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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

Cleaning teeth - or NOT!!

37 replies

LizzyBott · 20/02/2005 19:39

Can anyone help with any useful ways of getting an 18 month old, determined little girl, to clean her teeth properly (ish) as at the moment all she will do is suck of the paste and eat/discard the brush. STRICTLY NO HELP ALLOWED!!

OP posts:

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HunkerMunker · 20/02/2005 19:42

Can she choose an all-singing all-dancing toothbrush (the pinker and more glittery the better?!)?

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lapsedrunner · 20/02/2005 19:43

Sympathy but no solution! DS is now 2.5 and I still have the same problem.

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Lonelymum · 20/02/2005 19:44

Oh my ds3 (2) is a nightmare with this (and most everything else too!) Every day, i let him have a brush around first (ie he eats the toothpaste) and then I have to pin him to the ground to attempt the briefest of brushes. GROAN!

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NotQuiteCockney · 20/02/2005 19:45

We don't always bother getting DS1 (3y5m) to brush his teeth. He never gets sweets, so he doesn't have cavities. The dentist and hygenist both think his teeth are fine.

Other tricks ... do yours while she does hers? Let her see herself in the mirror? Make silly noises or a song or a dance about tooth brushing?

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roisin · 20/02/2005 19:48

LizzyBott what helped for us at this age was to take him to the (rather scary) dentist. Who told me that I MUST BRUSH HIS TEETH TWICE A DAY, and if he wouldn't co-operate I should pin him down and brush them properly anyway.

It scared the living daylights out of ds1 and he immediately started co-operating with teeth brushing!

(PS Then we swapped dentists to a more child-friendly one!)

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Ameriscot2005 · 20/02/2005 19:52

I think wafting a toothbrush in the vicinity of their teeth and you are 90% of the way there.

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Surfermum · 20/02/2005 19:52

I have the same problem too. DD (21m) loves doing it, but only if she can do it herself. I do the same as Lonelymum - let her have a go then attempt to do it myself as well. If I clean my teeth she wants to do hers too, even if they've already been done, so I'm currently trying to get her to copy what I'm doing.

If it's any consolation I asked the dentist for tips. He has a dd 6 months older than mine. He laughted and said "I'm a dentist, my wife's a dentist and even we can't win that battle."

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joesy · 20/02/2005 19:53

LizzyBott my 19 month ds is exactly the same. So I will be watching with interest for any ideas.

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Twiglett · 20/02/2005 19:54

always brush your teeth at the same time as her

don't make a deal of her doing it

but when she starts to look bored do a check

sing song voice

'now did you brush this one, did you brush this one, lets see if you brushed this one' and on and on

or say 'the dentist says mummy must always check

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Lonelymum · 20/02/2005 19:56

Surfermum, that reminds me of my dentist. He has a dd a bit younger than my ds3. The second to last time I went to him and asked if I really needed to brush ds3's teeth as I was finding it hard he sounded shocked and said yes of course. Last time I went and mentioned I was having difficulties still, his advice was more sympathetic, along the lines of I know what you mean, just try your best! Obviously his dd was causing similar problems!

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mummytummy · 20/02/2005 20:14

I get DD1 (2.9) to sing scales as loud as she can while I brush her teeth. She has to open her mouth wide to make it really loud, and I clean them quickly. I also occasionally let her clean my teeth while I clean hers. They still don't get done as well as they should be, but at least they get some toothbrush contact!!

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Frizbe · 20/02/2005 20:17

I let dd (15.5mths) brush her own in the morning (same as most people, this involves sucking the toothpaste off the brush!) with the deal that I do them in the evening, which goes well if she feels like saying ahhhhhhhh whilst I brush them, or it goes like a battle field, with me pinning her down and reminding her that she does them am, and I do them pm!

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Twiglett · 20/02/2005 20:39

from about the age of 3 we started doing vowels too

a e i o u

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expatinscotland · 20/02/2005 20:56

You have my empathy, LizzyBott, dd (20 months) is the same. She gets VERY stroppy if we try to help her.

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mishi1977 · 20/02/2005 20:58

i do my teeth at same time as ds and he has a brush of mine and i do his we also sing laaaaaaaaaaaa while brushing so he does the back ones..he is 16mths and another who hates any help so i tried to turn it into a game

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mummylonglegs · 20/02/2005 21:09

I do the same as Frizbe with my 2.4 year old. She sucks the toothpaste in the morning and I brush them when she's in the bath in the evening. She always tries to get away with doing it herself but I refuse to let her and just say 'teeth now or we get out of the bath'. She's such a bath addict that it usually works. Getting her to remember to keep her mouth open is a different story ...

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sallys · 21/02/2005 10:04

We have 2 brushes for my dd aged 2. She chooses which colour she wants and we put paste on both. I let her go first and say "Ella's turn" then after a bit say "mummy's turn now". We keep repeating this until either the teeth are clean or she's had enough (usually the latter!)At least there's a fair chance some tooth cleaning is going on! Hope this helps

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psychomum5 · 21/02/2005 12:09

Oh the joys of teeth cleaning ..

I don't think I can offer any better advice than there already is here, but when mine play up, and each of them have at some point, I just let them do teeth first, then say it's my turn. I normally have to have 4 turns per teethcleaning session, and do a bit at a time, but it seems to get the job done. The other option is to pin them down, but in my house it sounded like I was trying to murder the child...LOL....not always the best plan for getting them to enjoy it, or even attempt it ever again. I have learnt that the hard way, as said child now has fillings..

Good luck, and just keep it as low key as possible for now. With mine, accept the pinned down child, they were all over the issue by age 2.6yrs, and willingly let me help. And by the time they are 3, most kiddies are able to be reasoned with anyway.

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sansouci · 21/02/2005 12:22

I haven't tried putting any paste on ds' brush. Getting it in his mouth is challenge enough. Dd loves to swallow her paste so she only gets a tiny bit. Is toothpaste actually bad to swallow over time?

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melsy · 21/02/2005 12:32

soo timely this thread , I was just gonna start a similar one , my dd ia also 18mths and now has learnt to do the quick sharp turn away of the head action!! I got a trainer set : one little short brush and a longer handled one , cant remeber the make biut got it in boots. I give her one and then take it inturns to try and clean hers myslef with the longer brush , bit now she wants to hold both. Will need to preservere with the singing songs and lalalalaing !!!think its time to her alittle step to stand at the sinklwith so she feels all grown up doing it like mummy. Some good tips here!!!

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RTKangaMummy · 21/02/2005 12:36

Get the child to clean your teeth after you have cleaned theirs

IMHO you should clean your childs teeth for them until they are about 6 or 7

But I realise it may mean having to pin them down and that they will not like it.

I know it is an unpopular opinion and that I will get shouted at but IMHO you sometimes have to do things our children do not like.

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fisil · 21/02/2005 12:36

We brush ds' teeth once he is in bed. There are a lot fewer places that he can hide! When he clamps his thumb in his mouth so you can't get in, I dive bomb his mouth with the tooth brush until he takes his thumb out to laugh.

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RTKangaMummy · 21/02/2005 12:38

DO it in the bath they can't escape from there either

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piffle · 21/02/2005 12:39

I had to pin down and sit on ds as a youngun, he is now 11 and still lackadaisical about brushing, we are still on at him.
DD 27 mths loves it, we made it a whole occasion, the only time she hates it is when teething and we let her do it herself, if a bay chews the brush with paste on, thats reasonable compromise until you can "coax" (bribe coerce, blackmail, threaten them into some better behaviours later on...

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zubb · 21/02/2005 12:41

I remember a thread on this ages ago where someone said that they played a game when brushing their ds's teeth, and told him that they were trying to get things out of his mouth.
I know that sounds weird, but with ds1 we used to say that Bob the builder / Scoop etc was hiding in his mouth and we had to get them out so he'd open wide and I'd be able to brush away. He loved it - would come up with others that were stuck in his teeth, and it was a great way to clean them.