This morning was one of those moments that took my breath away as I reflected on our journey with teeth brushing. From the age of 18 months until about 6 months ago Hayden did not handle getting his teeth brushed at all. He would scream, kick, bite, throw his tooth brush away to avoid teeth brushing. Some might say that he was just being defiant. The truth is teeth brushing was a painful experience for Hayden. A child with sensory issues can not cope with "tickling / poking" the tooth brush give input with. The way Hayden acted you would think we were brushing his teeth with razor blades and a chisel.
In the early days (prior to Son-Rise) we would just hold Hayden down and brush his teeth. I would sing the alphabet song while brushing his teeth so he would know when I was finishing the horrific process for him. We tried different toothbrushes and tooth paste. Nothing seemed to help. That is until I attended the Son-Rise Start Up.
I realized that if I was going to help Hayden gain a love for tooth brushing I was going to have to let go of my need to brush his teeth and stop forcing him. Honestly, this was hard for me to let go of!!! Hayden takes an inhaled steroid for his asthma that if you don't brush or rinse your teeth afterwards it can promote yeast growth. Yeast is / was one thing that Hayden does not need anymore of. The second fear that I examined was that he would have horrific nasty teeth which would cause even more illness. BLAH!!!
Slowly but surely I came to peace with those beliefs and came up with a plan on how to teach Hayden how much fun and important oral health it. I let go of NEEDING him to brushing his to WANTING him to brush his teeth.
I started the process by giving Hayden control of his tooth brush. If he said, "NO" when I presented his tooth brush I happily put it on the counter. I would then get my tooth brush and have the most amazing time brushing my teeth. I modeled for him what a joy tooth brushing was. I also explained afterwards how wonderful it felt to get the bugs off my teeth and that brushing helped keep me healthy. I even got Ruby involved with the process. She also enjoys teeth brushing :)
I made activities in the playroom about teeth brushing. Hayden's favorite was brushing his cars teeth. I also gave Hayden opportunities to help brush my own teeth. Last summer Hayden went to the bathroom and came out with his tooth brush and joyfully brushed Grammie's teeth. Grammie was a good sport and cheered Hayden on.
Something else I did was celebrate Hayden every time he touched, looked, or talked about his tooth brush. Once he got comfortable with the tooth brush I would put the tooth paste on it, hand it to him, and walk away. Usually Hayden would come to where I was and I would cheer him on. I started offering to brush his teeth after him to make sure all the yucky bugs were off. Slowly but surely he has been okay with me increasing the time that I brush. I honestly feel that most days Hayden gets a good teeth brushing.
So fast forward to this morning. Hayden's first team member was here and he was in the kitchen talking with her. I was in the bathroom fixing Ruby's hair. I called out, "Hayden come do puffy fish (inhaler) and brush your teeth." I heard him head down the hall way and then he said................."I'M COMING MOM." FREAKING AMAZING!!!!! He then happily brushed his teeth :)
I am one proud Mom......still can't believe he said, "I'm coming Mom." WOW....WOW.....WOW There are so many amazing elements to that sentence and action. WAY TO GO HAYDEN..............YOU TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ROCK :)
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