BRUSH YOUR TEETH, NICE AND CLEAN

CLEAN YOUR TEETH, IN BETWEEN

BRUSH YOUR TEETH, UP AND DOWN

SCRUB YOUR TEETH, ROUND AND ROUND

When you became parents its almost instant that you realize, and become acutely aware of, ALL the things you need to do to keep your little one healthy and safe. And don’t get me wrong, you may not know how to do them, but at least you know what needs to be done! Things like feeding them, holding them, showing them love, changing their diapers, etc.  Basically, they rely on you for everything! Its a simple concept, but when it comes to executing, it can get very overwhelming!

Somewhere along the way, the rapid fire prompts that go off in your heads; “ Did the baby eat?” “Can someone please check their diaper” “Do you remember the last poop?” “Can we get a clean-up in the living room” “The baby needs a bath” become less chaotic and things start to settle down as your little one gets older. For us, as I’m sure it is for so many first time parents, we did our best and made everything work.  We may not have done everything by the book (like there’s an instruction manual, ha!) but we did the best we could.  And thanks to family and friends, we had a lot of help along the way. You just learn, modify, and try something new. The learning never stops, it just grows with your little one. Currently our newest “how the heck do we do this” milestone is brushing teeth!

From the first time we introduced Kade to his toothbrush, we tried to make brushing teeth a fun, family activity. Prior to this, a Mom friend of mine had given us a BabyBuddy Brilliant Baby ToothBrush 4-24 months. I wasn’t familiar with it but it’s the perfect size for kids with a soft bristle 360 degree brush head. Coincidentally, I brush with the Goby electric toothbrush, which has a circular brush head. I showed Kade that our brushes were similar, and then I would brush my teeth with my brush, followed up with brushing his with his brush. He liked the noise mine made and would try to grab it. He also liked to hold his brush and try to put it in my mouth, which always gave us a good laugh! What I love about the BabyBuddy Brilliant Baby toothbrush is the 360 degree brush head.  As long as we can get in there with a good 3-4 brush strokes, we are getting both his top and bottom rows of teeth!  Seriously, this brush has been a life saver when Kade just isn’t having the teeth brushing.

We were doing pretty good with family teeth brushing, but then life happened.  The reality is we don’t all brush our teeth at the same time, nor are we all home together each night. Everyone says “routine”, get into a “routine”, you need a “routine”.  Ugh! Our life is anything but a routine! But we do strive to have some sort of rhythm to the evening. When we established this rhythm, we were SO proud of ourselves! Kade would come home from school and we would play, then eat dinner, play again or take a bath, followed by reading a book, brushing his teeth, and then having a bottle before going to bed. We weren’t consistent on timing but this was the “rough routine” we were aiming for each night. UNTIL….. Kade’s 18 month checkup!!!!

EEEEK! The doctor told us we were doing it wrong! We needed to brush Kade’s teeth AFTER the milk.  Apparently it’s not good for the sugars in the milk to sit on their teeth overnight.  Ummmm… this makes sense but that night bottle was/is the gateway to sleepy time for Kade. And ever since hearing that we have been a mess. Now at times he goes to bed without even having his teeth brushed because we are waiting for him to finish his night bottle but he falls asleep while drinking it and then other nights we just plain forget (bad parents!). Brushing his teeth in the morning usually isn’t a problem so at least he gets a good brush then, but now we are really striving to work on a better “routine” for the evening.

I share all this because this is life.  And sometimes its complicated!  But we are figuring it out and luckily for us, Kade really has no idea that we goof up sometimes.  He just knows we love him and thats what matters!  He may not always think that when he’d rather be playing with toys and we’re trying to get a toothbrush in his mouth while making silly faces in the mirror!.  But such is life as a parent, right?  I know we all go through these things I would love to hear some of your stories too!

Leave a comment on some of the crazy things you learned with your kiddos!

Additional Details

photography ~ April Davidson Bly

BabyBuddy Brilliant ~ baby/toddler toothbrush

adult electric toothbrush ~ Goby

Mommy & Me Pj’s ~ Nantucket Kids {currently on sale}