15 MO wont let me brush her teeth!

maybebaby3456 · September 2013

My LO is 15 MO and has recently developed quite the independence streak. One night about a week ago I let her hold her toothbrush while brushing her hair after bath, before bed. Ever since then she seriously will not let me do it. I think its great that she knows to stick her toothbrush under the water, tap it on the sink and put it in her mouth but obviously shes too little to do a decent job brushing. If I try to do it for her she FREAKS. This happening with anyone else??

Erinvp120 · September 2013

Let her brush your teeth while you brush hers...that's what we do and it seems to work!

vintagejjane · September 2013

Yes! ^ we do that too.

salbabe79 · September 2013

with Eva and I i brush her teeth 1st then give it to her. she seems to understand that i do it then she does it

sunnyday016 · September 2013

I literally have to sit on my son (not putting my weight on him, obviously) to brush his teeth. I pin his arms between my knees and crouch over him. There's no way to do it with him otherwise. He cries of course, but that kind of makes it easier because his mouth is open. After that, I let him have a turn.

jasminelorraine20 · September 2013

I've tried all the tricks and nothing works. I literally have to hold him down on the bed and brush his teeth while he's laying down- It's a struggle, but it gets done.

meglette417 · September 2013

I started at calendar and everyday that he lets me brush his teeth he puts a sticker on it. We have had not one issue since. I tell him lets brush our teeth then you get a sticker and he opens up his mouth it is great!

allardr · September 2013

salbabe79 said:

with Eva and I i brush her teeth 1st then give it to her. she seems to understand that i do it then she does it

we do somewhat this. I give her a toy to hold to keep her from grabbing the brush too. Sometimes if it's real bad I"ll say its her turn but once she puts it in I "guide" her hand to do it. It's never one long brush, it's quick get the bottom, spits out, quick get the top, spits out, try one more time, then give it to her lol

yepyepsms · September 2013

I had a coworker suggested getting a five dollar spin brush. We started by just letting him play with the spinbrush so it wasn't scary and he naturally started putting it in his mouth. After a couple nights of just letting him play with it I tried to brush and it worked perfectly. Most nights it works or he wants to do it himself which of course is not really brushing:) not perfect but better than when we were using a normal toothbrush. the spinbrush is also now a teething remedy. He likes to just hold and spin away on the teeth that are coming in.

salbabe79 · September 2013

just this week, when i say 'brush your teeth', Eva automatically opens her mouth now. it wasnt always pleasant but we getting it now!

Babybear70 · September 2013

Typically I give Taylor his toothbrush after we have scrubbed up in the tub, and I let him brush his own teeth for a few minutes. I remind him to go back and forth, and I show him how to do it with my own toothbrush too. Then I take the toothbrush and say 'Let Mama finish up!" and I really get his teeth brushed and clean. I want him to take the first stab at doing something for himself before I step in to help. Some days it goes well, others it doesn't. But I'm trying to establish the 'you do it and Mama will check' type of checks and balances for later on in his life. This was the perfect place to start for me.

blushingbride_08 · September 2013

Dh holds him down and I brush. He screams every time. We use a spin brush. He had a cavity so I am anal. Before I would let him brush himself.

biancag7 · September 2013

jasminelorraine20 said:

I've tried all the tricks and nothing works. I literally have to hold him down on the bed and brush his teeth while he's laying down- It's a struggle, but it gets done.

This. My 15 month old will brush her own teeth no problem. (of course not very well) But as soon as I take the tooth brush & tell her to let mommy do it, she clenches her mouth closed very tight. lol. My friend's kids teeth are horrible & when the dentist asked her why she doesnt brush them she said its so hard to get them to let her. (They are like 6 now) He said you either make them brush them or he has a mouth full of metal.. Hence the holding down of my DD lol

hbr.white · October 2013

We also bought a $5 Dora the Explorer spin toothbrush. This seems to have done it. Our DD hates it when be brush her teeth. She likes to do it herself and she loves Dora (so we doubled the excitement for her); although, she's not thorough when she brushes with a regular toothbrush. We figured at least with the spin toothbrush it would be doing most of the work for her. We encourage her to move it around, and the toothbrush does the rest.

janinekrause · October 2013

Everyone needs to chill out. The ONLY reason 99% of dentists say to brush a kid that young's teeth is to get them used to it. My dentist was thrilled they enjoyed doing it, even if they are no good at it. They eventually learn. My 4 year old is still not great at it but I help her out to get them really clean. At 1 and 2, who cares? Their teeth are NOT going to be ruined if not properly brushed at under 2.

SunAndRain · October 2013

janinekrause said:

Everyone needs to chill out. The ONLY reason 99% of dentists say to brush a kid that young's teeth is to get them used to it. My dentist was thrilled they enjoyed doing it, even if they are no good at it. They eventually learn. My 4 year old is still not great at it but I help her out to get them really clean. At 1 and 2, who cares? Their teeth are NOT going to be ruined if not properly brushed at under 2.

I have a hard time agreeing with this. My friend just dropped a few hundred paying for a cavity filling on her child's non-permanent tooth. Her dentist said in come cases not fixing it could cause problems down the line. Who wants to take that risk?

janinekrause · October 2013

Really not sure. Very conflicting literature. My dentist is excellent. His advice was to keep trying but if it was a battle, forcing it could make them so against it all. He said let them do it themselves if won't let you do it, then try again in a few weeks, etc vs. losing your mind and shoving a toothbrush in their mouth. He takes it slow with them and makes them comfortable i.e. my 4 year old's enamel is weak on some teeth, and is waiting 3 months to fix it.

doggie mama · October 2013

janinekrause said:

Everyone needs to chill out. The ONLY reason 99% of dentists say to brush a kid that young's teeth is to get them used to it. My dentist was thrilled they enjoyed doing it, even if they are no good at it. They eventually learn. My 4 year old is still not great at it but I help her out to get them really clean. At 1 and 2, who cares? Their teeth are NOT going to be ruined if not properly brushed at under 2.

I agree. DD usually takes the brush from me and tries to do it herself while I finish getting her dressed. Then I try to finish up if she'll let me, but honestly, I just don't have much fight left in me at the end of the day. I don't give her anything but water after that. She doesn't have sticky foods like dried fruit throughout the day. I have to pick my battles, and if I got worked up over half the stuff that would have worried me before my husband died, we'd never make it.

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