Homemade Toothpaste

My son is now 15 months old! He is walking, talking (his favorite words are Mama, Dada, duck, and uh oh!), and he just recently popped his first molar. Now that he is popping teeth in earnest (he is up to #11 with three more coming in), my husband and I are getting concerned about his oral hygiene. Before now, we would hand him his toddler toothbrush and watch as he chewed away on it, mimicking us as we brushed. We always made sure to give him water after juice or other sweets to rinse his mouth... But now, we want to start really brushing.

However, my husband has some concerns about fluoride found in toothpaste and in our city's water supply. For the most part, our son drinks spring water or breast milk, but we are wanting to eliminate fluoride as much as we can.

So, I've done a bit of research, and today, I made our first batch of homemade toothpaste!

Here's what you need to make your own:
-1 cup baking soda
-1/8 cup fine salt (You can leave out the salt if you want. I have seen other recipes call for 1/4 cup of salt, but I found that to be a bit too salty.)
-water (enough to give the mix a paste-like consistency)
-flavoring (a baking flavor, like peppermint, cinnamon, strawberry, lemon, etc.)

Combine your ingredients and store them in a clean container with a seal. Rubbermaid food containers work well, and are cheap! I found a nice, glass container with a seal lid for under $2.

In the end, you will have a liquid paste (about the consistency of glue) to brush your teeth with! It will not be foamy like commercial toothpaste, but it cleans sooo well and leaves your mouth feeling really fresh! The baking soda naturally eliminates odors in your mouth! Just make sure to use a soft-bristle brush...

Now I am not worried about my son swallowing toothpaste anymore! :oD Plus, we are lowering our impact on the environment by using a product without any unnatural chemicals and we are not producing any waste from the traditional toothpaste container and box. Bonus!!

Happy Creating!