It's day four off the binky over here. Toddler is doing better than expected (mostly). Meanwhile, as I watch the monitor every night at 11pm instead of going to bed like a normal person, I have observed that she has replaced the oral stimulation with having her finger completely up her nose — all the way, we're talking to the second knuckle — which is apparently the solution she arrived at on her own. Sigh. We're just gonna call it a phase. 🫠
But it brings up an undisputed fact: toddlers are gross. But despite the fact that all parents of littles know this is a thing, there's a somewhat shocking lack of advice out there to help you navigate your little germ gremlin. (Especially when compared to pregnancy, when everyone and their mother has opinions about everything and your feed is filled to the brim with roundups of "must-have" items for baby.)
So, this week we put together a list usually only found in a thread with those friends who “get it.” Specifically: the stuff that actually helps when your child is sticky and resistant and you are just trying to get through the morning.
In this issue:
✅ The setup that gets them to wash their hands without being asked
✅ Hair, nails, and teeth — the techniques that matter as much as the products
✅ The one spray we use on basically everything
Psst: Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe HERE→ it’s free!
🧘♀️ Make. Handwashing. Easier.
👉 If you've spent an embarrassing number of months in low-grade daily conflict about handwashing, a) you're not alone and b) it might be a setup problem. The faucet arc lands at the back of the basin, which is nowhere near where small hands are, and the soap pump requires more grip than a three-year-old reliably has.
Two things fixed most of it:
Step stool + faucet extender. The step stool gets them to the counter. A basic faucet extender ($9 for 2, or this aesthetic one for $17) redirects the water stream forward and down to where their hands actually land — a step stool alone doesn't solve this, because the water still goes nowhere useful. (But on that topic, we use the IKEA Bolmen and this sturdy, collapsible stool — both $10, light enough that she drags them from room to room, which creates its own chaos but at least the handwashing works.)
Foam soap. This was an OT tip we got secondhand: foam pumps require less grip strength than liquid dispensers, which matters more than you'd think at this age - or go totally touchless with this automatic dispenser. (Psst: DIY version is one part castile soap to four parts water in any foam pump dispenser.)
Honorable mention goes to SoaPen ($25 for 3) - washable soap markers they use to draw on their own hands and scrub the color off.
One more thing worth knowing: a picture-step chart at their eye level removes you from the reminding loop almost entirely. (Not a text chart — toddlers resist being told what to do by text the same way we resist terms of service agreements, which is to say completely.)
💸 Hair, nails, and teeth techniques that work.
👉 Three daily negotiations. We have tried many things, and here is what has actually helped (and most of it turned out not to be the product!)
Hair. The Wet Brush ($10) is an amazing brush for multiple hair textures → flexible bristles that bend instead of pull (get the mini if your kid wants to do their own) - but more important than the brush is where you start.
Mini lesson if you've never maintained long hair of your own: Root-to-tip brushing packs tangles into bigger knots, which is where most of the crying actually comes from. Start at the ends and work upward, and hold the hair firmly above the section you're working on so the pull doesn't travel up to the scalp. DIY detangler is one part conditioner to four parts water in a spray bottle and works as well as most products you can buy.
We also switched to a softer pillowcase (just a regular sateen one, nothing special) and mornings got noticeably better.
Nails. We heard a parent say to do these in the bath, and turns out- yup. The warm water softens the nail, but the more useful thing is that the sound of the snip is mostly absorbed by the water (turns out the sound is often the actual trigger for kids, not the sensation.) If all ten in one sitting is consistently a problem: one nail a day is a real pediatric OT strategy that normalizes the tool and spreads the load until it stops being a thing.
Teeth. Try the lap position — your kid lies back with their head in your lap facing the ceiling. Pediatric dentists recommend it, so worth trying it if you haven't (honestly not a hit in our house, but we know families where this works perfectly). For slightly bigger kiddos, try the autobrush U-Shaped Electric Toothbrush. We already have one ready for the day our little shrimp's mouth is bigger, and while it's a bit pricey ($80 on sale), we're totally sold on a 30 second brush time. Plus it lights up and plays music and is overall adorable.
🫶 The one thing we use on basically everything.
👉 Hypochlorous acid spray. Did we ever think we’d be in love with something that sounds straight out of a doctor’s office? No, but your immune system produces this compound naturally to fight pathogens, and it turns out you can also just put it in a bottle. This is our "I put that sh*t on everything" product. There's plenty of options but the Briotech Baby Skin Love Spray is fragrance-free, pediatrician-approved, no rinse needed, and safe around kids and pets. We use it on eczema flare-ups, small cuts and scrapes, diaper rash between changes, the restaurant high chair we don't fully trust, and even our own faces after the gym (lol) park. One thing: HOCl degrades in UV light, so keep it somewhere dark.
A few more things in regular rotation:
→ Mrs. Meyer's Antibacterial Spray in Lavender (travel 4-pack) is the workhorse and a great price so…go ham.
→ Touchland Power Mist in Rainwater is for you, specifically, because it smells good and makes you feel just a little bit put together and you deserve at least one nice thing in your bag.
→ For noses: saline first, always. Spray, wait thirty seconds — they often sneeze most of it out on their own (we find this one to be the best value). If somehow you've managed to avoid their marketing, consider the Frida Baby Snot Sucker ($18). As the name implies, yes, you are mouth-suctioning your child's nose through a filter tube. Yes, it's a bit foul AND it works better than anything else we've found. We received the manual one as a gift, but are absolutely considering upgrading to the professional grade version. (There's a sentence we never thought to write).
K that’s all. You’re the best and we love you.
-CK “Not grossed out by much anymore” Fuller (Editor) & the JB Crew 🫡
P.S. Next week: unethical parenting hacks that are technically working. We're not going to tell you to use them. (We're absolutely going to tell you to use them.)
*Quick note: Some links in here may be affiliate links. You know the drill- if you buy something, we might earn a small commission that helps offset the time we spend making JuiceBox. Thank you for supporting this project of ours.