Graduating to "big kid" toothpaste

This doesn't seem like it should be so hard! How do you teach 2 year olds to spit out their toothpaste when they've been swallowing it since they were babies? I had hoped that the last tube I bought of Toddler Training Toothpaste would be the last one...but I had to go buy another one today. They love to "brush" their teeth and they act like they spit, but nothing comes out and they always swallow it when I brush their teeth to begin with. Am I missing something?

 

I don't think you are missing anything. It just happens when it happens. Do you brush your teeth in front of the/with them?

I don't remember ever teaching them. They were just around all of us who did and eventually they did. I have only just changed their toothpaste now - Katherine wanted "Princess". We still have toddler stuff around and use it too.

I would just let them continue to use the toddler stuff.

 

We took the girls to the dentist a few weeks ago and they said to start with the flouride toothpaste, but only put on enough to see the color. That way, if they do swallow some, it's not enough to do any harm at all. We are trying to work on the spitting as well. One seems to understand the concept although she will spit all over the place and the other can't seem to grasp it yet. We just keep practicing and I know they will eventually get it.

 

Our almost 3 year olds still don't do it.... ugh. But with my older dd I taught her how to spit by having her put water from a cup in her mouth and having her practice spitting that out. We did it repeatedly and she got the idea. Dh does bedtime routine and he hasn't worked on getting the twins to spit yet...it's sooo much more effort having to hold them over the sink!

 

My 4 year olds still can't spit.

 

According to our pedi dentist:

1) They will swallow their toothpaste.
2) Use a pea-sized amount. It is not enough to harm them.
3) Swallowing the flouride is not a bad thing if it is only a small amount. Think of it like a flouride vitamin!

So we happily swallow away. But they love to take a swig of water and spit THAT into the sink when they are done brushing!

 

My two could not figure it out until 4 years old. I have no idea why. I just used the Tom's of Maine Non-Fluoride Children's toothpaste and that worked perfectly.

 

I'm glad to hear that a little bit is not THAT bad -- we buy Tom's of Maine too, but I accidentally bought the fluoride kind and have been worrying about them swallowing it. (It looks exactly like the non-fluoride kind unless you read the package closely! And I bought 3 tubes because I didn't want to run out. )

Amy does like to try to spit, but she just goes "ptth" over the sink and nothing comes out. She's always swallowed the toothpaste long before then anyway.

 

Mine is still hit-or-miss with the spitting at age 4 -- she's generally swallowed most of it by the time she goes to spit it out. I still use the non-fluoride stuff...

 

My 3 yo started spitting recently at age 3 1/2. When I visited the dentist with her just before age 3, the dentist said it's normal. Some can, some can't. She just advised me to continue baby tooth paste until she was able too. Now she's fine, she can spit large amounts, in the beginning (around age 3-3 1/2) she was spitting nothing.