toothbrushing tips

[Anonymous]

I thought that I would start this thread since a lot of our kids with feeding aversions also have trouble tolerating toothbrushing.

We have been using the 1-2-3 away technique with an infident brush with Hailey for a while now. I had to start at her arms, and now we have progressed into the mouth, and she will let me do it a few times- but without toothpaste. It took forever, it seems, but recently she has started to understand the concept.

Our therapist for some reason told us to keep the technique for one thing that they really need to do. She chose toothbrushing because she said that the research shows that children who will tolerate toothbrushing also eat better. Hailey never used to understand it and it really didn’t help at all, but more recently she’s started opening when I say “1” and then when I get to “3” she throws her hands up and says “away”.

Yesterday she took her infident brush off the counter (which is what we use for toothbrushing), and she said “brush?”, so I said “okay”, and she took the brush and started brushing her teeth. I couldn’t understand her, but could hear that she was mumbling something, and then she threw her hands up in the air and said “awaaaayyy”, and proceeded to do this over and over. It was so funny I couldn’t help but laugh.

[Anonymous]

I was told that the toothpaste is really not needed until tehy are older. matthew loves his bath, so we have slowly introduced a cloth. he drinks from it (ie sucks from it) and we started just letting him get used to the texture on his lips and tongue and now i can just take teh cloth and “rush” his teeth with it.

We use the 1,2,3 all done technique for brushing in general (ie either massaging or his Nuk or my fingers in his mouth). He does not get it yet. usually i can get a good couple of strokes and then he is done

Hailey sounds so cute!

[Anonymous]

I’m glad to hear that they don’t need toothpaste b/c unless they come up with an unflavoured one, it’s not going to fly. I’m going to try your cloth idea tonight in the bath. It sounds like a good idea.

[Anonymous]

I use a cloth for Myles too. He lets me brush his teeth after his daytime meals but not at bedtime. He’s too fussy and he gets so relaxed with his bedtime bottle that I hate to get him all worked up by brushing he teeth before bed. So, I put a wet cloth on the table next to the bed where I feed him and when he’s done with his bottle I wipe his teeth clean. He’s so used to it now then when he’s done with his bottle he opens his mouth and waits for the towel. Even when he’s half asleep!

[Anonymous]

Well the cloth was a no go. I guess she’s still more orally defensive than I thought. When I tried to put it in her mouth she went bezerk and tried to climb out of the tub, which led to her falling down and almost under the water and going completely hysterical. I think I’ll try it again though… she likes playing with cloths and likes bathwater so not sure why this didn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Oh, my! Maybe try washing Sarah’s teeth first. Will she go along if she sees you do it to Sarah first? That often worked with Eliana because she looks up to her big sister.

[Author]

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