Moms,
My son is almost 3 and we brush his teeth twice a day: before his nap (he sleeps 2-3 hrs during the day) and before going to bed at night. Now that he has started preschool, I'm wondering if we should also have him brush in the morning before school. I think it's important to brush before his nap since he sleeps awhile. Brushing 3 times in a day seems like a lot of stress on those little gums. Any thoughts?
So I took everyone's advice and had my son brush his teeth this morning. He actually loves any opportunity to do on his own. Told him he could do it all by himself in the mornings (since as one of you mentioned, morning brushing is mostly important for freshening up). He loved this. Not as big of a deal as I thought it might be. Thanks! :)
I brush them before bed. I know I should be doing it in the morning too, but it is hard enough to get the kid out of bed and dressed!
Whenever she lets me! Ha ha! We require our toddler to brush in the morning, whether we are going anywhere or not, so that she will have fresh breath and form a good habit. And then just before bed. I usually brush my teeth again before leaving the house so if she wants to brush then too, I let her but I don't always require it. Unless she ate hotdogs or something.
Oh my, am I the only one who has to pin my toddlers down? Nothing like trauma associated with brushing. Ugh!
i brush my daughters 2 times a day morning and night. she gets an extra brushing when she goes to the dentist.
I think you should brush in the morning, too. You'd brush your own teeth at that time. I tell DD that we brush before we go out so we don't offend our friends with stinky breath. If you are using gentle circular strokes, a toddler brush, and toddler paste, brushing more often should be fine. Many people brush just 2x a day but you really should brush any time you eat. I don't always follow that rule, but I try. We brush after breakfast and before bed but I try to remember lunch, too.
I taught her to say "aaaaahhh" and "eeee" to show me her teeth. She gets to check my work. When she was little and hated it, I'd lay her on the floor. Sometimes one of us would hold her arms and one brush and we tried to take the trauma out of it by saying we'd brush fast or singing a song. I made up all sorts of songs. I also had her watch shows about teeth, read books on brushing teeth, etc. We have a video of her at about a year old jabbing me with my own toothbrush because she got to brush my teeth while I brushed hers.
I figured the momentary trauma of brushing was better than having to take her to the hospital to get her teeth fixed (happened to my friend's kid - caps at 4 yrs old!).
With my 2 year old we also brush twice - before nap and before bedtime. Not sure how you do it, but we have 3 toothbrushes, 4 flavors of toothpaste, and that is how I get to get enough brushing in that I feel like I have cleaned her teeth. :) I agree that the morning brushing might help establish a good habit for later on in life. Perhaps that could be a lighter / shorter brushing, since it's really for freshening up, as opposed to cleaning.
My 2 year old and almost 4 year old brush twice per day . In the morning and before bed. My older one loves his battery operated tooth brush.
I brush my 3 year old's teeth once a day and he fights it like crazy.
