brushing teeth nightmare
star1123
member
Aiden just absolutely refuses for us to brush his teeth. It's awful. I've tried so many things: distraction - brushing his teeth while letting him watch a show, letting him pick out his own toothbrush, letting him brush his teeth with one brush, while I use another...etc. All tactics work for maybe a few days, but then that's it. Him picking out his own toothbrush was the most successful, but then a week later he decided it wasn't so fun. I even tried a sticker chart, which again, worked for a week, and then he was done.
He goes to the dentist for the first time next week, and I am already dreading it. I know he won't let anyone near his mouth. I feel like canceling it, but feel like maybe just going there and getting used to the environment won't hurt.
Any suggestions for getting his teeth brushed that doesn't involve DH holding him down, with me brushing with Aiden screaming bloody murder?
Re: brushing teeth nightmare
How are you positioning him to brush his teeth? Hazel used to be very opposed to teeth brushing, but it has to get done. I would sit her up on the kitchen counter, stand so that my hip was between her legs so she couldn't get down, wrap my arm around the back of her shoulders and place my hand on her forehead, and use my other hand to brush her teeth. There's no escaping from this position
Now she likes to brush her own teeth and is pretty good at it, so I start and get the backs of the teeth and let her brush the front and her tongue. We also have the sprout goodnight show app (its free) that has an awesome tooth brushing song/video, that's really got her excited about brushing her own teeth.
J used to really fight but not so much anymore. He likes when we let him sit on the counter and he can see what's going on in the mirror. We sing a brush teeth song, we've brushed the teeth of all of his stuffed animals, now he's fine with me doing it first then letting him do it himself for a min.
When he was fighting someone (I think on here) suggested wrapping him in a towel while you did it.
We need to go to the dentist too - I'm nervous but I figure they're pros and maybe they'll have some good tips for you. It's not like you have the only kid who hates brushing!
If he puts up a fight we don't move on with the morning or night routine until he settles down. He doesn't want to miss books or woobie so he gives in.
There's a couple of good tooth-brush videos, one with Elmo that was temporarily a hit at our house.
Otherwise, it's all about coaxing by pretending to be different animals at our house. Can you open your mouth like a hippo? A walrus? A monkey?
This is pretty much what we do too, although lately she's been battling it again. Bums me out. I've had some success with "let's brush baby's teeth" (her babydoll), and now let's show baby how Grace brushes her teeth. This also works for when she doesn't want to eat dinner. Let's show baby how Grace eats her broccoli, etc. Go figure.