Brushing Teeth...bad Mommy...

I feel aweful...my DD has about 8 teeth and my DS has 4. I am ashamed to admit I haven't even atempted to brush/wipe their teeth yet. I remember with my oldest, I'd give her a tooth brush in the tub and let her play with it and I could get a couple swipes in....I used to bathe her evernight...that was with 1 baby. Now...well, there are 2 and I, again am ashamed to admit, I only bathe them 1x per week. It's nearly impossible and a complete and utter fiasco when I do so I have to have my DH home to help me...but then we have our 4 year old to contend with too. On top of that, when we do bathe the twins, it's after dinner and that is everyone cranky time. Anyway...I got off subject.

Can you all motivate me to start brushing their teeth and give me some pointers on how to do it...especially since whenever anything goes in their mouth now, they just bite it?

I feel aweful about the lack of brushing for the twins.

 

I have to admit that I'm not the greatest at brushing the boys' teeth either and mine are almost 2. I try to do it every morning after breakfast but sometimes it just involves them chewing on the tooth brush. As of late, they will not let me do any of the brushing so all they really get is a good chewing. I'm figuring it's at least apart of our routine and once they listen a little better they will hopefully let me in there! I don't really want it to become a battle so I'm not going to hold them down at this point. If only they knew it was good for them :laughing: ....

 

I think tooth brushing is really important, even at this age. We do it as part of our bedtime routine and my DS hates it and DD tolerates it. We have to hold them down. Then we let them brush more if they like. I think you just have to make it part of the routine. It really only takes 30 seconds or so.

 

I just added this to our routine (much to DH's dismay!) this week. They have 7-9 teeth (2 are poking through kind of). I stop off in the bathroom on the way to their am nap, then again on the way to bed. They kind of enjoy it- well, at least don't hate it. It takes about 30 days to add a new habit in, so just pick a time you can remember to do it and piggyback on it.

 

We've been doing this right at bedtime. After they have their jammies on and are standing in their cribs, I bring their brushes into the room in a small cup of water, and the t-paste. David and I each brush one of them really quick, then let them chew on the brush for a little bit. It's a bit of an arguement when we take the brushes away, Liam had a complete meltdown the other night :lol: We don't quite do it every night yet, like you, sometimes the bedtime routine is chaotic and hectic

 

Same here... we made it part of the bedtime routine and I let them chew on the toothbrushes or "brush their own" ardon:for a bit. They like to give each other their respective toothbrushes and thrown them in the sink when done. It is a less than perfect job, but so is life with 3 little ones!

 

We also made it part of the bedtime routine. We go into the bathroom, and if DH is there we each get a kid but if we're solo we close the door and let one child stand while the other gets brushed. I put them on my lap and give them each their own brush. I have 4 brushes total so while they are "brushing" I can sneak in there with my brush and actually get the job done. At the end, the "treat" for doing a good job is getting to drink water from the big kid cup. This usually convinces them to drop the brush they are holding. It takes about a minute a kid and when we are done we go to nurse, story, then bed.

 

We've also made it part of the bedtime and morning time routine (I'm anal about tooth brushing...I have nightmares about losing my teeth :blush...when they had a few teeth, I still wiped the gums and teeth...I think they were about 10 months when I gave them a tooth brush to hold while I brushed their teeth. DH and I have let them brush our teeth and we take turns going back and forth. We sing songs and a make a game out of it. Good luck!

 

I don't have a lot of motivation for you; brushing teeth is my least favorite child care task there is!! It is a non-stop fight, and I dread it every evening. We make it part of our bedtime routine: after milk and story, we go into the bathroom and brush while they're playing with stuff on the counters. They don't hate it; the problem is they'd rather dink around with cups and tub toys than let us brush, and are always sticking their tongues out and biting the brushes. :gah:

I figure it's just something I have to get through, like tax season. Maybe it will get better someday....

 

We have been trying to brush our LOs teeth every evening, but sometimes we forget or they are just miserably cranky and we skip it. And we haven't even started brushing them in the morning yet :unsure: And when we brush them in the evenings its right before their nighttime bottle so kinda defeats the purpose, LOL. We have NEVER gotten to where we can give them their nighttime bottle and then put them in their cribs wide awake to go to sleep. I wish we could though! Instead they are usually nearly asleep on us after their bottle and I sure as heck ain't going to wake them up then to brush their teeth ardon: We started out using little tiny toothbrushes but they kept sucking on the wrong end (once we turned over the brushes to them to use). So just last week I ordered this set of toothbrushes from Amazon and really like them! I like that they are fat at the end, easy for the boys to hold, and also discourages them from sucking on that end and gagging themselves. I just ordered a second set last night.

As for baths, don't beat yourself up. It's still a struggle for us too! We try to bathe them twice a week but this past week was super busy for us so they only got one bath. But they didn't mind and they get wiped down several times a day with Mustela Physiobebe rinseless cleanser (squirt onto wipes) so they still smell fresh too

 

Brushing teeth..... why must that be a part of parenting???? I hate doing it but we do it before bed time as well. I think I hate brushing teeth more than I hate clean up time after meals.... wait no I hate clean up worse... I hate them equally, what I am I talking about. Anyway, once it becomes a routine it is up hill from there. GL

 

We aren't great about it either, but do give them their toothbrushes while they are in the bathtub (we usually give a bath every night only because the kids expect it and after dinner start asking to take a bath). Some things that help are I brush my teeth while they are "brushing" theirs. We hum a song while doing it and they think it is funny and usually accidentally end up brushing because they are concentrating on the song and end up just doing what I am doing while trying to hum! We don't do any morning brushing and if we don't take a bath, we dont' brush teeth - bad, I know.

 

We do the exact same thing as K&T's mom......... So basically they get their toothbrush during bathtime (basically every evening) and they basically chew on it rather than brush!! :FIFblush:

 

Firstly, I am so glad to know I am not the only one that does not bathe their babies every day! I physically cannot do it. It kills my back. I do it 2 or 3 times a week. As for brushing the teeth..... I do it at bathtime but I really am about to start doing that twice a day. One girl does okay and one half drowns she fights so bad. I have posted this here before and I will again..... Bathtime is the hardest/most dreaded task of parenting for me with my twins and has been since day 1!