cleaning teeth

Hi! Was doing some reading on the net about babies teething. Our little bub has 4 teeth now (3 on one day!) and the dental sites were saying that we should be cleaning his teeth! Using a cloth I think they said. Anyone know anything about this?

Thanks

Does he have teeth yet? If he is teething than I would say it maybe okay. But the thing is how sterile is your cloth? ;)

I personally won't be putting anything in Jovie's mouth until she shows sign of a tooth popping through... but thats just me. I suppose you want them to get used to it, but they do soon enough.

Matilda didn't have teeth until she was 13 months. At 9 months I used to rub a cloth over her gums in hopes to encourage a tooth out LOL but it didn't do anything. Once she had her first tooth we made a game of rubbing a soft brush over it at night. We had a toothbrush for her bath & one for bedtime.

I've been wondering about it too. Tallon has 8 teeth, and I let him chew on a toothbrush now & then, but we don't really "clean" them. All the baby toothpastes available are for 1+ so I dont' want to use anything like that.. plus they all seem to have SLS in them which I was shocked at... coz that causes ulcers.

Yeah we just brushed without anything on it. A cloth gives you more leverage & its actually a better clean at first, but then again I wasn't game to stick my finger in with Matilda being 13 months... chomp chomp ;)

LOL too right Christy! hehehe. Getting leaves and things out of his mouth is a job and half trying not to lose a finger LOL.

Definitely a good idea to start cleaning them as soon as they come through. A face cloth seems to be a good option, or one of the tiny baby toothbrushes. They definitely don't need toothpaste at this age (truth be told, none of us really do!), so just give them a good wipe over.

I think once kids hit about one it's good to let them have some time with their toothbrush, to get used to doing it themselves. Make it fun, sing a song, whatever it takes! But all kids should have their parents 'helping' them until 7 or 8. Some even older! They have a go, and then you do the good clean. It's amazing the difference it makes, their little hands just don't have the dexterity to do a good job before that.

I used to just wipe Myas teeth witha facecloth or even a tissue sometimes. I then got her a baby toothbrush, which she just chews up. She now thinks brushing her teeth is a game, we go through alot of toothbrushes lol. Like sezjm said tho, u will have to give them a good brush urself after they have their go tho.

We have a bath routine where Ella cleans her teeth with an age approp toothbrush. She has a bath each night after dinner. She scrubs them, top and bottom while i sing the playschool toothbrush song. She loves it! We don't use anything but water on it at this point.

I put Archie in the jolly jumper on the bathroom doorframe every morning while i have a shower, at about 6 months (before he had teeth) i used to give him a gum massager (made by nuk, looks like a toothbrush but its rubber) then at 8 months when he had 2 teeth i bought a baby toothbrush and he uses that while i brush my teeth.

I just do it to get him into a good habit, plus he has lots of fun especially when hes teething.