Little man hates getting his teeth brushed

MickeyM04 · May 2013

So initially for about a month, DS loved getting his teeth brushed. He thought it was a game and would laugh the entire time. Now he decided he hates it. He swats at the toothbrush, purses his lips shut, squirms away from you and makes it altogether impossible to get in there and brush his (two) teeth. I know it's probably not the biggest deal but I don't want to set him up for bad habits of just being like, OK if you don't like getting your teeth brushed, we'll just never do it.

It's especially hard now because he's getting milk in a bottle before bed (much to my dismay as I had hoped to be able to get him off bottles but no dice so far), so I am trying to brush his teeth in his rocking chair after he finishes and keep him all zen. But he goes from zen, half asleep after having finished his bottle to squirming and hitting the toothbrush out of my hands and yelling at me, and then he's all wound up. In the morning it's the same problem even though I'm less worried about getting him riled up since he's obviously up for the day anyway. Any tips or tricks you ladies have for me would be much appreciated!

TIA!!

martinimomma · May 2013

::popping in ever so briefly::

As one whose almost 19-month old just gave up the nighttime bottle a couple weeks ago (eek)...one thing we tried at first around 12 mos was to brush during the nighttime routine and then have a bottle or sippy of water available so that he could take a few sips and "rinse" any residul milk from the nighttime bottle out of his mouth and off his teeth before getting in the crib. Not perfect, but it seemed better than nothing and it worked since he would refuse brushing right before getting in the crib. Then we slowly transiotioned to having the bottle before the bedtime routine (this was a beyotch) and we brushed during the bedtime routine.

Now we have a sippy of "milk" (still formula for us due to his allergies) before we start the bedtime routine and we brush during it. We're trying to cut down the amount of milk he gets right before bed, as we'd like to eliminate that as he nears 2, but his eating patterns are still pretty poor so we're not pushing it in favor of his getting the calories he needs to grow. That's another battle for another time.

Good luck!

VeilSdeGTO · May 2013

martinimomma:
::popping in ever so briefly::

As one whose almost 19-month old just gave up the nighttime bottle a couple weeks ago (eek)...one thing we tried at first around 12 mos was to brush during the nighttime routine and then have a bottle or sippy of water available so that he could take a few sips and "rinse" any residul milk from the nighttime bottle out of his mouth and off his teeth before getting in the crib. Not perfect, but it seemed better than nothing and it worked since he would refuse brushing right before getting in the crib. Then we slowly transiotioned to having the bottle before the bedtime routine (this was a beyotch) and we brushed during the bedtime routine.

Now we have a sippy of "milk" (still formula for us due to his allergies) before we start the bedtime routine and we brush during it. We're trying to cut down the amount of milk he gets right before bed, as we'd like to eliminate that as he nears 2, but his eating patterns are still pretty poor so we're not pushing it in favor of his getting the calories he needs to grow. That's another battle for another time.

Good luck!

That is what we did at that age, along with a quick wash cloth wipe. DD hates getting her teeth brushed and there are still nights that i just give her water and call it a night.

melly918 · May 2013

I know he's only a year old (happy birthday!), but have you tried letting him take hold of the toothbrush? Even though he doesn't have the skills to use it the right way, he can chew on it a bit and then you can quickly swipe it on his teeth and gums. You can also try the finger brush again if you've used that before. I know that runs the risk of him biting you but worth a try. Or wet a clean washcloth and run it over his gums/teeth.

Maybe the dentist can suggest other techniques.

martinimomma · May 2013

Wanted to also mention that we developed a "song" for brushing teeth (sung to the tune of Jingle Bells, identifying what part of his mouth we are brushing, like: "top top top, top top top, bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom, side side side side side side side side, front front front front front!") to keep him distracted.

Never know what might help so I wanted to throw that in there.

FmrAFBrat · May 2013

melly918:
I know he's only a year old (happy birthday!), but have you tried letting him take hold of the toothbrush? Even though he doesn't have the skills to use it the right way, he can chew on it a bit and then you can quickly swipe it on his teeth and gums. You can also try the finger brush again if you've used that before. I know that runs the risk of him biting you but worth a try. Or wet a clean washcloth and run it over his gums/teeth.

Maybe the dentist can suggest other techniques.

I still get do the finger brush most nights. It's the only thing I can do. I'm planning on taking him to the dentist soon for help.

pottermommy · May 2013

When he was still getting a bottle before bed I would wipe his teeth off with a cloth and water at bed. Then in the morning we would brush them and I would first let him brush mine, then I would brush his then I would let him play with it and "brush" his own, or you know, suck off all the water.

Now that he is a bit bigger and doesn't take the bottle and he is used to it we do the same routine at bed.

Good luck!

Karen1998 · May 2013

We tried a lot of things, with little luck. For many, many months, we simply held him in a headlock and brushed while he screamed. As he's gotten older, it's gotten easier. Now, he brushes his own teeth while we read books.

When we were still in the bottle stage, he'd have his bottle, then get his teeth brushed while reading. We tried singing songs, we tried having him do it himself, we tried the finger tip toothbrush thing, we tried a power Thomas the Train toothbrush (since he's obsessed with Thomas - the toothbrush terrifies him, BTW), we tried rubbing his teeth with a clean washcloth, we tried modeling toothbrushing, we tried brushing teeth in front of the mirror, we tried multiple brands of toothpaste, you name it, we tried it. NOTHING worked. Finally, when he got to where he was biting us consistently while brushing, we finally convinced him to brush his own teeth. It took practice and shitton of praise, but it finally, finally worked. So, hang in there. It SUCKS, but it will not scar them for life, at least not at this age. He now LOVES to brush, BTW. He brushes after lunch and at night and gets excited when the brush comes out.

You're getting to about the time for a first dentist appointment. They recommend them at about a year, but I don't know that they're absolutely necessary yet. However, our dentist did give us a super long handled toothbrush. They said they've had patients try to find them on the open market with no luck. It's a Gum "Parent's Toothbrush." The handle isn't much longer than an adult brush, so if you can find a soft adult brush with a small head, that may work. The idea behind it is that the parent and child both hold the brush and the parent helps guide the child in brushing. We haven't tried it yet, but probably should as his technique sucks. He just chews on it. Though, according to the dentist, that's okay at this age. They also gave us mouth wipes. I haven't tried those either, but I have seen them at CVS in the baby aisle.

GL. Hang in there. You're not alone on this and it does suck for a while.

MickeyM04 · May 2013

Thanks for all the suggestions. Lots of stuff we haven't tried yet (other than the headlock LOL), so I have lots of ideas to work with. Never thought about just "rinsing" with water. Or the washcloth. That's a great idea! Thanks so much to everyone!

Junebug060609 · May 2013

D went through a round of refusing toothbrushing. It started when he was getting his top canines in. I got him to be more agreeable to it by adding in toddler toothpaste, letting him do it himself (with me coming in afterwards to really do it), and cheering like a lunatic...complete with clapping (which he's waaay into right now) when he does it right. He likes the independence and the praise. It isn't perfect, I don't get as good a brushing done with him as I like, but it's a HUGE improvement over the Ft Knox that he was.

spincat9 · May 2013

Sometimes we hand her an interesting small toy to keep her occupied while we brush. Most of the time she just throws it on the floor though. Our most successful effort is to sing to her. We have a few songs we sing during teeth brushing (wheels on the bus, with crazy animals i.e. The gophers on the bus, etc.), old macdonald had a farm (again, with crazy animals), and one other. But even with that some nights she is out of control, squirms, etc. In fact, this past Tuesday night she almost fell off my husband's lap during brushing. He caught her, but she got nursemaids elbow and sprained her wrist in the process so we ended up in the ER!!!! I hate to say it, but I'm relieved to hear that toothbrushing isn't just a battle in our house.... Sorry you are having troubles!

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