When I should I start brushing my infant's gums?

You should start cleaning his gums to get him used to your fingers or a toothbrush in his mouth. Trust me, once they pop a few teeth and learn how to bite it is not comfy to put your fingers in there. For now you can use a soft washcloth and either water or non fluoride baby tooth paste. The reason for choosing one without fluoride is that too much can be harmful if swallowed and little ones aren't able to grasp the concept of spitting it out. I have found that even infant tooth brushes can be a bit large and cumbersome to maneuver around a tiny mouth.

Good oral health starts early, making tooth and gum cleaning part of your daily routine now can eliminate brushing battles once those pearly whites pop through.

some experts recomend that you begin cleaning your baby's gums after each feeding, from birth on, using a piece of gauze wrapped around your finger. doing this does clean any residual sugars from the milk/formula from the baby's mouth, gets the baby used to having this type of maintenance performed so that later brushing is not such a shock, and finally - it feels pretty good to the baby whether or not they have actually "popped a tooth," and can sometimes ease teething pain.

as soon as the teeth do make an appearance, go ahead and get one of the soft rubber fingertip brush kits (oragel makes one that comes with trainer toothpaste that is safe for the baby to swallow) and start using that at least twice a day, and if possible after each feeding.

You don't need to use tooth paste yet. Just wipe them with a wet warm washcloth after every feeding. Once he pops a tooth out you can use a toddler tooth brush, you still don't need to put tooth paste on it. But I did because my son liked the taste and it made it easier to brush them. Make sure to use infant/toddler tooth paste without fluoride.

As a newborn I would only do it during his bath, 3 times a week. I started using the finger soft gum cleaner available at any wall mart. No paste necessary. Do not use the finger type after he/she gets teeth in, you could get bit. =) Encouraging your baby to do it himself is easy, you brush and show him/her. By 8 months old with about 6 teeth, I switched to a baby toothbrush with a baby safe to swallow paste. He is soon to be 2year old and I recently got him a sponge bob tooth brush and tooth paste that he loves and every night after dinner he goes to the bathroom and wants to brush! Great habit to start as soon as you can!

From everything I've read when I had my two babies (and i read a lot) is that you start as soon as you want because the stuff that causes tooth damange can build up on gums too.

When my son was 4months, I wet a clean washcloth and rubbed them clean. He now has 3 teeth and I still do that. They don't need toothpaste at this young of an age.

My pediatrician told me that I could just use a wash cloth everyday to keep my sons teeth clean. I do not have to use toothpaste. My son has 6 teeth and he is now 12 mth's old.

At 7months or 8months.