We brush together, I brush mine, he brushes his. He is more amenable to me finishing up if he sees some autonomy in brushing first himself. And is more interested in brushing first himself if I am brushing my own at the same time. Also, I don’t put toothpaste on his when he does it. I pretend to and I never did otherwise so he isn’t aware of the difference. Guess it’s too late for you to backtrack now?
