Angel Baby Blog

This is for all you great mothers out there who are always thinking about your children and how to keep them safe, happy and healthy.  A major aspect of raising your children is caring for their teeth.  I never knew that brushing teeth twice a day could become such a chore until I had four mouths to clean every day– my own and my three kids!  So here’s my two cents on children and toothpaste.

Before I had kids I went to school and became a dental hygienist, so I know a lot about caring for teeth.  I am trying to apply this as I raise my own children.  Just thought I would pass along a little bit of information that came to my attention the other day… again!

In case you were not aware of this fact, children under five years of age should NOT have fluoridated toothpaste.  Kids under that age are not capable of spitting as well as they need to in order to not swallow harmful levels of toothpaste.

I just went to the store to buy toothpaste for my little boys, age 4 and 2.  Of course they wanted to choose the “cool” toothpaste– you know what I’m talking about.  Disney Pixar’s “Cars” and Marvel’s “Spiderman” themed toothpaste containers really caught their attention.  But, looking at the Active Ingredients list, the first one listed on every tube of children’s toothpaste was Sodium Flouride.

One might argue that kids’ teeth need the extra fluoride that they may get from swallowing a little bit of toothpaste here and there.  However, what most people don’t realize is that fluoride is a potentially dangerous chemical and can cause some serious harm if swallowed in excessive amounts.  Now, take this dangerous substance and make it bubble gum flavored.  If you think that a one, two, three, or four year old wouldn’t eat that any chance they got, you’ve probably never had kids of your own.

In addition to this, most cities in the United States add Fluoride to the waterways in order to benefit the teeth of children.  This means of course that children are exposed to plenty of fluoride during their teeth’s formative years; possibly even excessive fluoridation over time.

Studies have shown that fluoride is beneficial to the teeth when given topically (meaning placed on the teeth), but are inconclusive when it comes to systemic fluoridation (meaning fluoride eaten or swallowed and reaching the teeth through the blood stream).   One thing is certain though, more studies need to be done to see what the long term benefits and risks are for exposing ourselves and our children to fluoride– both for the teeth and for the body as a whole.

Fluoride in toothpaste, however, has long been known to cause problems in children who are unable to rinse and spit sufficiently enough because of their age and physical capabilities.  Fluoride swallowed in excessive amounts can cause an upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, and any number of other problems.  Even fluoride swallowed in tiny amounts at a time can build up and cause numerous problems in later years– problems that we may not even know we are causing yet!

So, because I know all of this and I want to do what is best for my kids, which is to not use Fluoridated toothpaste until they are old enough, I have to deprive them of their cartoon character toothpaste tubes and shop for their toothpaste on the baby aisle.  Baby tooth and gum cleanser with sorbitol (a different form of sugar that does not allow bacteria to grow) instead of sodium fluoride is the safest bet until children reach five years of age and can spit and rinse properly.

This probably comes as a shock to all of you great mothers out there who are concerned for the health of your children’s teeth and get them children’s toothpaste with all the fun characters as an incentive to promote good tooth brushing habits.  Hooray for you!  But, keep in mind that if you do allow them to use fluoride toothpaste that you should always monitor them and make sure that none gets swallowed.  Treat it like your bathroom cleansers, meaning keep it away from children when not under adult supervision.

And remember, good habits start young!  So by all means teach your kids to brush their teeth several times a day and to eat healthy foods so they don’t have to deal with all the problems that come from tooth decay (cavities) and weight issues.

Just like every mother I want the best for my kids, and so I just thought I would pass along this tidbit of information for you to thinkabout and watch out for.  From past experiences I know that fluoridation can be a controversial subject.  So, let’s get talking.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments by leaving a comment below!

Some days aren’t you just ready to quit? Yesterday, for reasons beyond my control or no reason at all, both of my toddler boys were cranky.

Typically my children wake up happy in the morning, play and romp around until lunchtime, eat and then take a nice two hour or so nap. After resting time, as we call it in our house, the boys get up and play and look forward to Daddy coming home from work. They help me make dinner and set the table, clean up the toys to make the house look nice again and then wrestle with Daddy until we eat. After dinner it’s usually more playtime with Daddy and then time for bedtime stories and a bath and by 8:15 or so they’re tucked in their beds on their way down for a good twelve hour sleep.

It sounds ideal, especially since we’re talking about a just-turned-three year old and a twenty month old boy. Of course, it doesn’t always go as planned.

Yesterday was one of those days. Oddly enough, both boys woke up in the morning crying and whining. (Why does it always have to be both on the same day?) Before we’d even been able to eat breakfast both boys had already thrown at least one fit (heaven forbid I gave them the wrong spoon to eat their yogurt!) and it just went downhill after that. By ten o’clock in the morning I was ready to put them both back in bed. It seemed that they couldn’t play for two minutes without there being a major crisis, and then they’d just throw back their heads and scream.

Finally after lunch I was able to put them down for a nap. Both boys fell asleep almost immediately and I crossed my fingers that they’d take an especially long nap so they could wake up and be my normal happy boys again. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. A mere forty five minutes into their nap my youngest yelled out and wouldn’t be comforted back to sleep. Ten minutes after that his brother also woke up crying and was done with his rest.

We tried lots of quiet activities to help calm them during the afternoon– playing with playdoh, reading books, coloring. Still the whole day was just full of whining and tantrums and a whole lot of tears. When their Daddy got home from work the boys didn’t even acknowledge him– they were too busy complaining that they didn’t want what we were having for dinner and they wanted the blue plates, not the orange ones.

I finally realized that my twenty month old was probably cranky because his second molars are starting to come in. He’s always had a hard time with teething. A low dose of Infant Tylenol did wonders to help him feel better and actually be able to sleep through the night. My three year old though had no apparent excuses, it was just an off day. Luckily both kids went to bed right at 8 and slept well and today has been a much happier day.

It’s hard as a mom to not feel like you just want to throw in the towel and curl up in your own bed when the kids are so cranky. What do you do to cope with days like I had yesterday? Let me know what I can do to keep my sanity and help my children get past these grumpy episodes by adding your comments.