If you have recently had a baby, you may be feeling totally overwhelmed by all the things that you have to do. One thing you might not think about is your baby's teeth. After all, they don't even have teeth yet, so how can you even brush them, right? Well, there are things that you can be doing from the time they are little babies and doing those things will make it easier for them to have great dental health as they get older. 

0-6 Months

At this point, there isn't a whole lot to do. Mostly what you want to do is to make sure that you aren't giving your child a lot of sugary juices and then wipe their gums with a very soft cloth and plain water at least once a day. You are more getting your child used to have their gum area brushed than you are really brushing anything. 

6-18 Months

At 6 months, or whenever your child starts to have teeth peeking up, you will want to move from a soft cloth to a soft toothbrush. There are toothbrushes that are made specifically for babies that are made with very soft bristles so they won't hurt your child at all. You still don't want to use any toothpaste because your child hasn't learned to not swallow the toothpaste and won't spit it out. You will want to do this a couple of times a day. You may also want to have them drink some water before nap time or after they have any juice. That way, all that sugary liquid gets rinsed out of their mouth and is off their teeth. 

18-24 Months

Sometime during this period, you are going to want to take your child to the pediatric dentistry service for the first time. At the first appointment, the dentist isn't going to do a whole lot, mostly just take a quick peek in your child's mouth and make sure the teeth they have grew in well as well as making sure that any teeth that are getting ready to erupt are on schedule. The dentist may also count your child's teeth so that when it comes to your child's future dental health, they can know what was going on and when. 

If you have a baby, there are a lot of things that you are going to need to do. Thinking about their future dental health is just one of them.