When to Stop Using Training Tooth Paiste

How strange,, I never realized so many kids didnt know how to spit. I agree with "B"..They know how to spit out food they don't like, they shouldn't have too much trouble with toothpaste. But also, you see tv comercials for toothpaste showing this long line of paste on the brush, swirled up pretty on the ends. It's a lot of paste! If you read the tube for the recommended ammount to use, some say a small dot, the size of a pea. So, don't use too much and maybe you won't be so worried about them swallowing it.

that's a really good question ;)
my daughter is 3.5 too, and we still use the non-fluoride paste. She does know how to spit when rinsing with water from a cup, but she still as the tendency to swallow when brushing, so, for now I'm holding off, and might try in a few more months. It would be nice to get a little fluoride in there! :0)

when they can spit it out and not swallow it

We're still using kiddy toothpaste and she's 4.5. She probably has been spitting out for about a year so yours may start soon. But I haven't thought of switching her cause i figured she wouldn't like the taste; she's really picky and I don't need to wrangle over tooth brushing just yet.

We have been using regular for our 3 year old for about 4-6 months. He is really good about spitting- although it doesn't usually make it in the sink lol.

my S. is two and he doesnt get the idea of spitting yet but i switched him not to long ago and i only use a tiny bit. I dont think it will hurt him.

We bought the kid-flavored but flouridated toothpaste when she turned 2 at the advice of the pediatric dentist.

My son could spit out fine at 3.
(Funny it should be a problem because they have no trouble spitting out food they don't like so why should tooth paste be a problem?)

Maybe you could try to get him to spit out the training toothpaste, and when he masters that move up to regular?

at my daughter's two year appointment the doctor told me to start using real toothpaste wether she could spit or not. this was in november. he said 6 months or so previous to that the APA (i think is the pediatric board) decided that the good outdid the harmful effects if swallowed. just use a tiny amount and you should be fine.

Our pedi dentist had us switch our daughter to flouride toothpaste at 2 years old, regardless of her ability to spit. Just use a very small amount and it's not dangerous. There's plenty of kid's toothpaste with kid-friendly flavors that are flouridated.

We stopped about that time, when the kiddo got pretty good at spitting the toothpaste out.

ETA: About 3, 3 1/2, we'd been practicing spitting out for awhile before we started on real toothpaste.

I think spitting varies by kid. My daughter was using regular toothpaste at 3. My son is 3 1/2 and has no clue on how to spit. I have tried teaching him but he just doesn't get it.

Our pediatric dentist told me to get rid of the training toothpaste for my 2 year old. I questioned the spitting, and she said to only put a very small amount on the brush and work with him on spitting. He spits now -two months later! I can't remember when I switched with my first, but it was also when he was 2.5 or 3. If you don't put a huge glob on the brush, he won't swallow enough to hurt him. We've used several varieties but both of my kids like Tom's of Maine strawberry and it doesn't have a lot of crazy additives -but it does contain fluoride.

We still use it at 10 & 7 because there is a thing as too much flouride. And, honestly, the flouride in toothpaste isn't doing much good because you brush and then immediately rinse it all off with water to spit it back out. It's not on the teeth long enough to do a lot of good. When they put flouride on them at the dentist they always say no drinking or eating for an hour for a reason. They have some flouride toothpastes they like and they switch between that and the stuff without.

We helped my son at age 3 after he saw the pediatric dentist for the first time. The nice thing is, as long as your child drinks tap water, even if you have a filter on the tap, he/she is getting some flouride. My ped dentist told us that if we used a tiny bit of flouride toothpaste, if he swallowed it, it wasn't a big deal. But from the time we told him he had to spit it out, he's done awesome with that and it's never been an issue. But I do use character toothpaste still, Nemo or Spongebob or whatever he likes at the store when we need to buy more, that has flouride (the step between the training toothpaste with no flouride and adult toothpaste).

What do you mean by training toothpaste? Don't you just teach your kid from day one to brush and spit?
My 3 kids have been brushing, flossing (sort of) and seeing a dentist twice a year since age two, and I have never heard of this.