14 month old refuses to let me brush her teeth

[everythingpasses]

She screams and clamps her mouth shut! Any ideas what I should do? I'm torn between not pushing it too hard and making a game out of it with the hope that she will eventually learn to enjoy/accept it ... and just pinning her down and doing it because I'm concerned about the effect it's having on her teeth all these times that she hasn't had it done properly. At the moment I am doing a mix of the two, which probably isn't the best.

Brush yours at the same time and get her to copy. This worked with DD.

DS (nearly 17mo) will let me do about 2 brushes and then he swipes the tooth brush off me. He sometimes brushes my teeth, but never his own . He does like to suck and chew on the brush though so at the moment, so long as some fluoride is going in there, im not too concerned (yet)

Our evening tooth brush is non-negotiable. When he had only front teeth I put my thumb in the corner of his mouth so I could brush them. As he grew more teeth, a toothbrush. Now, he rarely makes a fuss, but if he does, I pin him down and brush them.

I'm more lenient at breakfast and lunch. He does his, then mine whilst I do his but I don't push it if he doesn't want me to.

Reward for a perfect brushing. We always do teeth in bath, so it was bubbles.

We always sing a song to accompany the 'ordeal' which goes like this (sang to the tune of row, row your boat) "brush, brush your teeth, brush them 'till they're clean, brush, brush your teeth so we can eat ice cream"! DD (now 3.5) has always loved it & it still works a treat!

My dd loves tooth brushing as we use a brush baby (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called. we get it from waitrose) and she's in charge. Just like a funny teether really.

Am afraid stubborn as an ox dc3 gets swaddled in a towel and when he opens his mouth to loudly complain I brush his teeth swiftly. He enjoys eating the toothpaste, running the taps, swishing the toothbrush in the sink...but refuses point blank to actually brush.

When DS refuses to open his mouth I tickle him and get in there quick while he laughs. We tried the pinning down thing but it's just stressful for both of us and I don't think it gives a good message. He'll now ask for his toothbrush when one of us brushes our teeth as he likes to be the same. I recommend making a game of it/singing/making her laugh over brute force, you don't want to attach negative associations to something so important

My DS used to never let me at his teeth. I would let him do it himself for a couple of mins whilst I do mine (I.e chewing the toothbrush)and then make game of looking for things in his mouth with the brush. Like Winnie the Pooh, Trigger, etc. Whatever he is in to that day. Works a treat for the most part.

To the tune of Mr Sandman:
Oh mr toothbrush make my teeth clean.
Make them the cleanest teeth that you'll ever see.
Make them shiny and healthy and strong, so I can keep them forever long!
Cue smile, insert brush asap.....continue singing song :)

give her a toothbrush to bite have a go with by herself and then get her to copy you. If that fails then try bribery rewarding or counting teeth - any bollox that works on a particular day.

DS loves watching himself in the mirror - he wants to do it himself so I let him chew on it and try and get in for a sneaky brush every now and then - not ideal but I don't want to traumatise him!

Don't push it, and don't turn it into a big issue - a 14 month old is at just the right age to realise that they have a power over you if you let them know you really want something they really don't want.

We bought this DVD and watched it a few times (the song is REALLY irritating but kids love it.

Buy some special bath toys e.g. these or these - when she's in the bath, hold one of these toys in one hand and the toothbruch in the other. Depending on how verbal your DD is you may have to use actions rather than words to communicate, but either way make it clear that the deal is, she gets a toy if and only if she lets the toothbrush in her mouth. First toy if toothbrush allowed in for 2 seconds, next toy after 8 seconds, next after 20 seconds etc. These toys can only be played with when she is having her teeth cleaned or they have recently been cleaned, they are stored out of reach at all other times.

LOTS and LOTS of praise and applause for how wonderful she is for as long as the toothbrush is in her mouth (obv your hands will be full so you'll ned 2nd parent on standby for applause).

Combination of these three worked for us.

I have a 14 mo too. He hates having his teeth cleaned with a passion!

He will happily chew away on his tooth brush but then throw it. It's towel and headlock that works for us :o

agree to letting DD chew on a brush after eating, it will get her used to the feel of the brush at least

she may not like mint taste also, have you tried berry flavoured pastes instead?

Yeah never mind all these people who say 'don't force it' and it will create 'negative associations'

Teeth need to be brushed, end of. Its non negotiable. I hold my DS's arms down as while he screams I brush his teeth. He sometimes lets me do it but sometimes he doesn't. I couldn't care less as long as his teeth are clean!

You need one of these.

We bought DD an Iggle Piggle toothbrush and toothpaste and from then on she was hooked.

Now she is 4 we ha e graduated to Hello Kitty.

2 toothbrushes, one for them to hold and one for you. But yes, most of the time with dd it involves holding her so one arm is tucked behind my back and I hold the other arm. She doesn't like it but while she protests I can sneak the brush in! She does seem to be getting more used to it and the second it's over she's not upset at all, so I don't feel it's that bad or traumatising for her.

I do let her put a toothbrush in my mouth to brush my teeth too which I think helps.

What you're doing sounds good to me... A balance between trying to make it positive and make sure it gets done.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, it's really helpful! x

My DD responded really well to me bringing in my own toothbrush and brushing alongside her.

My advice would be to just continue what you're doing - make toothbrushing part of her daily routine and keep modelling the behaviour you'd like. Sing some songs, make it fun. If she's anything like my DD who was VERY reluctant to brush at 15 months, by the time your DD is 2 she will have got the point and will happily brush by herself.

Don't make it a battle; there's no point in creating negative associations about brushing. IMO that will be worse in the long run than a few months of sub-optimal brushing on baby teeth.

In our house we do "T & T before B" for the kids: teeth and toilet before bed. It's a good pre-bed routine.

If she likes ITNG, the Tombliboos are always cleaning their teeth. My son can be cajoled if I sing the Tombliboo teeth cleaning song first.

I think my DD1 might have been a little older than yours, but perhaps something like this might work?

I told her that I just needed to very, very quickly chase a tiger out of her mouth. The tiger was very naughty & I had to chase him all around her mouth before he ran away.... the next morning, there was a dinosaur in there