teeth brushing...

our boys are 16 months and we've started them on a liquid multi vitamin b/c they're not eating a well-rounded diet...our doctor said that we should definitely give it to them in the bath and brush their teeth afterwards b/c it stains.

we've been using the finger brush on their teeth for a few months but my husband all of a sudden has decided they might need "more advanced" toothbrushes...my thought is, if I'M still the one brushing their teeth, why does it matter if it's a plastic thing on my finger or a traditional one with a handle?

but, for argument's sake, i told him i'd ask...when did y'all transition from the finger brush to other brushes?

 

At their first birthday (right at Christmas time). They got big girl tooth brushes in their stockings. They already love to hold them and try to brush their teeth themselves. Of course, I brush their teeth and then let them give it a shot afterwards. Also, my girls are 16 months and we do a gummy vitamin to keep from staining the teeth. Plus, the liquid stuff tastes H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E! :bad:

 

Well we do both. We started out with finger brushes, then when they began teething they were biting the @#$%! out of our fingers, so we bought beginner toothbrushes. They really hate us brushing their teeth with them though, and prefer to do it themselves, but are really bad at it. So we let them brush themselves, do some brushing with the finger brushes, then let them finish up by themselves. I know some people can brush their toddlers' teeth with "real" brushes, so you can try it, but my guys just won't go for it. ardon:

Oh, and they *still* bite the @#$%! out of our fingers. :gah:

Good luck!

 

I heard time and time again that this stage is more about practice and getting them use to the process. Either one works, do what is easist for you. When my husband and I are not on the same page, I let him do it! So if your DH wants to use a regular brush, great! When he brushes their teeth he can use his tool and you can use your tool when you help brush

 

we do the same thing here - not about tooth brushing in particular, but about any parenting thing in general. if he feels particularly about something, he puts the extra effort in to do it his way & vice versa.

as for tooth brushes, we never used the finger ones - we've always used actual tooth brushes. i don't think it really matters other than doing what works for you. :good:

 

I agree, I don't think it matters, just use whichever one works better for you. My got most of their teeth quickly so we transitioned to a beginner toothbrush around 10-11 months (they were biting our fingers too much for our liking).

 

We started using a toddler toothbrush on our los when they were around 13 months old. I think it's actually a lot easier than the finger toothbrushes. When they were teething they didn't want us shoving our fingers in their mouths (not that I blame them ) so we switched and it made things so much quicker.

 

We started using toothbrushes around 10 months. They do it right before bed and they like it.

 

I think I started using the regular toothbrushes around a year... yep it was like a pp said... they were biting my finger with the other! so it was to save myself! but I agree, whatever works for you is great. and if your dh wants to use something different, then let him go for it.

 

I don't think it really matters much as long as you brush their teeth.

We switched over to electric children toothbrushes at about one year. They have some with cartoon characters, etc. My kids aren't thrilled with brushing their teeth, but they are interested in playing with turning them on and off. I like them because I feel like we can get a lot more brushing done in a short time (since they hate it). I asked our pedi if electric toothbrushes are okay. I was worried it might be too harsh for their little mouths. She said they are a good idea. GL!

 

I asked a pediatric dentist about electric toothbrushes, and he suggested not to ... mainly that they need to learn how to brush their teeth manually. maybe you could use the electric ones on them, and then let them practice with a regular one? at 1yr they aren't really doing anything anyway...

 

We have been using "baby/toddler" toothbrushes since they were about 8 months old. We get them for free from our dentist, even though our kids don't go to the dentist yet.