DD still eats the toothpaste. Just the other day, I thought I'd try teaching her to spit and rinse, and she looked at me like I was insane. How old was your child when they started to understand that toothpaste isn't a yummy snack?
DD still eats the toothpaste. Just the other day, I thought I'd try teaching her to spit and rinse, and she looked at me like I was insane. How old was your child when they started to understand that toothpaste isn't a yummy snack?
DD1 2003
DD2 2008
It was a few months after she turned 3. I remember because at her 3 year dental check-up I asked him when I should expect DD to rinse and spit and he said it's typically somewhere between 3 and 4 that they get the hang of it. Then like a month or two later she started doing it.
Lisa
Emma 11/02
Adam 2/07
Their hands may be small but their feelings are just as big as ours.
I imagine DS is swallowing some of it, but we give him a cup right away to swish and spit. He's really good at the spitting part! LOL!
We've been doing this for at least 6 months and DS is 28 months now. He is just getting to the point of moving the brush around on his teeth (I do the first wave of brushing).
DS Mar04, 8th grader. Life Scout. Being read Flash the Homeless Donkey.
GoldPup (golden retriever born Dec14); Big Boy Dog (1997 - 2008); Little Girl Dog (1997 - 2005); two 10-yo (2007-2017) huge goldfish we can no longer find in MIL's fish pond
Go Sharks! Go Mirai, Nathan, the Shib Sibs and Team USA
Recently read The Hate U Give (highly recommend) and The Noel Diary (ok, light). Starting A Dog Named Boo.
Pooh - "It's a beautiful day." Eeyore - "Not from where I'm sitting." Pooh - "Try standing next to me." From The Best Bear in All the World, Spring.
Oddly enough, Truman hasn't gotten the hang of it, but Eleanor has. Go figure. <shrug>
Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Thanks for asking this. I've been wondering the same thing. At my DD's first dentist appt. they expected her to spit. She wasn't even 2 1/2 and had NO idea what they were talking about! I thought that maybe I had missed the boat and she should know this by now.
My DS knows he has to spit, but never has much to spit-- he just sees me doing it, and rushes to the sink to do "PPPPA, PPPPPA" (spitting noise ) so cute-- he's been doing it for a few months now, so maybe started at like 21 mos....
as for actually doing it efectively, we shall see!!!
Holly~Attached mama to Aiden, my happy Pirate & Lillian, my spirited Mermaid fairy
Cancer survivor!!!! No Evidence of Disease, now and forever!!!
Megan just learnt this at 3 1/4.
Ok, great topic for me, as we just had the dentist last week. Our first appt. was at 16 months, and the Dentist said it's time for real toothpaste, and if it's just a teeny dab, swallowing won't hurt them. So, I got the Winnie the Pooh flavored stuff, and he did great. Been brushing his teeth since he had teeth, so this was a new, fun experience to have a new flavor. Immediately thereafter we were at the Ped, and they said NO, absolutely no flouride toothpaste until they can spit. Period. Oookeydokey, I went back to the Gerber fake stuff.
Now, 6 months later, we're there last week, and DS is 22-months. He was a real trouper and didn't even cry. Went, "Ah!" and everything. I told the Dentist what my Ped said, and he said, trust me, you need the real stuff since you're on well water, even with the Baby Water.
Sigh.
The two docs don't agree. So, I bit the bullet and am doing the real stuff. I put a tiny dab on, then rub it into the toothbrush so there are no clumps to swallow, and we brush. Rinsing consists of drinking the water, then saying, "pah!"
Thoughts on swallowing the toothpaste or similar inconsistencies between the Ped dentist and the Ped doctor?
Boys! Colin hasn't gotten the hang of it either.
Single mom to
DS ("twice exceptional") - September 2002
DS - February 2006
DD - July 2009
DD - July 2009
I'm nowhere near dealing with this, but don't they have flouride tablets? I remember taking them as a kid b/c we had well water too.
HTH
Ashley
Ashley
DD 10/2005