Get my child brush his teeth!? Help me please!

[BabarLondon]

I’ve had lots of dental treatments when I was young because I just didn’t like to brush my teeth…
How do you make your child brush his teeth???

I’ve tried the fancy toothbrushes and toothpastes but no success in the long term…

Have you tried electronics toothbrushes for kids?

I’ve heard about Apps which help children to brush, have you tried?

Thank you for your ideas!!!

Yes the Aquafresh brushtime one with the singing toothpaste is great. It definitely got my dd to clean hers.

I second the aquafresh app. My ds loves it!

Mine are both under 6, so they have supervised and assisted brushing, but it's just a non-negotiable part of our morning and bedtime routine and I hope that will persist when they're old enough to brush alone. Perhaps I'm being naive :D

Good to know that App can be a solution! but I'm a bit worried about another technologic interaction in my child life...

superdrug do a very mild mint toothpaste that helped. Also, I pretty harsh, so just showed them pictures of rotting teeth. That worked.

we pretend we are at the dentists. First we play at pushing back in the pretend chair and then its Well Mr Goose have you been eating strange things today - well let me see. All done in funny voice then with lots of exclamation, di I see a bit of biscuit up there? and so on, can usually kep it up long enough to get the job done!

I got my dd (8yrs) a good electronic toothbrush and there has definitely been less moaning about brushing her teeth. I still need to remind her each day as if she can 'forget' she will choose to do so. On rare occasions she will refuse to brush her teeth at night, if that happens I am very strict about not allowing her any treats the following day.

DS went through a phase of brushing his teeth poorly so I bought some disclosing tablets from Boots which stain the plaque pink! We all had a go with them and raced to get our teeth white again.

thanks for your answers! it's really nice of you! I'm a single mum and it's not easy to find support and advice...
I specially like the dentist play! that could be fun for both! Cause when I came back from a long and hard working day I just don't want to fight to make him brush his teeth... we are both tired and not motivated...

We tried everything to get him to brush well & be compliant for us to assist and I can say there's light as at 2.9 he's lovely!

The app didn't work. He now knows it's a non negotiable & there are consequences if he doesn't. Consequences are no story (& by default less time with mummy, daddy) & straight to bed. He also knows that if you want chocolate you have to brush your teeth.

It's taken a while of drip drip drip....to get into his head. I think consistency is the only way, which I can imagine is hard when you're on your own.

Now as a toddler, giving choices helps. He has 2 tooth brushes & 2 different tooth pastes. By giving him control over that bit I believe he can then concede control & let you help him brush.

We also used to do role play, brushing his teddies teeth one by one (& he's got loads!)

For all three of mine when they were at the toddler stage we use to say 'what noise is your mouth making today?' and then when they opened their mouth we'd brush their teeth while making an animal noise. Every time they opened their mouth there was a different noise. This is apparently hilarious to 1-2 year olds.

I tell my 3-year-old I can see animals living in his teeth. Monkeys, lions, herds of zebra - we brush them out and chase them down the sink. He finds it hilarious. :)