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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Brushing Teeth - any advice for a stubborn 10month old who hold her mouth firmly shut and turns her head?

37 replies

bumbleweed · 20/08/2006 19:46

Thats it really. Sorry really pathetic question

We have 2 types of toothbrush - small baby-sized normal one, and one that goes over my little finger and neither are welcome. DD just sucks of the toothpaste and then closes her mouth and turns her head from side to side and cries and fights me off.

I know that this is completely normal. I know its best to brush their teeth. I know its best to try to take the fight out of things and go with the flow.

But ... any tips?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

morningpaper · 20/08/2006 19:47

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH

this reminds me that I MUST start brushing my 10 month old's teeth

gah I am a TERRIBLE mother

poppiesinaline · 20/08/2006 19:49

I just hand them the toothbrush at that age and let them chew it. Would she do that?

DollyP · 20/08/2006 20:04

I sympathise, bumbleweed. DD is 16 months and very unkeen. I have 2 toothbrushes, one for her to chew on and one for me to dive in with and give a quick waggle round when her mouth opens a fraction. Not very satisfactory, but best I can think of ATM.

CorrieDale · 20/08/2006 20:11

OMG, we had this too. Tears, tantrums, wrestling to the ground. And that was just me... An electric toothbrush was the answer. One morning, I was brushing mine with the electric toothbrush. DS showed interest. I put it in his mouth and he giggled while I cleaned his teeth. I have now bought some 'baby' heads (the Disney Oral B ones fit an ordinary Oral B toothbrush) and DS opens his mouth like a little good 'un. I know that the instructions say that not for under 4s, but I think that we were doing more damage to his little gums and teeth by forcing in the brush. And it's got to be better to brush them with an electric toothbrush than half do them with a manual. Well, that's my justification anyway.

Original poster

bumbleweed · 20/08/2006 20:25

she chews it a bit but prefers the non-brush end

morningpaper, aaahhh now I feel like a totally uptight paranoid mother who has ingested too many leaflets on child dental health

is it just a case of trying to brush for a few seconds but not fighting too much?

OP posts:

jamiesam · 20/08/2006 20:33

bumbleweed - I would totally second what Corriedale says about electric toothbrushes, it's made all the difference in our house. Ds's are 3 and 5, we started to use elec brushes a year ago. Not only do ds's now brush their teeth, but i get to finish off.

I'd never noticed the 'don't use under 4 yrs' label but you are just as gentle with elec as with manual toothbrush. And there are loads of different toothbrush heads that your dd can choose between...

Previously I'm afraid that when cagoling etc didn't work, I've resorted to holding ds's down and forcing manual toothbrush in their mouth. Not proud of myself but when they realised resistance was futile they tend to give in - and didn't seem to hold it against me afterwards...

jozefkira · 20/08/2006 20:36

Hi, maybe try letting her have it in the bath(then buy another one!) my DD did this and liked putting it in the bath water then chewing it, let her 'make friends' with the tooth brush in a different situation so not to make it an issue. good luck!

Original poster

bumbleweed · 20/08/2006 21:22

thanks for the electric toothbrush suggestion, I would never have considered as have never used one myself - I will look at them

yes perhaps just letting her play is the answer for now

cheers

OP posts:

bettythebuilder · 20/08/2006 22:22

bit late, but I've recently bought a childs toothbrush that flashes for 60 seconds (my dd is older, but it might prove interesting for a 10 month old, too!)
Even better, it was only 29p, so must be worth a go! (from superdrug, btw)

Tatties · 20/08/2006 22:43

My 16mth old is the same. Occasionally he will let me have a good brush, but more often not! Sometimes what works for me is tickling him or making him laugh so he opens his mouth wide and make a joke of the whole thing iyswim Also sometimes if I persist for a good few minutes he just gives in (even though he is very stubborn)

lovecloud · 20/08/2006 22:46

Let him brush your teeth with your brush which they usually enjoy and with the concentration he should open his mouth but make sure you tell him you are going to brush his at the same time - make a game of it.

But dont worry too much about how well you do it, at that age the routine of doing it is more important.

how many of us had our teeth cleaned twice a day at that age and our teeth are fine... actually

bobblehead · 20/08/2006 23:34

My dd is the same (14 months) and nothing seems to work. Why is it you shouldn't use electric on an under 4?

PrettyCandles · 20/08/2006 23:53

My tip would be not to bother brushing her teeth. Make sure that the last things she eats in the day aren't sticky things like raisins. Give her a toothbrush to play with (without toothpaste, just wetted) while you brush your teeth in front of her, and leave it at that.

It could be that she's teething and the sensation of the toothbrushing is just too intense ATM. Leave it for a while.

fussymummy · 21/08/2006 00:12

When my eldest who's 8 now, was tiny, i used to sit him on my lap with his back towards me and put a mirror in front of him so that he could see what i was doing to him.
He used to love watching himself.

With one of my daughters she used to like to try to clean my teeth while i cleaned hers.

We used to make it into a game, but it worked.

Good Luck!!

bobblehead · 21/08/2006 02:11

I did wonder if dd hates it so much as she has teeth coming in. They don't seem to bother her normally but I suppose it would feel not that nice with someone else scrubbing a toothbrush over them! Perhaps I will ease up a bit....

threebob · 21/08/2006 04:08

Having read that 48% of 5 year olds in NZ have a cavity, a filling or a missing tooth - I have pinched ds's nose and then popped in the toothbrush when he opened his mouth.

Go on - have a go - I haven't slept for 2 days so I'm ready for you.

As for lasting damage - well he now cleans his own teeth twice a day, and makes a pretty thorough job of it - wonder why?

jamiesam · 21/08/2006 11:08

Should have admitted that I only started being REALLY mean with my two after ds1 had a filling at age 4, two other teeth that need watching and another tooth 'beyond repair'. They've got no worse in the subsequent 12 months, and ds2 has clean bill of health from dentist. But I got it VERY wrong with ds1 - not enough toothbrushing, too many raisins and neat fruit juice (now he has more chocolate and squash! - and water, apples, blah blah) But honestly, they do enjoy electric toothbrushes - ours beep after two mins, ds's like telling us that the beeps have gone.

riab · 21/08/2006 12:45

DS (16 mo) isn't keen either. I tend to give him toothbrush and toothpaste to play with/ chew while I do my teeth then stand him in the sink in front of the mirror and have a quick swipe around. I'd say we get a half decent clean done about 3 times a week!

Surfermum · 21/08/2006 13:08

I used to tell dd that the tellytubbies were in her mouth and I was going to tickle them. It didn't always work though. If it's any consolation I asked me dentist for tips and he roared and said "I'm a dentist, my wife is a dentist and even we can't win that battle".

99redballoons · 21/08/2006 13:41

Agree with the others about trying to stay relaxed and make it into a game... watching in the mirror, doing it in the bath, have an older sibling do something funny so they're watching them and not realising their teeth are being brushed, give them something else to hold/play with, singing the 'this is the way we brush your teeth' song... Now that ds is older (3.2) we play the guessing game with what he had for dinner - 'oh is that a bit of carrot I can see there' etc. Sometimes we go into the bathroom talking and they don't even notice their teeth are being brushed cos you don't even point it out or stop chatting.

But must admit both mine (ds3, dd 9mo) had teeth from 4/5 months and I introduced the toothbrush then and they've never really rejected it, so my advice to anyone is to start brushing from that age regardless of whether they have teeth or not so it's not a strange thing when they are actually old enough to 'think' about it!

HTH !

clairemow · 21/08/2006 14:08

I asked my dentist about this as DS was screaming and refusing to open his mouth too - although he was older by then (about 14 months I think). I was worried by statistics about cavities as well. She suggested lying him down between my legs, putting his arms under my legs (i.e. trapping him!), then DH tickles him so he opens his mouth, and in goes the (electric) brush. We gave it a go, nasty as it sounds, and it worked a treat. Now - at 2.3 yrs - he gets a choice between doing it himself and having Mummy/Daddy do it. Guess which he chooses!!!

Original poster

bumbleweed · 21/08/2006 18:50

Blimey it just show how slow it is on on mumsnet at the moment for this to make home page

I have to admit that having read alot recently in the newspaper about tooth and gum decay in young children, and reading up the official dentists advice, we started brushing as soon as dd's first tooth came through at 5 months. Its so important I think, I would be horrified if she had a problem with her baby teeth because we were blase about brushing.

It was fine the first few months she used to like it for the fun value until the independent phase started.

I hate the idea of restraining her to do it, as it seems rather brutal and would worry it would make her even more reluctant through negative association. But I hear what people say that eventually it makes them choose to brush their own and no harm done!

I prefer the suggestions such as tickling and fun flashing toothbrushes (especially as cheap) and just generally trying to make it more fun (which we have tried a bit but this has encouraged me to try even harder).

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - most of all I am glad it is not something we are doing wrong and it is just how it is for most babies - we are first time parents so question and analyse most things we do and seek advice, cheers.

OP posts:

Tatties · 21/08/2006 20:44

lol Bumbleweed

threebob · 21/08/2006 22:10

Some things are non negotiable - and I fall more into the matter of fact this is what we do in this family type of toothbrushing than the fake cheerful, "this is really good fun" camp.

After all we are always being told NOT to do that with food.

SpikeMomma · 21/08/2006 22:12

a cunning system of leves and pulleys and blocking of all nearest bathroom exits works for me.

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