Mumsnet Talk

What the bloody hell am I supposed to do with a 2.7yo who HATES having her teeth brushed?

So far I have tried:
Singing
Counting teeth
Seeking out all the animals hiding in there (don't ask)
Having her brush mine/teddy's while I brush hers
Explaining why we can't let food stay in our teeth
Stickers
Fruity toothpaste
Different tooth brushes
Brute force

Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. She'll run away when she knows it's time to brush them, kick, scream, hit, the works. I'm really at a loss. I don't want to make it a long lasting problem by making her hate it even more (if that's possible) but I need her to know it's something that really needs to be done.

Pleeeeaaaaase help!

Have you tried giving her a brush and you having one?

That's another one that should have been on the list; her starting and me finishing. I've only ever done it with one brush though so I'll try it with two.

Thanks btw

Get 3 of them, dd likes to have one in each hand then I have the 3rd.

Also do you let her put the toothpaste on?

Take her to a child friendly dentist and let them explain the importance. Tell them the tell her it's a big girl responsibility

No, haven't tried that either. Will get some spares and let her do the toothpaste and see what happens!

Good luck

I also try reading a book and if that doesn't work then I go with the brute force

She had her first trip to the dentist a couple of months ago and she was awful (the dentist, not DD!) No 'bedside' manner I was all prepared to ask her advice but she was so quick about things, never cracked a smile. I just left feeling really sad that DD's first experience had been so rubbish.

I'd change dentists but we're nhs so the choice is limited.

My DD 3.1, insists she cleans her own teeth and has hysterics if i try to do it for her - but she doesn't brush, just chews. However, we have just had success today with her soft peppa pig toy holding the brush and cleaning her teeth that way - peppa can do it, but mummy can't.

My DD (2) and I tickle our teeth. Plus I let her see me brushing mine and enjoying it (making funny noises and giggling) through out the day. Take her shopping for new brush that she chooses herself. Making it seem fun will pay off. Kids love to copy

Google xylitol and buy some of the mints!

We have the very same problem here - I can highly recommend Wilkies fruity toothpaste (exactly like bubble gum from the eighties) and Santa is your friend. Have a look at Portable North Pole - there is an option about brushing your teeth, so your child can get a message from Santa saying how good they are for brushing their teeth. Now my little boy actually CRIES if he thinks I might forget his teeth!!! Worked like a charm here...

Have you tried brushing your teeth and letting her watch - or anyone else in the house brushing theirs. My son loves it when his uncle says he's going to brush his teeth just copies! However he does chew the brush quite a lot as well

By sheer chance I bought DD a Dora the Explorer book (Dora is her heroine) from the charity shop for 20p, and without even looking at it it turns out it was about a dentist visit and brushing teeth. I couldn't get anywhere near her teeth beforehand. Now I just have to say 'like Dora' and she lets me do it. Does your DD have a fave character? You never know, they might have a teeth-brushing book.

The "tickling" the teeth thing also works wonders too - turn it into a game.

I totally sympathise, DD was like this for, oh, nearly 2 years. We did all the things on your list and suddenly it stopped and now it's great, she starts, we do the back ones, she's even learning to spit (under threat of getting white marks on her teeth). So really I'm just saying, this too shall pass, really really.

As for the dentist, ours is v nice but in terms of advice, he said, it's a parenting issue not a dental one and you have to do it and ignore any crying and in 2 weeks they'll get used to it. Hardy ha ha, I wanted to say to him, as we went into the second year of some kind of crying no matter what japes we tried, brute force or no.

A battery operated Spiderman tooth brush did it for DS and DD has one that plays a tune when two minutes are up.

Have you tried different toothpaste? DS rubs his nose and needs to shut his mouth and it turns out that he might be slightly allergic to his toothpaste. Changing it has helped.

DS has a chewing toothbrush which he uses happily.

Every few days I lie him down, clamp his head between my knees, hold his arms with my free arm and give them a good going over with a normal toothbrush. Recently he's become quite compliant. I've kept up a monologue of 'Oh wow! You're doing really well; brilliant <DS' name>' etc. whenever he's worked with me.

I found that even when prepping him in that obviously unfavourable way, saying in a calm voice 'I'm going to do them very gently' and soothing him with words made him less likely to freak when I started/open his mouth nicely for me.

He's 2.10 - I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as Zoidberg says.

Sounds bad but I had same problem with my dd, I now give her my phone and play her favourite tv programme on you tube and now she doesn't make any fuss. Distraction all the way.

This is going to sound awful. When DS was going through that stage I used to pin him down and brush them. Now it goes like this:

me: time to brush your teeth
him: no
me: mummy do it?
him: me brush

It was horrible for that week but now he happily brushes himself and his teeth won't rot so I feel it was justified.

If they won't be cajoled, then you have to wrap them in a big towel, and just do it.

A gentle headlock here. Do try a hippo/cow/crocodile/insert animal here mouth first.

Nightmare and experienced the same a few months ago.... took him to a lovely(sorry) dentist who said mummy first and then u ! So every night now my wonderful boy says the same and brushes well !! X

I have had similar problems. DS has never let me brush his teeth, he will only do it himself. We tried all sorts, tried pinning him down, but he clamped his mouth shut and struggled so much that I could see us injuring him if we forced it. I took him to see the dentist today who said it was fine if he cleaned his own teeth at this age (he's 2). Successful tricks I tried to get him interested in brushing his own teeth were buying a flashing toothbrush, letting him clean his teeth in front of his favourite programme and then leaving the brush downstairs for an hour or so afterwards as he usually has a few go's at it. This evening I gave him his brush while he was having a bath...I was gob smacked when I said "can mummy have a go" and he let me brush away for about 5 minutes. I appreciate that none of the things I have tried are ideal, but I figure that if he does it, at least the brush and toothpaste are getting in there without him hating the whole process.

We used to have major issues with this and tried all sorts of things. At the moment, DS1 2.3 years brushes his own first then mommy does it (that is the condition - he gets the toothbrush first as long as mommy does it second). He likes to put the toothpaste on himself. But he also loves a phone app called Talking Ginger where you can talk to the cat and it repeats what you say in a high pitched voice You can also brush its teeth, blow dry its hair etc. and it has a tooth brushing timer, which is very long, but I don't know... may be worth a try to encourage him to brush his teeth like Ginger??!