Okay people, I need honest answers here! If you have a kid under the age of 2 (or remember when you did) please share with me how often and how faithfully you brushed your child's teeth. Months ago someone in a baby forum I used to participate in, asked this question and EVERYONE replied that they do it religiously twice a day since the baby was sprouting tooth #1. Now, call me a skeptic, but I think at least SOME of them were fibbing. We brush Anna's teeth at night, about 90% of the time (occassionally we just flat out forget). But she basically won't really open up for the toothbrush, and so I fear that her teeth are not really getting clean and that I am a terrible mother! So tell me, what is your teethbrushing situation with your little one?
Our little boy is 3 now and we brush every night while he is in the bath :) It's the easiest way to avoid the mess! You are not a terrible mother at all, there just aren't enough hours in the day to remember all that we as parents need to do!
ReplyDeleteYou sound right on par to me!
ReplyDeleteIt goes about the same way around here. :-) I let Kathryn brush her own teeth after I'm finished and she likes that, but she'll open her mouth for only a few seconds before snapping it shut again. We do that over and over again until she finally won't open anymore. Then it's her turn. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's very hard to get Finley's teeth brushed. He fights me something awful. I will give him the toothbrush in the bath and let him brush them and then before we get out I try to get to the back teeth and do a few swipes over the front teeth but it's really a fight! How do you make them enjoy it? lol I try to in the morning but many days I forget. I have been trying to give him a lot of water in his sippy to rinse his mouth out at least.
ReplyDeleteha....this has been a real source of guilt for me lately as well! glad you brought it up! sounds like our story! i typically brush her teeth (for the 20 seconds that she will let me) right before I brush mine and then let her brush them for as long as she wants so that we are brushing together! it is HARD! one of those things that you can't really FORCE them to do and even if you could....are you really going to go through all that drama twice a day? IMHO i think there are a bunch of people fibbing on that parenting site!
ReplyDeleteLOL yea we make sure she brushes her teeth before bed, but in the morning it's usually tougher to achieve that LOL She is now 3.5 and all of the teeth are healthy so I don't obsess too much and don't really chase her with the toothbrush all day long LOL
ReplyDeleteJust not enough time...
Once a day at bed time. We are still on that schedule at 4 years old. I try to get him to do it before school in the morning, but sometimes he will and sometimes he won't and I am not a morning person so I let it go.
ReplyDeleteYou want honesty? Alrighty then... my second youngest is two and until you just mentioned it, I've sort of forgotten that we needed to have a routine. I'm thrilled that we remembered to actually get him one in the first place. He keeps it on the side of the bath and usually just chews on it from time to time. His teeth look pretty okay though and his four older siblings had a similar routine at that age and so far, no fillings.
ReplyDeleteMorgan's daycare teacher has the kids brush their own teeth every day after lunch. I am not sure how she went about teaching that, but Morgan loves doing it! Then after her bath every night she brushes her teeth again. It helps alot that she enjoys it!
ReplyDeleteLMBO!!! My son is now 7 and he is so bad about it. We have had nothing but trouble with him brushing. He will do it by threat of me doing it for him..lol...But I would say it is 60% of what it should be. Thanks for the honesty!
ReplyDeleteYeah, some of them are fibbing. If my daughter's teeth (she's 2 1/2) get brushed once a day, that's fantastic. And my 6 month old just sprouted two teeth, which is so exciting, until you remember you must now clean those teeth. Um yeah. If I remember to clean those once a week, that's saying a lot. Sorry, I know, I'm horrible at dental hygiene, but I'm not lying!
ReplyDeleteYeah, definitely some fibbers! lol I'm really lucky just to get Monkey's teeth brushed once a day. He clamps his teeth down and makes it really hard to get them cleaned right.
ReplyDeleteOur brushing habit really took off when we started naming all that they had eaten that day while brushing their teeth. So we would say, 'oh, there's a piece of cheese...get that piece of cracker...I see some corn'
ReplyDeleteI think it's time to teach Anna how to chew sugarless gum ;0p
You're not a terrible mom. I am. Ther are times when we forget to brush! Yeah I suck!
ReplyDeleteUh... sometimes once a day!!
ReplyDeleteThey might have fibbed, or else they're really "religious" about it, like you said. I think we did once a day - night, actually. At bathtime.
ReplyDeleteI am getting better with remembering to brush my 18 month old's teeth. I know I should be more diligent. My 4 year old brushes her own and has since turning 3... she is very good...sometimes we have to stop her.
ReplyDeleteThings that have helped....the electric toothbrush. I am not sure if you can get them there, but they are $5 here at Wal MArt, with kids characters on them. I used them when my eldest was 2. Hawaii is one of the only states that doesn't have flouride in their water (water is considered very sacred to the Hawaiian people). Every kid I know is on prescription strength multivitamins with flouride. I don't stress so much now over the teeth brushing.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 kids(8,5,3). We have always done their teeth 2 times a day once teeth sprouted. Once they were big enough to do their own, around 3, I would do am and pm and they would brush their own at nap time. By 6 yrs they are doing their own teeth all of the time. My kids now won't go to bed without brushing their teeth by their own choice.
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