Brushing teeth??

jgallegos0316

Any advice on getting your toddler to brush teeth with out a fit? Have tried doing it with him and letting him hold the bruch and help..... Doesn't work... H hates it. It's like torture to him.

crystaleyes39

I have the finger brush for one of my daughters. It gets the job done. Her actual toothbrush is a battle. I'm hoping once she gets a little older we can switch.

ChelsiAnn13

My DD loves brushing her teeth so I'm not sure if this wi help but we make it fun. We did this more to help her brush well but we stand in front of the mirror and I brush my teeth with her. We make funny faces and noises. Brushing up and down. Say ahh and get the molars. Brush the tounge. All that. We also do those funny faces and everything just to do it, to make it fun and funny to her so when she does it with we tooth brush she still thinks its a game.

My dd is a contr freak so the key for us was to let her do her own thing. When she found it was fun she would let me brush them well then I would let her do her own thing. So it wasn't all business and she got to play with it.

vintagejjane

I started by letting her brush my teeth. She thought it was hilarious. We went to the store, she picked out her toothbrush and then when we got home she was really excited to do it. I think her doing it to me, made her understand that it was cleaning and not scary.

zbeesma86

we've been trying to do this more- but she's really not into it either!

I give her the toothbrush and let her bite on it and will brush when I see an opportunity!

But she screams or clamps her mouth shut! ugh

allardr

I let her hold a toy to keep her hands busy and let her look in the mirror to keep her eyes busy, then she hardly notices. Some days she more forcefully wants to do it herself, if so I try to get a few in then let her.

kgwen

I tried to do it the conventional way but he just clamped his mouth shut. This is what I do it's been working. I sit down on the carpet and lay his head between my thighs, I then have to hold his flailing arms down with my thighs. I can then get it there and brush because my hands are free, so even if his mouth is clamped I can force it open.

EMOmamma

My son loved when we gave him his Thomas spin-brush.  It really turned the corner for us with his brushing.  

I've also heard giving him a brush to brush your teeth while you do theirs can help.

PetuniaFeatherbottom

Our 20 month old gets fussy when brushing teeth too, but we try to make it fun for her by singing songs. We started making up words to the tune "I'm a little teapot" and the songs get kinda silly. For example, I'm a little girl, I brush my teeth, here are my molars, here are my feet! Just silly stuff to make her laugh. Also, once I'm ok with the job done, I let her chew on the brush, which is what she wants to do anyway, and its ok. Good luck!

lilmejo

This is still torture for out LO but there are a few things that have helped. There is a youtube Elmo video with a brush your teeth song, we play this before we brush his teeth each time, I also let him brush my teeth with my toothbrush first, it inevitably ends up in a screaming tantrum (I think it acutally tickles his gums) but when he's screaming it gives me perfect chance to get the molars. From what I hear from other moms, it gets better so I just try to be patient

kdjudd

My daughter loves brushing her teeth, but of course she has to be a big girl and do it all by herself... lol It is a fight to get her to allow me to brush her teeth. Usually I try to brush her teeth as good as I can and then I let her play with it afterwards. She actually does brush her teeth so I figure she is helping get what I miss. 

jenniatlanta

ChelsiAnn13 said:

My DD loves brushing her teeth so I'm not sure if this wi help but we make it fun. We did this more to help her brush well but we stand in front of the mirror and I brush my teeth with her. We make funny faces and noises. Brushing up and down. Say ahh and get the molars. Brush the tounge. All that. We also do those funny faces and everything just to do it, to make it fun and funny to her so when she does it with we tooth brush she still thinks its a game. My dd is a contr freak so the key for us was to let her do her own thing. When she found it was fun she would let me brush them well then I would let her do her own thing. So it wasn't all business and she got to play with it.

This. We make lots of noises, play the AAAAHHHH game. I then just let her carry the toothbrush around while I get dressed. We have the finger brush, but that wasn't as effective for us.

Aurora_Borealis

We had lots of screaming but what has helped tremendously is giving DD a toothbrush and letting her 'brush' my teeth while I brush hers.

takmjs

I bought a toothbrush and presented it with her toys while she was playing one day. She knew what to do with it and barely let it out of her hands or mouth the whole day. My DD is 19 months, and I just asked my dentist last week when I can do toothpaste. He said now is fine, but barely scrape a little on the bristles. My daughter's been more willing to do it since then, because she likes the taste of the kid toothpaste. She chews on it quite a bit to suck on the toothpaste, but she's seen me brush my teeth and knows how I brush back and forth. I know we don't do a GREAT job with it, but the dentist said it's not as much about getting them perfectly clean, rather it's about the routine of it.

JWSchwarz

We found a toothbrush that looks like a banana (at BuyBuy baby but I also saw it on Amazon). He will chew on that but it doesn't really do a very good job. So, we have to sort of hold him down and try to get at least one swipe with the toothbrush. He gets so upset about it so yesterday I picked up a kids vibrating (spinning) toothbrush. Well DS thinks it's hilarious and I did a full detail cleaning of his teeth tonight! I don't think they've ever been brushed that well. Hopefully this lasts:) The package said for 3 or older, but we won't let him play with it or use it without us so I can't see why.

TiffanyBerry

DD watches an episode of something (Dora, Diego, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Blues Clues) on the iPad while she brushes her teeth.  She continues watching while I brush and floss her too.  WAY easier this way.  It was a nightmare to try it before we did this, and now, she's quite happy to brush her teeth!

trojas

I'm on the same boat. Its a torture every night when I do it. It hasn't gotten better yet. ugh!

samell222

Beware of the finger toothbrush he clamped down on my finger...

We play say AHH...and laugh and then he says it and laughs and then he gets in a good mood and next time we say AHH i have access...brush a little laugh it takes awhile but we get there.

jld49

Patience. It does get better. We cheer him on when he's quiet and calm and tell him " see, it's not so bad and we knew you could do it quietly! Horray!" He's much improved, but still a ways to go.