I know this sounds strange but every night when I brush my LO's teeth he won't spit in the sink or into a glass. He waits and spits on the floor or holds the mess in his mouth and lets it dribble down his clothes. It might sound like a small problem but it is making me mad and frustrated. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm laughing, but I know it is not funny. And it is little things like this that can drive us to distraction.

I haven't dealt with this. Have you tried taking water in your mouth and spitting with him into the sink?

We had this problem too. In my father's case, I assumed that he had forgotten how to spit and when to spit.

Two suggestions:
* Take a hand towel and hold it over his mouth. Ask him to spit/dribble into that.
* Use a suction machine and suction out the toothpaste/saliva.

What works for us is for me to hold one of those little plastic emesis basins under his chin when brushing his teeth and he will spit [or let drool] into that.

While I don't have any suggestions, I do understand your frustration. When my mom was really ill last week and I was trying to get her to take her pills in a spoon of yogurt, she kept chewing them , and I'm yelling " DON"T CHEW, just swallow" and then she spits the whole mess out because it tastes so bad and then we'd start over. After three tries we got it done ( or she hid them somewhere, and spit "em out when I wasn't looking), but by then I was almost in tears. It's funny now, but it sure wasn't then!
I like the hand towel suggestions.
Ellen

Oh yah! I'd try to push Frank closer to the sink, but he'd let it dribble out down his chin and the front of the cabinet. Now he's in bed most of the time so I brush them in bed and no problem.

We have the same problem with Ken. I now use children's toothpaste so that when he does swallow it won't be harmful. I do have a trick for when you are brushing his teeth in the shower: Even in the shower Ken holds it in, but our caregiver showed me that when you hold the sprayer over his head then squirt just a little down his face he spits the toothpaste right out. We are certainly learning all sorts of tricks with this disease, aren't we?

Well, he did it again tonight and I had to change his pj's but I hadn't had time to tune in to the forum...thanks for all the suggestions. I do believe that Wayne has just forgotten how to spit and gets tired of holding it in his mouth and just lets it fall out. I will try some of the suggestions this week soooo stay tuned.

Wayne is just declining quickly right now. The Hospice nurse told me to use the oral swabs to brush his teeth and it works pretty well - you don't have to spit but tonight he bit down on it and wouldn't let it go for about 5 minutes. He cannot walk any more at all and needs 2 people to transfer from bed to wheelchair. He doesn't feed himself anymore either (but still has a good appetite). Just thankful for good help. Thank you all for the suggestions for spitting!