[3for3hb]

Ds has 12 teeth so far. He loves watching me brush my teeth, and loves putting the toothbrush in his mouth and sucking on it, but the moment I try to brush his teeth, he backs up and fusses. I don't want to force it on him because I want it to be a positive experience, but then today, while I was playing with him, I held him upside down and got a good look at his teeth and I could see tartar buildup on his two upper front teeth!

I'd like some toddler friendly toothpaste suggestions that don't have fluoride or propylene glycol in them. And hints as to how to institute the whole proper brushing thing.
Thanks.

 

[baileyandmikey]

try A finger tootbrush to start with, my dd used to love that, because it was gentle.

 

[JLav]

The only way DS lets me brush his teeth is with an electric toothbrush. I think the one I have is a Colgate...it was the only one that you could get replacement heads for. We use xylitol toothpaste...not sure which brand. We've used Tom's of Maine too, but then discovered that they use SLS.

 

[ZeldasMom]

nak

we use an electric toothbrush too. we didn't go out and buy one, we just use DP's with a different toothbrush head. i like the idea of a finger toothbrush. this is what we use for our dog. did not think to try one on the baby!

we also say ahhh to get him to open his mouth. sometimes he thinks this is funny, which helps, and he says ahh too.

when DS was 18 months my dentist told me to buy children's toothpaste. so i got some at target. it tastes like bublegum and he loves it.

then after we had him addicted to this toothpaste i talked to our family practice doc about it and he said all you really need to use is water at this age. now i regret getting ds started on the sweet toothpaste.

if my ds had his way he would just suck the toothbrush too. i imagine what it would be like 4 him to have to go through having dental work done and this helps me be a little more assertive with the teethbrushing than he would like.

We also pair toothbrushing with positive activies that he likes (e.g. book reading) so it hopefully seems like less of a drag to him.

 

[EmsMom]

One thing that worked with my two kids was telling them that I was going to see if there were any doggies in their mouth (or kitties, and as they got older it was giraffes, gorillas, etc.). They hold their mouths open a little longer for that and than I "find" one and run my fingers out of their mouth and over their head. They always liked this!

 

[maggiemae]

This may sound mean- but i held my ds down sometimes to brush his teeth. I was always gentle and spoke very calmy while doing this. It is beter to do this than to go down the road with more invasive procedures. when he got to be around 2.5 his daddy told him we brush our teeth to get the bugs off and that really worked for some reason. My dh also uses that technique for nail clipping and ear cleaning. My ds stays absolutely still for both so I guess it works

 

[babybugmama]

Toothbrushing is a non-negotiable in this house. Dd likely has my teeth, so it has to be.

So strategies - well first we switched it up, changed things around a lot. Something would work for a week and then not...that's when it would switch.

1. she brushed my teeth then I brushed hers
2. electric vs. manual
3. doing the vowels while brushing
4. talking about what we're brushing off...listing all the foods that we'd eaten that day.
5. brushing so we don't get holes
6. making our face look like a chipmunk (getting the front of the back teeth

)
7. putting a cup of water she could dip the brush in over and over and over...
8. Doing the exact same routine every single day. If we missed a day it took twice as long for dd to be agreeable to brushing again.

I had only a few really rough toothbrushes...but it's like the seatbelt for me, critical for her health. Now, she just runs right in and brushes...I follow up so that I feel sure we've cleaned her teeth well and we're done.

Good luck!