Hello and welcome to this week’s issue of the Zone Bébé newsletter.
A little while ago I posted the recommendation of our dentist for my 4 year old daughter to use an electric toothbrush on Facebook. The dentist said, where a manual brush brushes once, the electric one brushes three times. This sounds good as it is difficult enough to properly clean those little pearly whites anyhow.
But it wouldn’t be me to just follow the advice without doing what I do best, researching this subject.
Just a short while ago I had read a test in my beloved Ökotest about just that subject: electric toothbrushes.
And the verdict was far from being satisfactory. Apart from components within the plastic casing of the toothbrushes, containing ingredients that should not really be present in something you use to clean your teeth; the main criticism was the bristle quality.
Several models had less than 50% acceptable bristles meaning bristle ends that are not properly rounded and risk to damage the gums.
Funnily enough, the cheaper brands offered by German chemists fared the best in terms of quality (they were all manufactured by a Swiss company).
The more expensive brands we all know, did not fare quite so well.
Anyhow – so we took it to the test. We bought one of the best models (with Shaun the sheep on the handle) from the test and the result?
An electric toothbrush does clean better. But! It is difficult to keep the toothbrush just on the tooth, as per instructions: place the rotating head on the tooth to clean, gently move left and right and do not touch the gums... This is extremely difficult with the small teeth of a 4 year old. In addition, my daughter doesn’t like the noise of the brush and I had the feeling it tenderises her gum nonetheless. So – after the novelty had worn off (even Shaun the sheep lost his attraction after a few days), we are back to our good old toothbrush.
Advantage: more controlled brushing, no noise, the child learns how to brush “properly”, and with the correct toothbrush, the gums do not get irritated either.
But, the same goes for the classic toothbrush – it is wise to choose one that has been tested for their chemical composition and for the quality of bristles, as there are many brushes around that don’t make the cut.
At Zone Bébé we have a toothbrush for children from 6 months onwards which has received a “good” rating from Ökotest, shy of “very good” since it does not have an exchangeable head.
The nice thing about this toothbrush is that it has a massage head and an anti-slip handle.
Have a look here:
Bobux summer style shoes up to size 24 are in stock now. Three main types are available, following age and capability of the child. From crawling to first steps and confirmed walkers. Feet need freedom to develop. The foot needs the space to perform a perfect rolling motion. At each level do Bobux shoes support the child’s foot in its natural development, the closest thing to going barefoot.
Bobux Originals – made from soft eco leather, with a suede sole to protect those little feet; Bobux Pre-Walk – made from soft eco leather and a split rubber sole to supporting first steps and Bobux I-Walk – also made from soft eco leather but with a full rubber sole, still fully flexible to support walking, running and being adventurous.
Have a great week and see you next time
Claudia/Zone Bébé
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