Monday 27 July 2009

Brushing teeth.

Baby D cut her first tooth when she was 6 months old so we bought a kids toothbrush, kids toothpaste and got straight into the routine of brushing twice a day - after breakfast and dinner. At first, things were pretty hit and miss (I guess you could say “spit and miss”? he-he, sorry…) as she didn’t always get along with the toothbrush and getting her to stay still and open her mouth was sometimes a bit of a mission.

I looked around to see if there was anything on the market which might help us out and we came across the “Oral Care Rabbit” by Mam, a pretty clever little item, it’s a glove with a smiley rabbit face on it and two ears. You put the glove on with a finger in each of the “ears”, spread a bit of toothpaste on the end of one of the ears and then brush baby’s teeth and gums by hand. This worked pretty well for a while but it did have a limited lifespan, once Baby D had top and bottom teeth she’d tend to bite the glove (with daddy’s finger inside – ouch!!) so we had to go back to the trusty old toothbrush…

She’s getting on pretty well with it these days, most of the time I can give her the toothbrush and with a bit of guidance she’ll do it on her own. She does spend a lot of time chewing the brush but with a bit of help from daddy we get the job done. If she’s in a non-cooperative mood I’ll hold her while she’s brushing and we’ll stand in front of the mirror and make a bit of a game out of it - “Where’s your teeth?” or “Say aaaaaaaahhhh”, etc… One of these approaches usually does the trick and I can then take the brush and finish things off while she’s smiling and showing me her teeth!

Eating toothpaste was a bit of a concern (although I’m pretty sure they’ve designed the kids toothpaste so that it isn’t harmful in any way) so we rinse by running the toothbrush under the tap so that it holds a little water and then brush again. Since she hasn’t got the concept of spitting the water out this helps to dilute any toothpaste that she might have eaten!

So that’s how we do it, but I’m always grateful for feedback or suggestions on how to make the job easier!

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