Tips for teeth brushing?

ilovedesi · March 2014

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a toddler who refuses to have her teeth brushed but I'm wondering if there are any tricks or tips to make it easier. We have tried different tooth brushes, different tooth paste, we have distracted her with toys, and even let her try to brush herself, nothing works.

fusionbride · March 2014

It took our LO over a month of doing it every day for her to tolerate it without a fuss-- Just keep at it.

We have a little routine where I tell her we are going to brush, let her hold and play with the toothbrush for a little bit, then I sit on toilet (lid down obviously), and hold her in my arms to keep her arms down, and then I brush her teeth- I sing "Pop goes the weasel" through twice, stopping each time and throwing her up to scream "pop"-- the song distracts her as she is waiting for the pop. then she gets to drink a little water from a big girl cup, which she loves.

some days she likes it, others she cries, but I do the same thing every time and it has gotten a lot better from our first few attempts.

SandFHasse · March 2014

Lurking from my BMB. I let DD play in the bathtub while I brush her teeth. She can't run away so I don't have to chase her down. Now she knows when its time to brush and she stands up and says ahhhh.

LSU628 · March 2014

It probably helps that DS gets to watch his sister brush his teeth. I let him stand up on her step stool so he can see himself in the mirror. He thinks he's hot stuff on the step stool. I can normally get him to say "Ahhh" for a few seconds. It's prob not the world's best brushing job, but it's better than nothing. At this point I'm not using toothpaste- just water and the toothbrush.

Jackiemxoxo · March 2014

This is difficult for us too. I try to do it while she is in the tub but she still tries to purse her lips shut. I usually let her do it some and also try singing a song that has to do with brushing her teeth so she looks forward to the song.

ilovedesi · March 2014

Thanks for the tips!

[Deleted User] · March 2014

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jennyelf · March 2014

The things that worked best for us were letting LO brush our teeth while we brushed theirs and letting LO brush one of his stuffed animal's mouth while we brushed their teeth. Now we're finally at the point where as long as we're brushing our teeth at the same time, LO will brush their teeth. Then we say it's "our turn" and we brush LO's teeth for a minute to finish the brushing.

ilovedesi · March 2014

Well, we tried singing a song tonight during brushing, it actually worked for about 30 seconds which is longer than we got to brush her teeth the day before so I see it as a success!

tifdaski84 · March 2014

LO used to get so excited to have his teeth brushed and would sit so still for it but he's changed his mind in the last few months and now it's a bit of a struggle. Like a PP mentioned, I don't worry about getting 2 good brushes in a day. We do brush twice, but we don't force/fight it. He's usually ok for the first little bit so we try to start in a different spot each time. That way, each section of teeth is getting a pretty good brush once a day/every two days.

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