Taking care of your child’s teeth is very important and many parents don’t realize that you should begin taking care of them before they come in. When my son was an infant and we were at the doctor’s office for a well check, his doctor informed us that we should begin wiping my son’s gums with a wash cloth and water. Wiping down his mouth and gums with a wash cloth will get him used to getting his teeth cleaned before he is ever introduced to a toothbrush. I was a bad mommy and this wasn’t something that I did on a regular basis since his last feeding of the day was pretty late at night. However, it is important to try to implement this into a daily routine so that you can get your child used to brushing their teeth each night.
Disclosure: The opinions reflected in this post are my own and may differ from your own opinions.
How to Brush Your Infant’s Gums and Teeth?
Once the teeth begin coming in, it is important to begin brushing their teeth using a toothbrush. Most babies teeth begin to emerge around 6 months old, of course, some come in sooner while other babies have them come in later. Your young baby doesn’t need to use toothpaste because swallowing too much toothpaste can be harmful for your baby. Instead, add water to your child’s toothbrush and gently brush his or her teeth. Also, brush your child’s tongue if they will let you.
7 comments
These are great tips. I have to admit that I’m not a great tooth brusher, but I am getting better as my almost 3 year old gets older. I’m still uncertain of the toothpaste issue so I just use water.
It is hard to remember everything that you need to get taken care of before bedtime. I brushed my son’s teeth last night with a tiny amount of children’s toothpaste. I was leery of using toothpaste as well but I don’t want my baby to get cavities at an early age. I personally give him bottle water sometimes and don’t know how much fluoride he gets each day. I did read the label on the tube of children’s toothpaste and the label urged me to contact a dentist or a doctor before using fluoride children’s toothpaste on a child under 2 years of age. It was fun watching my son try to spit.
This is really important information–thank you for sharing. As an elementary school teacher, I saw so many kids with so many cavities and poor oral hygiene. It was really sad.
I was a bad mommy as well, I didn’t wipe or brush my babies teeth, although I was told so many times to do this. Now, they are older and I have a difficult time getting them to brush their teeth. They finally do before they go to school, but thats about it. I would recommend listening to your doctor and do this little 30 second step on your baby.
Great info and tips! I dont remember when I started brushing my kid’s teeth, but I am sure it is later than I should have. And I don’t make him brush for 2 whole minutes nowadays. I’m a bad mom 🙁
I really struggled with this when I was a first time mommy. Too bad you weren’t around back in 1990…would have saved me a TON of tears and false starts 🙂
This is such good information. When we had my first (Internet just emerging) we had no clue when to begin brushing teeth after they started coming in. Great job!