Brushing Teeth

[Belia]

How do you teach your toddler to do this?

When are they old enough to handle toothpaste?

How do you teach them to spit the paste out and not swallow / eat it? When I try to get DS to spit out the water from the brush alone, he just kind of imitates the "ptooie" sound and motion, but doesn't actually spit anything out.

I'm really clueless here.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

I handle the toothbrush for him, and use non-fluoride toothpaste so he doesn't have to spit it out. Right now what is working for us is for me to go through every thing he ate during the day and ask him if it is on his teeth, then I pretend to scrub it all off. He thinks it is great fun most of the time, and loves shouting out things he ate. "Chicken!!" "Oh, yes! Chicken. Yep, here is some chicken on these back teeth. Okay, got it all off." "Apple!!" "Okay, lets get the apple off your teeth, too!" and so on.

[always hope]

Has anyone got any other suggestions? At the moment Ella is 'brushing her own teeth'. Which basically means she chews on it. Now that she has so many more teeth it really isn't enough but she won't let me brush her teeth and I don't want it to turn into a battle.

[Super~Single~Mama]

I LOVE the idea that B&G had - I'm so using that when I get home!!!

Before I left on my week work travels I was telling ds that I had to clean his teeth, and then it would be his turn. So I'd sit him on the toilet (cover down - no PT'ing here yet), and brush his teeth. Then, after I finished I'd ask him to brush his teeth while I brushed mine. DS loves his "boo-bru", so this worked great!

[LittleBlessings]

Originally Posted by Biscuits & Gravy

I handle the toothbrush for him, and use non-fluoride toothpaste so he doesn't have to spit it out. Right now what is working for us is for me to go through every thing he ate during the day and ask him if it is on his teeth, then I pretend to scrub it all off. He thinks it is great fun most of the time, and loves shouting out things he ate. "Chicken!!" "Oh, yes! Chicken. Yep, here is some chicken on these back teeth. Okay, got it all off." "Apple!!" "Okay, lets get the apple off your teeth, too!" and so on.

That is such a great idea