11mo refusing to let me brush her teeth - advice?

[emeraldgirl1]

She just closes her mouth and won't let me get the toothbrush in. If I persist, or get her to open her mouth by making her laugh/smile and then get the brush in, she starts crying.

She is teething so I guess it may hurt but tbh she shoves everything else in her mouth when teething so it seems illogical (though whoever said babies were logical...?)

Don't want to make it into a battle but I really want to get her little teeth brushed. She is having lactulose and calpol at the moment so lots of sticky sugary stuff and I want those teeth brushed!!

Had minor success one night by suggesting we 'share' the teeth brushing - she holds the brush for a few seconds, then I take it and brush, and so on. Only worked once.

I try to do my teeth at the same time but that doesn't seem to entice her either.

She also resists face washing but I can get around that with brief distraction. Can't see a way to get her to open her mouth for teeth brushing though!!!

Any advice?

Sometimes counting can work - just start out with counting to ten so she gets used to it and knows it will stop when you get to ten, then when she calms down a bit about it you can extend to fifteen, then to twenty.

Alternatively you can try singing a song whilst you brush and she'll get to know that the brushing stops after the song (plus it distracts them nicely).

Do you explain what you're doing to her? I am always amazed at how much they understand how young

My DD was similar and my dentist said just her chewing on the brush/bristles is good for her. She was also teething at the time and I think it was just down to sore gums. Eventually she went back to letting me brush them.

Thanks v much!!
Hadn't tired explaining actually which is odd because I explain most other things... will try it.
also willl assume she may well be better when not teething (ps when does this bloody teething hell stop??!)

find a toothbrushing song to sing her while you do it

Have you tried one of those Brushbaby silicon toothbrushes (or I think superdrug and tesco now do rip-off versions)? They worked a treat whenever my DDs were uncooperative about teethbrushing - you just smear some toothpaste on and they bite down on the brush, then I tried to follow up with a quick check after if they'd let me.

My nanny had the bright idea of talking through the things you've eaten that day as you brush ('let's brush away the porridge...' Etc) - that got us through a tricky patch quite nicely too.

I did the counting thing and singing a familiar song/nursery rhyme too so that she could know when it would finish.

I also gave my dd a toothbrush of her own to 'brush' with in between me brushing. Obviously she was just poking it in her mouth and biting it but she got the idea off 'mummy's turn, now dd's turn'. She seemed to enjoy it more and I actually got some brushing done. Hth.

Brush baby was great for us right through to 18 months. The dentist had no problems with us using it. We've had many battles since. We now try a mix of brushing each others teeth, us or him brushing every soft toys teeth first & sanctions like no story etc. The last is clearly a last resort.

We've now moved onto threats of no chocolate ever again -he's 2.5 yrs & it's amazing how that's focused his mind!

I tried a reward chart at 2 & it didn't work, he just didn't understand the concept. Stickers & nursery workers making a fuss if he had one worked for a bit too. The stickers had Peppa Pig on & even though he never watches it, the others kids do & wanted a sticker too!

One thing I think helped was nursery bought some teeth brushing books & read them to him.

Thanks everyone.
We had hysterical meltdown when I tried brushing tonight so I do need to try something... Will investigate brush baby!

We bought a DVD with a song about brushing teeth (can't remember what it's called but I just searched on amazon) - also have several toothbrushes - at least three, so the child can hold one in each hand and you have one left over for actual brushing. don't let it become too traumatic - lots and lots of praise and applause for letting the toothbrush in for 3 seconds, then stop and don't push it further, work your way up gradually. Getting some toothpaste on each tooth will help even if you don't get to properly brush each tooth.