He absolutely hates having his teeth brushed.
He had his first tooth rather early, I think at 4 or 5 mths. I dont remember exactly when it was that I started cleaning his teeth. When we had a confinement lady with us, she cleaned his mouth & tongue with a clean wet hanky. When he was a bit older, I cleaned it with a finger brush & flouride-free toothpaste but I know I wasn't consistent.
Back then, it was a bit easier, although a lot more painful as he'd bite down on my finger. As he grew older, it was harder. I cleaned it when he was in his bathtub, distracted playing with his bath toys. Even then I had to brush real quick as he hated it.
He hasn't been using his bathtub since the end of last year/early this year. Instead, we's sit him on the sink counter top, in front of the mirror & get his teeth brushed. On good days, he'd play with the tap, turning it on & off; putting his hand or foot under the faucet, splashing water all over; re-arranging the toiletries etc. Other tactics were to distract him with singing (worked when he was younger), tell him stories (worked for a while), using an egg timer, giving stickers as reward etc. He even had his teeth brushed while watching TV and while in bed with the lights off.
At times, I'd leave it to my helper as I'd have other things to attend to (e.g. late night grocery shopping). Truth be told, it was also because she's a lot more patient with him than I was. For a while, she was very good, diligently brushing his teeth. Then I noticed she started skipping a few. And it's been getting more frequent even though I reminded her several times.
Last night I took over the task. I was searching for some files (for a pattern activity) on my laptop, when it was time to put him to bed. I was already tired & had little patience left. But brushing his teeth had to be done. I quickly brought up some colourful pictures on screen to keep him happy. It worked for some 10 seconds! The rest of the time I was holding him down, keeping him still enough for me to get in there & trying to ignore the crying, wailing, protests.
He has oral defensiveness. A big term to describe sensory issues relating to the mouth & mouth regions. We had a very difficult time feeding him when young. He was delayed in eating solids. He very often vomitted his feeds. Perhaps this is related to him hating to have his teeth brushed.
What I plan to do is to completely take over brushing his teeth. And take a positive & relaxed approach. And be consistently doing it.
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