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This Is How We Got Our Deaf Toddler to Brush Brush Brush Her Teeth
What worked—and what didn't!—when we tried to get our 11-month old hard of hearing baby to brush her teeth...
Our 11-month old baby has two tiny teeth!
...and another one's on its way!
We met with her dentist to go over the basics and what to expect in the months and years ahead. It's a great time to put good routines in place for dental hygiene.
We decided on a morning and evening tooth brushing routine—an opportunity to work in some LSL strategies.
The Gear
Our dentist gave us a few toothbrushes to try, and we bought some non-fluoride gel.
Our current go-to favorite brush is the Dr. Brown's Infant-to-Toddler Training Toothbrush.
How It's Going
Brush Brush Brush Your Teeth!
We use a simple song to tell our daughter it's time to brush her teeth.
It's a good bookend to the start and end of her tooth brushing routine.
Our song is a simple adaptation of "Row Row Row Your Boat." Singing "Brush it fast! / Brush it slooooooow" with a varied speed and pitch is a great way to mix it up and match the speed of hand movements.
Squeeze squeeze squeeze the Tube!
We use repetition of action words throughout our LSL strategy, and tooth brushing is no different.
There are some great action words around tooth brushing. Babies like an opportunity to "help out," so giving her a chance to squeeze the tube as we put the toothpaste on helps her be a more active participant and to practice a fine motor skill.
Put the brush in, in, in your mouth!
We first introduced tooth brushing by attempting to brush our daughter's teeth for her, but that didn't last for long.
She wants to do it!
So we gave her the brush... but it was taking forever for her to stop playing with it and get around to the brushing.
We found that saying "in in in" encourages her to put the brush in and get to work.
Now we begin our tooth brushing routine by modeling the action for her first: "Mama is going to put the brush in in in her mouth and start brushing. Now it's your turn!"
Flip flip flip the Brush!
Another action word!
Our daughter was quite taken with chewing on the handle of the brush.
We modeled the action of flipping the brush around for a her a few times, underscoring the action with "flip flip flip!"
