Teeth brushing battle

[mamjo]

Hi,

21 month old DD will happily suck her lovely minty tooth brush, and she'll happily brush MY teeth, and she'll even ask for "tuddybrush" but she will not let me actually brush her teeth.
Does anyone have any tricks? Tips? Bribes?

Any help gratefully recieved

Sorry, I've got nothing. My daughter is 2.2 and it's getting worse all the time.

Sometimes I can get her distracted enough by letting her watch something good on TV and telling me what's happening, but otherwise I have to resort to pinning her down while she screams bloody murder.

I hate it.

The only thing that worked with mine was getting another head for her big sister's electric toothbrush and brushing them with that. She wouldn't let us near her teeth before that.

She's 24 months, I doubt an electric toothbrush is recommended at that age, but it felt like it was that or no teeth brushing at all. She loves it!

I used to let mine suck his toothbrush because DH didn't want him to get a complex about toothbrushing but i'm worried that he's getting plaque. I starting pinning him down and giving his teeth a really good scrub whether he likes it or not, to start with he hated it but now he has cottoned on that its quicker if he cooperates and its more of a game now. I do it in a playful way and tell him to open wide in silly voices.

I figure that its not like potty training where forcing them will be detrimental. If needs be (with the help of DH) I can pin him down to brush his teeth until he leaves home!

(DS is 2.3)

Another one who pinned down DD here! She's 20 months and loves to brush her teeth but isn't terribly efficient, after maybe a fortnight of struggles she seems happy for it to be a joint effort.
We've been watching an elmo teeth brushing song with her for the last six months, don't know if it's helped?

Thanks all of you.

Tomorrow will be a cheesy song singing, silly voice using, screaming abdabs, sort of day!!

But those of you using the brute force method, how do you get them to open their mouth. Nose holding? I don't have enough hands for that?

Hi my dentist advises to let them suck the toothpaste off but not to rinse after, the tooth paste only works when in contact with the teeth. (sounds a bit obvious i know) but alot of people rinse after brushing which you are not getting the full affect, it is best to leave the toothpaste on and let the saliva wash it away naturally

Sorry I should of mentioned im a dental nurse!

We do a cheesy song, if daddy is around they do it together (anything DH does is a winnner with DS). Also, doing it in front of the mirror seems to help as he's kind of distracted by himself.

Ds is the same as your dd. We do the pinning down combined with trying to get him to open his mouth for different animal teeth - which works intermittently. Sometimes its just a case of getting the brush in his mouth while he shouts in protest.

I make sure they get a really good clean before bed, but I just let him do his own sucking thing in the morning because he will have only had milk iyswim.

DD only does hers if she's copying Mummy. Quite annoying when I have to brush my teeth at 7pm and I have a beer on the go in the other room.

I don't hold his nose, I think to start with when he clamped his mouth shut I just wiggled the brush on his lips until he did. It took a while but got easier each time.

Pin them down and clean their teeth so they don't rot.

But before that we try:
Teddy etc brushing your teeth
Buy every possible variety of toothpaste/brush and let them choose which one tonight
Special place for teeth cleaning - in cupboard, on radiator cover, in pretend dentist chair, lying upside down on bed, sitting on your lap.....
Be a dinosaur and when they roar quickly brush
Sing a special teeth cleaning song
Big brother do it
Watch the peppa pig dentist episode

Failing that pin them down - they soon learn

My brother thought that and his eldest had to have a milk tooth out....

I had this problem with my DS and posted on here for advise, one very wise mumsnetter told me, it's better to pin them down now to brush their teeth than to pin them down when they are having them all taken out!
That advise has stuck with me and after only a few nights of tantrums he got the message and us now no problem brushing his teeth