Refusal to have teeth brushed

[ab00]

Ds 1 is 22 months old & over the last month or 2 has slowly but surely started to refuse to have his teeth brushed more & more to the point now we have mouth clamped shut, screaming, lashing out physically (hitting, kicking & scratching) & tears.

He was always really good at having his teeth brushed so I don't know where this has come from. We've tried giving him a brush to do a bit himself, letting him brush the teeth of whoever is brushing his, electric tooth brush, letting him hold the toothpaste & allowing him to do as much of it as possible before saying let mummy/daddy help. All have worked for a bit but now we're back to square 1.

When you say to him 'let's brush your teeth', he happily goes to the bathroom, sits on the toilet lid ready, will chew his brush for about 3 seconds before announcing 'all done' & wanting to get down. That's when the trouble starts with him saying no, turning his head away & lashing out. I don't want to force the issue with him but honestly feel like I've got no choice - he needs to have his teeth brushed for his own sake! Last night resulted in him hitting me several times around the head before clawing face leaving me with a scratch mark down one cheek & a slightly swollen lip. After telling him very firmly no you don't ever do that, biting / scratching is not nice & is very naughty I had to hold his hands to stop him doing it again so I could brush his teeth.Even having left it for a day or 2 (yuck I know) made no difference to his behaviour.

I really don't want teeth brushing to be this battle for both our sakes & I don't want to have to literally force him to have his teeth brushed but I'm out of ideas now. Any suggestions?

He's probably getting his last molars. My 25 mo does this. So we bought a chewy silicon brush from sainsburys (in the baby aisle rather than toothbrushes I think) and I let him choose whether he wants big boy brushing or chewy. In the morning he lets me help brush with big boy brush but 9/10 times at night it's the chewy one. I think his teeth ache from all the chatting/shouting/eating throughout the day.

I know that's not perfect but it's better than leaving it.

Both my boys went through this about the same age. We went through several tatics.

2 brushes is a good one, one for him and one for you.

Watching the episode of itng where the tomliboos brush their teeth

Letting them brush
Mine at the same time.

Sitting on my knee so I could hold their arms and brush.

Finally laying them in the floor and sitting over them while trying to ignore the crying for 2 mins. Not great I know but better than fillings.

I also would start at a different place in their mouth each time to ensure that if you can't do the full brush you are not missing the same teeth each time.

I would say the more important time is before bed to clean off everything from the day. I also did their tenets more than twice a day as it helped get them used to it quicker again.

This is a real fun app from aquafresh to encourage kids to brush their teeth and they love it!
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsk.aquafresh.brushtime.UK&hl=en_GB

I was having the same problem with ds, literally I was pinning him down in the floor to do it which was highly unpleasant for both of us.

someone suggested the Elmo toothbrushing video on you tube, which although he's still a bit of a pain has made it so much easier! He watches it once while I brush, then again while he brushes. I've noticed that he's actually learning how to brush his teeth properly from it as well!

Thanks for the replies, will be getting a chewable toothbrush for him to try & will give the videos a go. Also think the idea of brushing them more could help as then at least I've got peace of mind that they're getting done, even if not all in one go!

Don't worry - this does pass. At her worst I had to pin DD down and when she was screaming it was actually easier to brush her teeth as he mouth was open and her head still.

She is still a bit of a pain at 3, but a combination of threatening the naughty chair and talking through the food she has had that day works for us. Things like "I can see a bit of carrot, did you have carrot for dinner?"

We also did some bribing with iPad time.