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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Kiwi Fruit, 10.2.06 & Ellie Bug, 4.5.09
14 m.o. won't let us brush her teeth. Tricks?
E hates having her teeth brushed, and presses her lips together so hard, I couldn't get pry them apart with a crowbar (if I tried that...which I haven't. Yet.) We've had limited success with the finger brush, but she bites our fingers through it--HARD--and we can't really get any brushing action b/c she clamps down immediately.
She literally has a mouthful of teeth, with molars and everything, so I hate to just not brush them, but training toothpaste hasn't helped, either.
Any other ideas?
Kiwi Fruit, 10.2.06 & Ellie Bug, 4.5.09
My blog: Bear With Us
Ideas on Teaching Your Toddler/Preschooler at Home
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Re: 14 m.o. won't let us brush her teeth. Tricks?
I let her brush her own teeth for a bit, then I give her a toy to play with, turn her around and let her see herself in the mirror (I set her on the countertop when we brush her teeth).
Once she's occupied with the toy, I'll take the toothbrush from her and brush. It's easy with the bottom teeth, but she hates me brushing her top teeth... If she purses her lips I squish her cheeks to make her mouth open and generally I am successful.
Do you brush in the morning and night? I'm wondering when I should start brushing in the morning .... right now we only brush at night.
Yes! We bought a Spin Brush a few months ago (they are 5-6 bucks at Target) and it has made brushing his teeth so easy. He loves to press the train button to make it spin.
Blog Chart
First, give her her own toothbrush with toothpaste (most kids love the flavor) to use herself. Make it part of her morning and before bedtime routing.
Let her do her turn first (she will probably only gumm on the end to suck the paste, but you are getting the routine down. Then, do your turn and try. You may only get a couple swipes, but keep at it.
Second, get a kids electric brush. MY DD LOVES having her teeth brushed with an electric one.
Just keep at it and be consistant.
I have tired everything mentioned above (except the electric toothbrush which I will be getting asap) byt dd is NOT buying it. She will "brush" her own teeth and I encourage her to actually move her toothbrush back and forth, up down, etc but for the most part she just chews it..grrrr!
I have tried distracting her w/ a toy or letting her immitate me as I brush mine...nothing works!
When I try to muscle my way in she flails and throws her arms up and back back, I am seriously hoping the spin brush helps! Poor kid is gonna have rotted teeth =( But alas we keep at it...every single night...GL
I brush his teeth and then let him brush mine. I tell him beforehand, "we're going to brush your teeth quick, and then you can brush mommy's." He likes that. I also have to be super fast and very gentle. I think its because he always seemed to be teething. We've definitely gone through a lot of periods (when I'm assuming teething is really bad) where he clamps his mouth shut and there is no getting the toothbrush in there.
This has been posted a lot on here and other recommendations I can remember are a spinning brush, letting your DC look in the mirror, giving them a turn too and brushing your teeth while they brush their teeth, and then following up with a good brushing after.
This is what I do everytime we brush teeth...I brush my teeth 1st and give him his toothbrush while I'm brushing. He's still getting used to it and I usually say cheese and I smile really big then he opens his mouth for like 2 seconds and then sucks everything off the brush. So I just do a really fast cleaning b/c he doesn't give me much time, but he does understand the concept.