How do I get my 2 year old brush her teeth

[BrownBearr]

Please help.

My two year old daughter is stubborn, getting her do things is a challenge in who outsmarts who.

Brushing teeth is one where she is definitely winning at the moment.

we tried brush teeth song and it worked for a while but no more

we tried sticker chart and well, doesn’t quite work either (much)

I tried to explain why it’s important but well, too young for that.

Tried to say once you brush your teeth you can do X, ended up not doing X at all as she’d rather not do that than brushes her teeth…

I need tips from you smart people. How do I outwit my two year (and 4 months) old. I’m not going to physically force her….

PS
we have a video of it that my daughter now thinks is hilarious.

. It really doesn’t matter a fuck if they don’t want to brush their teeth, they absolutely must

Totally. Not brushing their teeth because they don't want to is neglect. You are doomed if you can't get her to do such basic tasks.

I give my little one my toothbrush to brush my teeth while I brush his teeth at the same time, seems to be working so far.

I used dire warnings of how teeth can rot and fall out if you don't brush them.

I possibly overdid it and terrified my dd but it worked.

It's not "gentle parenting" but I preferred it to brute force.

As an aside, this is how we prevent her from running into the road. I told her about a friend of mine who got hit by a car, was alright in the end but had to be in hospital for a long time. Of course I'd use force to stop her but I've never needed to because she (rightfully) doesn't want to get run over.

Ps also, strawberry toothpaste.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMrtK-kYnE

Another one agreeing with the non negotiable holding them down, you don't have to do it more than a few times before they realise it is happening the easy way or the hard way!

All those suggesting songs and games and letting them chew their toothbrush at the dining table, etc etc. How the fuck do you get anything done? Make them get their shoes on, get them in a car seat, get them to hold your hand?

I tell my DD to let me brush her teeth so we get rid of teeth monsters making holes in her teeth. Then I pretend to be seeing the monster and tell her to quickly open her mouth so I can catch them.

All medical stuff is non-negotiable in my house. I will pin down for medicine, eye drops and teeth brushing as necessary. Medically complex 3 year old makes this especially crucial, but it's generally important.

There are loads of 2 minute chunks of Duggee on YouTube, so we usually play one of those (chosen by the children) while we brush teeth. If they won't do it nicely with that then they have to do it the horrible pinning down way. We started with Duggee's toothbrushing song on YouTube.

I got my dad to take his false teeth out in front of my DS when he was about 2/3 and said "Do you want teeth like Grandad?"

He didn't. It was equal parts disgusted and intrigued.

At two though, pinned between knees, arm around his arms, windows closed so the neighbours didn't think he was being regularly murdered.

He older now, still kicks off every day about toothbrushing but knows it's non negotiable.

Pin her down. If you don't win this battle now when she's little you won't ever get her brushing her teeth when she's older and pinning an older child down is traumatic and dangerous as they are stronger and much more likely to get hurt flailing about with a toothbrush in their mouth.

Have you seen the video if a man ramming in a stick into the mouth of a t-rex? You essentially have to do that and hope you survive. Or think likr a cat owner trying to give their cat a tablet, towel burrito and get it done before you’re bitten.

This is sadly true…
it’s just a mandatory in our house

bad teeth have cost me and my husband ££££ we have a selection of baby brushes and toothpaste’s (not as bouji as it sounds)
and I let her brush mine while I brush hers.

Not sure OP appreciated the responses ...

You need to brush them for her as a non-negotiable.

I still haven’t read all of the responses. Been busy, didn’t have time yet to get to this properly.

I did use last night and this morning combination of what everyone said in terms of explanations on here and we had a good clean without any protest.

I hear what people are saying with the pinning down but with this one (this child of mine) it makes things so much worse. We tried it on numerous occasions and it really doesn’t work. We are talking proper fight, distress, and not calming down for a long time after it’s over. Do it twice a day everyday, just getting worse..

Wanted to get back to this and say big thanks to all again.

We have brushed teeth every morning and evening without fail since this post.

We put a song on, pause the video, make eye contact or at least I keep saying look at me, then explain it is very important to brush teeth, need to get the germs out, then if she is reluctant I say no teeth brushed no ice cream (no she doesn’t actually get one every day) and repeat that a few times until she starts getting it, then say if she doesn’t let me do it I still will take her and force her so say it’s her choice, let’s do it nicely. If she still protests I say playfully aaaahhhh, I see the green monster in there, let me get it.

Last few days she has been trying again not do it by insisting she does it (and actually doesn’t brush anything) so I paused the video and said she needs to actually brush or I do it or no ice cream and then back to aaaahhhhh, green monsters.

But I feel like we cracked it.

So thanks for all the various tips!!!

This is bringing back some memories. I always found it funny waiting for the opportune moment when my toddler was crying so much that they would open their mouth nice and wide for me to get the toothbrush in. My go to technique was cradle back of the head with left hand, brush crazy fast with right hand.

When my little one wants to brush her own teeth I say 'mummy first, then your turn' and even give her the tiniest bit of tooth paste when it is her turn 🤣

So glad it's less of a battle now! Well done for the win!

I don’t know that a two year old is old enough to brush her own teeth - you need to stand behind her and brush her teeth as though you were brushing your own. Is there some video she particularly likes? If so, put that on your phone and stand it at the back of the sink so she can watch it while you’re brushing her teeth - works with my DGC.

Glad its going well, as with everything toddlers/kids it won't be linear but stick with it, its such an important habit to instil!
I am very much not a 'force your child' kind of person, I have buckets of patience and will literally wait out my daughter for ages until she allows me to brush her teeth (on days we have that time!) but even I have had to go through the holding her still and brushing her teeth moments on occasion. Teeth brushing & changing a poo nappy as pretty much the only times I have physically forced her to do anything. But these are important health things that can't be ignored.
Don't fall into the trap of letting her brush her own teeth as they definitely aren't capable enough at this age - we do let her 'take her turn' though and just brush longer than 2 minutes when she's calm to make sure it all adds up.
We did have some horrible times when she screamed and got so upset brushing her teeth but we only forced it in the morning so she had time to calm down because getting her worked up before bed like that was much worse. So we focused on getting the morning one done and then evenings were a bonus until we got her more used to it and now its relatively easy with only the occasional refusal. We also sometimes did teeth brushing downstairs after dinner instead of waiting until just before bed as she wasn't as agitated.
It gets easier, as with most things!