It’s the nightmare every parent of a small child has to face- twice a day! How to get junior to brush his teeth, or allow you access for long enough to do a half-way decent job? Here are my top tips for brushing your child’s teeth, and not losing your sanity in the process!
Finger toothbrush
1. Start early:
Basically, as soon as your baby has teeth. Most babies will start teething between 6 to 10 months (although some babies are born with one or two teeth, and a small number of children won’t have any until around one year of age). Get either a rubber or silicone baby brush that fits over your finger, or a round headed soft brush with a tiny spot of baby toothpaste; brush both the teeth and the gums twice a day.
2. Brush after milk:
You’ve been told not to let baby feed to sleep before, but nursing to sleep once your baby has teeth will increase the risk of tooth decay. Aim to brush your baby’s teeth after the last bottle or the last breast feed before bed. If this is completely impossible, give a small bottle of water after the feed to rinse the milk off the dental enamel. Prolonged nursing throughout the night (for example, babies who co-sleep) is associated with an increased risk of dental caries.
3. Brush standing behind your child:
This has a number of benefits:
- Depth perception: standing behind your child, brushing towards yourself, helps you to gauge how deep you are going. You are less likely to hurt your child, and make him dread the experience.
- You can sit your child on your knee: this helps you to comfort, and also control the situation!
- Try positioning yourselves in front of the bathroom mirror so that he can see what you are doing. This also works well with slightly older children, as they can “teach” their mirror image how to brush teeth!
4. Talk about brushing teeth:
As with most things to do with raising children, there are books you can read. These discuss what may happen if we don’t look after our teeth, and how important brushing our teeth is. There are also songs and videos on the subject (check out Elmo singing “Brushy Brush” with Bruno Mars). You can try singing these songs whilst brushing your child’s teeth- or make up your own silly songs!
5. Use a hero:
Sometimes this may be Daddy. You can try brushing teeth alongside Daddy in the mornings and using him as a role-model. Sometimes it may be Mummy. You may want to get creative and brush the “teeth” of a favourite toy or teddy. Alternatively, you could surf the internet for pictures of your child’s favourite film character brushing his test and paste a copy on the mirror- look who I found brushing his teeth…!
Darth Vader brushing his teeth!
6. Schedule regular dental check-ups:
Once your child reaches two years of age, you should start scheduling regular twice-yearly dental visits. You can begin to get your child used to the idea of going to the dentist before his first visit by allowing him to accompany you when you visit the dentist. Again, reading books about going to the dentist helps your child prepare for the visit.
Have you found any other tricks that work for you? Share your tips in the comments box below. And remember to sign up for regular weekly emails for parenting and medical advice. Have a great week!
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