Spitting out toothpaste

raceyrae · June 2011

How did you get your LO to spit out toothpaste? I'm at a loss. Natalie still swallows, although we only use a little smear on her toothbrush. I need to get her to start spitting though. I'm hestitant to have her "practice" with a glass of water though because I can just see that leading to her spitting out her drinks all over the place at other times. But maybe I just need to try that approach (holding water in her mouth and spitting it out). How did you get your LO to do it? TIA

MrsHughesNC · June 2011

We started using "real" toothpaste a couple of months ago. We use, like you said, tiny smear--way less than the "pea sized amount" the tube warns against swallowing. Since it foams, you really only need a tiny bit. She still swallows some after we've finished brushing, before we give her water to rinse out her mouth. But she does swish water around and spit it out, twice, after each brushing.

We just practiced a lot with water. I could tell it was instinct for her at first to swallow the water as soon as it was in her mouth. So we'd just remind her to not swallow it, to "swish, swish, swish!" (we'd show her how, acting like fools, which she enjoyed..hehe), and to spit it out. Eventually, probably a couple of weeks later, she got it.

Right now we only brush her teeth once a day (I know, shame on us. hehe), so I'm really not too worried about the miniscule amount of fluoride she swallows. But it's defintiely something they have to practice.

AngelPack · June 2011

This is just my idea and I have not tried it yet, but I will tell you what I plan to do soon. We have had some spitting issues in the car with his sippy so I came up with a plan so that he doesn't think he should spit all his drinks.

I am going to get those tiny little paper cups and tell him that he is only allowed to spit when he is brushing his teeth and gets a sip from that cup. I know we will need some kind of cup since it would make no sense to him to use his hand to get water so I figured I should at least have some totally different cup from what he would ever use in any other setting and just lay down the law about it being allowed ONLY in this situation.

We will see how this works out for me. I am not planning on trying yet because he loves his kid toothpaste and literally sucks his toothbrush. We play a 50/50 game where I get what I want and then he gets what he wants. I get to brush his teeth with no paste so he doesn't suck and then I rinse it and put paste on it and he gets to suck on it and he brushes a little. He is not ready for regular paste yet

NatPhoto09 · June 2011

AngelPack:
This is just my idea and I have not tried it yet, but I will tell you what I plan to do soon. We have had some spitting issues in the car with his sippy so I came up with a plan so that he doesn't think he should spit all his drinks.

I am going to get those tiny little paper cups and tell him that he is only allowed to spit when he is brushing his teeth and gets a sip from that cup. I know we will need some kind of cup since it would make no sense to him to use his hand to get water so I figured I should at least have some totally different cup from what he would ever use in any other setting and just lay down the law about it being allowed ONLY in this situation.

We will see how this works out for me. I am not planning on trying yet because he loves his kid toothpaste and literally sucks his toothbrush. We play a 50/50 game where I get what I want and then he gets what he wants. I get to brush his teeth with no paste so he doesn't suck and then I rinse it and put paste on it and he gets to suck on it and he brushes a little. He is not ready for regular paste yet

LOL, Nic does the same thing. He loves the kid's toothpaste. And racey I'm glad you asked b/c I was wondering when to start really teaching him how to spit out real toothpaste.

raceyrae · June 2011

Maybe we'll just trying the water technique and work on deterring her from spitting other times. She's been using real toothpaste since about 18 mo old (same with DD#2) because we have well water that has no fluoride in it. Pedi recommended starting them on it using the smear amount since they don't spit it out yet.

MrsHughesNC · June 2011

Yeah, it never even really crossed my mind that she might start spitting otherwise--and luckily, she hasn't. We have a special little cup for the bathroom (I think it's actually a plastic shot glass.. LOL), and she knows that's what it is for. I do think I have said "we only spit in the sink, and only when we're brushing our teeth," but it's not something I've had to consciously work on, luckily!

jenhum · June 2011

I'm glad you asked this, I've been wondering when kids start spitting when brushing their teeth. Right now Maddie is still using baby toothpaste, but we were watching an "Elmo Brushes His Teeth" video the other day and now she kind of fake spits. I think I will try teaching her how to swish and spit. I'm not really worried about her spitting other drinks, but I do think it will take a while for her to get the hang of swishing instead of swallowing.

bobsbride2006 · June 2011

Have you tried brushing your teeth at the same time so they can imitate you?

unc00ref · June 2011

bobsbride2006:
Have you tried brushing your teeth at the same time so they can imitate you?

THIS! We all 4 brush/rinse/spit together.

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