My 15 month old loves watchin me brush my teeth, and with most of her teeth in, we got her her own tooth brush. She has no problem putting it in her mouth when I tell her to brush her teeth, but she seems to chew on it more than really brush her teeth... Is this Normal? What can I do to get her to actually brush them instead of just playing with the brush in her mouth?
You are going to have to help her. My son does the same thing. What I do is I brush for as long as he'll let me, then I'll let him "brush" his own teeth.
very normal. My son is 3 and still chews on it. He will try to brush also, but doesn't do a great job. I always have to brush them as well.
(let her try brushing your teeth. I bet she'd love that. I had to let my son brush mine so that I could brush his at the same time.)
It's virtually impossible to get a small child to brush his or her teeth (they don't have the small motor control or the desire), which is why dentists recommend that parents brush their childrens' teeth until they're 6 or 7. So allow your daughter to chew on the toothbrush to her heart's content, and then you take over and do a quick brushing.
You should be doing it for her. I didn't stop brushing my eldest's teeth until she was about five and a half...and even now, I have to check on them and remind her of proper technique occasionally. Technically, they say they don't have the coordination to do it themselves until they are seven. Definitely not as a baby! :)
Let her have a "chewing" toothbrush and a good one you use to brush her teeth. They need help until they are about 7 or 8 until they can actually do it effectively on their own.
Lol. My boy does the same thing. I thought it was just me. What I'm doing now, is showing him how to put the toothbrush in his mouth, smile and shake his head no. This way, it will hopefully make it easier for him to learn how to at least brush the teeth in the front. Lol. Its a work in progress. I'm definately going to stay persistant with it. Try that. It may work. Good luck!
You need to brush her teeth for her until shes about 6 or 7 years old. My son loves to "brush" his teeth while I do mine, then I let him "brush" MY teeth as I do his :) Have fun with it,a dn make sure its every day. Mine even wakes up and tells me "buh tee mama" (brush teeth mama). :) Good luck!
My son is almost 3 and still needs help with brushing his teeth. I find that if he can look at himself in the mirror he does better and he watches us all the time so he mimics what we do. I started brushing his teeth around 10 months and he's only recently started doing it by himself. I let him brush then after he's done I do one more run through to be sure he didn't miss anything.
A pediatric dentist friend told me to brush my daughter's teeth until she could write in cursive, around the third grade or 8 years old. Until then children don't have the fine motor skills. Also, you should start flossing her teeth as well. My daughter sees me floss every day and asks me to floss her teeth. She has close contacts with her two year molars, so the sooner I can get her into the habit of wanting to floss every day, the fewer cavities later on!
yep, you have to do it yourself. My pediatric dentist said until they are 7, which I'll admit is a pain with 3 kids. We did that with my oldest (now 9) and my 5 yo brushes his in the morn and we do it at night. I always brush my 2 yo. If you have not already, get her in the routine of dental cleanings every 6 months with a dentist good with children.
