Baby Banana Bendable Training Toothbrush, Toddler

Comment: This toothbrush is silicone and it's "sticky" in that it picks up anything and everything when it's dropped on the floor (what kid doesn't do that?). It's totally worth it, though! I'll rinse it 30 times a day if I have to (we have two dogs and two cats, though!).

My daughter got her first tooth at 14 weeks and had eight teeth by 6 months... she doesn't like pacifiers, she won't use normal "teething" toys/items, but this was what got us through all the teething chaos. We lost the first one but I quickly reordered two more, one for her and one for actual use. All three are top quality and gave us no issues. I wish it did have a storage case or something, but I just use a plastic baggy. We do have a real toothbrush for her, but she won't let me put it in her mouth, or if I get it in there she bites down and tears our the bristles... so this is definitely our favorite. She gnaws on everything and grinds her teeth (YUCK!) a lot, but this has not let us down yet! She did not like the infant version, with the handles, not sure why.

Does anyone have a suggestion for toothpaste? She loathes fruit/sweets so I'm not having much luck with her not spitting the toothpaste all over me because they all seem to be fruity... Thanks!

Blessings.

Comment: The product description states that this toothbrush is "for toddlers ready to graduate to their first real toothbrush," but I disagree. Toddlers with lots of teeth need stiff enough bristles to actually brush plaque off the teeth. The banana toothbrush bristles (which are silicone) are so soft they don't scrape against the teeth at all. It's simply not effective.

This toothbrush would be good only for babies with no teeth, to get them used to brushing and as kind of a gum massager.

Also, the bristles come off, especially if you have a toddler with teeth using it. I had to throw it away after the bristles started breaking off.

Comment: I can't speak for the overall quality of every baby banana toothbrush out there on the market, but I can vouch for the complaints made by some of the parents on this review site that the bristles come off. At first, I was impressed with the product because my eighteen month old son seemed to enjoy brushing his teeth with it whereas he tended to be much fussier with typical toothbrushes. After a couple of months, I decided to get a second one: One to keep at home and the other for travel. A couple of weeks ago, one of them appeared to be missing 9 bristles - mostly the inner bristles. I compared it to the other baby banana toothbrush, which had no less than three missing bristles. I am certainly disappointed that the product enables some toddlers to break the bristles off. Presumably, toddlers like my son ingested the bristle tips, which is a source of concern because I have no idea whether the bristles are safe to ingest. At this point, what do parents like me do? We can't take our children to get X-rayed because these parts are so small and of such soft rubbery material they wouldn't show up on film. We can only hope they have exited their digestive systems, but there's really no way to know. The safe bet is to use typical toothbrushes.

Comment: Someone gave me a gift card, which I used for this purchase. Otherwise, I would have never considered buying something that seemed so whimsical. In hindsight, I'm glad I made this purchase, because it really does make brushing my infant's gums amazingly easy. He actually smiles when I brush, and puts away any fears I had that it would be a nightmare trying to convince him that oral hygiene is not a scary thing!

For some reason, maybe it's the shape of the brush-end, which is a little similar to a nipple-shape, whenever I use the brush to brush my 5-month-old's gums, he opens his mouth such that I can see his gums! (I cannot get him to do that with spoon yet, but he does with this brush.)

The entire "tooth"brush is molded silicone, and bristles are molded silicone as well. You can actually easily count them. I don't know how well they'd clean plaque off actual teeth, but I do know that my son seems to enjoy having his as-yet-toothless gums massaged with it, and it is my hope that introducing brushing early will make it easier when I have to get down and dirty with a real toothbrush, when his primary teeth come in.

I've had the brush for about a month now, and have not had a problem with bristles breaking off.

Comment: I bought 2 Baby Banana's for my 8 month old and he loves it. It really helps him relieve the irritation from teething. I highly recommend it to parents. Plus it also helps keep his gums clean, hopefully it will build a health brushing habit for the future. We haven't had any issues with bristles following off. I like that it's bendable and soft enough where it won't hurt my baby.