To stop brushing 18 month olds teeth

Well it was my niece and I took my sister and her husband to go do it. I said friend not to be outing incase the title of this post peaked her interest as she's on here sometimes too. Nope not just sweets regular about of sweets and food as well and no brushing. She didn't like her teeth brushed. It takes ages for adult teeth to come in and she looked awful not to mention how hard it was to eat as well. Damage also can go under the gum line as well. Seens i touched a nerve...lol. I wish it was a fake story but you have a wonderful day and remember to brush 3 times a day!

I think it's normal to get resistance at that age and still too young to expect them understand (or care) about the consequences of not tooth brushing.

When they bite down on the toothbrush tickle them until they release it.

Does DC watch you brushing your own teeth? Maybe they'd like to have a go at brushing yours for you? TBH though we used a combination of the Hey Duggee song and pinning them down at that age.

I just tried the Pokemon app someone recommended here, it’s brilliant

It doesn’t matter if you have to pin him down. You must brush his teeth morning and night.

Not sure if it’s mentioned but we were adviced by community dentist (asd child) the most important thing is getting the toothpaste on the teeth and not washing the toothpaste off. You can use your finger or the little toothbrush you put on your finger. We then slowly built up the brushing. We would give ds the brush to chew on. We used to pin him down but this actually works so much better plus he’s teeth are doing better for it. I also know this is the current advice health visitor have started to share.

This is exactly what Dr Barman’s 3 sided toothbrushes are for - very quick brushing for children who hate tooth brushing! Even if they do 5 seconds with one of those it’s better than nothing. Also fruity toothpaste that isn’t minty at all is good.

I tried pinning mine down to brush teeth and it was honestly horrific, I’d do anything to avoid that like little brushes between tickles to get them opening their mouth, playing silly games, stupid songs, rewards for doing it themselves… it does get better.

Try getting him to do teeth on a morning whilst you are doing yours, make a game of who can make the most foam with toothpaste x

Playing this on the phone, and the burrito wrap method worked for us.

There are plenty of other songs to choose from.

We never allowed them to 'win' this one battle.

My DC had lots of sensory issues with tooth brushing. I got rid of all minty toothpastes and bought a variety of flavours from brushbaby which went down much much better. As my DC took a dislike to toothbrushes I bought a silicone chewable brush on which I put some blueberry toothpaste and put it beside my DC in different settings. It took a while but once we had got into using a toothpaste tasted ok and the chewable toothbrushes we moved to proper toothbrushes. Take it in stages and know you will get there.

I had the same when my child was younger. I continued to brush his teeth and since about 3 he was tolerate of it and now at 5 he seems to actually enjoy it. Wrap in a blanket, lay him so his arms / legs can be held by your legs and face his head towards you and do it, when not actually brushing his teeth give him a toothbrush to practice using on his own, let him see you brushing your teeth first. Not brushing his teeth will mean pain and multiple dentist appointments which will be more of a struggle than brushing his teeth.

When my sons resisted we've let him do it/had him brush ours while we brush his, changed his tooth brush to a thomas the tank engine one, let him see himself in a mirror while we brush his teeth etc.

It's none negotiable to brush their teeth twice a day, doesn't take much for milk teeth to start to decay and although they fall out, it doesn't look good and teaching him.now means oral hygiene remains good hopefully all his life especially when permanent teeth come in.

• let him play with the toothbrush and do it himself to get used to it again, don’t force it as he will have negative associations with it now
• get a puppet or teddy and do a silly voice and get teddy to brush everyone’s teeth, yours, your partners and he might think it’s cute and allow teddy to brush his

I would also recommend you read how to talk so little kids will listen, great book for any new parent

Of course you can't let his teeth rot! (Hoping you're being sarcastic there) it's neglect, however exasperating it is.

How about brushing the 'teeth' of a soft toy alongside his? At the same time? Singing a song together whilst doing it eg; teddy and (child's name) are brushing their teeth, brushing their teeth, brushing their teeth, Teddy and (child's name are brushing their teeth, til they're nice and clean) to the tune of here we go round the mulberry bush.
He's too little to understand dental hygiene, so all you can do other than pinning him down to do it, is try and make the activity as fun as possible and try different ways to do so.

This. Keep trying different approaches like the suggestions here but ultimately carry on as hon need to so they get a half decent brush

Why can't you do yours too and make it into a game - it's possibly too late now but most toddlers want to copy their parents?

This will depend on his understanding, but I used to brush various animals and characters out of my children's mouths. No idea how it started or why they found it so funny, but lots of incredulous 'Oh my goodness, is that a lion in your mouth!? Let me have a look, oh no, we can't have a lion in your mouth! and chasing the lion or whatever it was that day around their mouths until it finally jumped out. As they started talking more, they used to tell me what was in their mouth that day.

we told him from the beginning this will happen 2x a day no matter what

easy way or hard way

and the hard way is being held down by both parents and having it done to him

now we do his turn and a grown up takes a turn

Also use a cool electric toothbrush and a really, really cool back up manual one