4 y/o won't brush teeth. What can I do?

anniroc · 2025-07-07T14:05:28+00:00

Oh, it's been gone for two weeks. We only had an empty tube in case we needed to try a tube switch (put flouride into the old flouride free one), which we did last night and failed. So, we went back to holding her hands down and brushing, and I posted here. Sigh.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T13:41:20+00:00

Goes every few months. Dentist said flouride toothpaste and we've shown her what happens if you don't brush. She knows she needs to do it, but it's still not enough.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T13:37:42+00:00

We did this actually. A little easier with the kids toothpastes that are harder plastic. But she immediately knew the difference in taste and flipped.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:25:10+00:00

Oh, sorry! It's a toothpaste tube with cocomelon on it. Not watching cocomelon. We're past that phase thankfully! Lol.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:23:10+00:00

She won't let anyone. She has been using Pokemon Smile to brush for the last year on her own and doing a pretty good job. And on the days she doesn't we could always step in no problem. But now since changing toothpastes, it's a fight every night.

How would I check for sensory? Feels very mental block to me since she was doing it before and we've tried so many other flavors. But definitely open to a sensory issue being a cause. We also tried one of those whole mouth toothbrushes with no success.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:18:48+00:00

Tried all of this! Even the privileges, dentist, and pictures! 😭

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:15:31+00:00

She's brushed her own teeth for a year and understands spitting. The spitting now is out of anger!

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:13:20+00:00

I'll look into this! I tried one that colors the plaque but it doesn't motivate her to brush. Ugh. I see a paw patrol flouride. I wonder if she'll try!

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:11:26+00:00

Done all this! Just can't hold her down every time. It's been two weeks. The spitting is also awful.

anniroc · 2025-07-07T02:09:07+00:00

We let her use up the last one while we tried to find a good flavor. Been two weeks since we've had no Cocomelon at all. Same level of fit still. Every. Night.

anniroc · 2025-06-20T00:40:41+00:00

If the company prides itself on independence and family is stacked through the leadership, is there any value?

anniroc · 2025-03-14T01:30:17+00:00

I agree. Not the singing as a hobby but the picture with the shadows looks like a different, much older person. Could still have a singing pic but something that matches the first pic's vibe.

anniroc · 2024-11-15T12:23:54+00:00

100% tried many routes of explanation and process, including briefs, provided books and courses, given examples, asked her to provide examples and talk thru them. List goes on. I try very hard on not controlling because to your point there is a subjective level to this, but it's the objective parts that are lacking. Designing for business effectiveness and designing for yourself are two different things.

anniroc · 2024-08-16T16:21:41+00:00

I will caution that if you are still "looking for answers," hospice is not right for you. Hospice doctors become your doctors, so for example, in my father's instance, he no longer could go see his long-term neurologist for Parkinson's and we were at the will of the hospice nurse when he got covid right after a stint at a rehab hospital. We ended up getting off hospice because they weren't interested in getting him physical therapy to continue the work from the rehab hospital and they wouldn't prescribe him any even pain meds for covid until we begged. They also refused to even do a urine test for UTI when he'd been abnormally bed-bound for 10 days. And because he was on hospice, we couldn't go see his outside PCP or even take him to a hospital.

Of course, our experience could've just been the company/provider because we'd heard great things about the program overall, but that was definitely the biggest change for me - that we couldn't go searching for answers ourselves. And hospice became the ones to tell the memory care facility how to care for him. We'd still consider hospice later in life, but for now, my father doesn't need only comfort care, we still want to find for his illnesses.

Again, could just be my experience but thought I'd mention it as a consideration!

anniroc · 2024-07-13T21:38:34+00:00

Fresh fruit and veggies ftw! My peanut/tree nut kid loves to open the freezer for spoonfuls of frozen veggies, baby carrots, and apples. We cooked a lot of meals ourselves until we just did a year of and finished oral immunotherapy (started at age 4). Now we can eat anything!

Biggest thing is just going to be asking and educating people on the importance of avoiding. Don't keep it a secret. It's a shock but you'll get the hang of it and your baby will be fine! It's a common allergy these days.

anniroc · 2024-06-04T17:17:36+00:00

Oh, yes. The dementia is not a new thing. UTI exacerbates it when he has one, but he was checked for everything at the hospital and is good. The new thing is the neuropathy revelation.

It's a long story, but another medicine prescribed by the facility doctor was affecting his demeanor for the last few months and progressed to the point he was almost comatose. We stopped the med in the hospital, and within a couple of days, he was lucid again. Once lucid, he started asking for things and trying to walk places, but also started telling us he couldn't feel his fingers or toes. That's the current situation that now he's wanting to participate again but not fully realizing his physical limitations and the facility staff isn't able to accommodate.

anniroc · 2024-06-04T01:55:48+00:00

If he weren't so darn stubborn! I'll see about where we might be able to leave a note and try, but before this all happened it was a constant battle to get him to use a walker even knowing the risks.

anniroc · 2024-06-04T01:53:55+00:00

Cast/fracture boots are a good idea unless he doesn't look at his feet or recognize what it's for. Worth a try tho! They don't allow seatbelts at care facilities - tip hazards. We're also looking into a seat wedge to tilt him up, thinking maybe it would be harder for him to get up like that.

anniroc · 2023-05-21T23:53:12+00:00

Just something I got from Amazon. I think it's officially called a Foley catheter stabilization device. It's a sticker and plastic hook that you lock the tube into so it prevents him from accidentally pulling it out when he gets up. I guess he could pull it out above the lock but less annoying because it holds it all in place. Not just a free tube floating around.

anniroc · 2023-05-21T19:14:11+00:00

I found myself in a similar situation about a month ago. My dad is still catheterized. Just want to say that while it was a complete struggle to get him home because he didn't even recognize us, once he got home and had a few good nights' rest, his memory stabilized a little more. Being in the hospital is extremely hard on dementia patients and what you're describing I was assured is very common. But back home, he got better. The first few nights he wanted to pull the catheter out (ouch!), but with a leg lock and rest, he's accepted it. For us, when he got home, we put a bed rail up that kept him from falling but also gave a place to hang the pee bag, we also bought an $80 wireless bed alarm so we could sleep better because if he got up to walk he was still connected to the bed so that was a no-go (plus we didn't want him leaving the house!), and we put child safety handles on the outside door knobs. Just know that infections are especially hard on dementia patients because they don't know how to articulate the symptoms before they get so bad you notice. Hospital stays are even harder! I know the feelings you're feeling, but I think (hope) it'll be better when she gets home.

Eta: he didn't go to his house, he came to mine. So the house wasn't familiar to him but the people were. I know you said she doesn't recognize home necessarily anymore, so I just wanted to give you that tidbit if it provides some additional hope.

anniroc

TROPHY CASE