suggestions for brushing teeth with a 1 yr old?

[DebRiz]

My DD is 13 months and cut her first 2 teeth a few weeks ago. I've been trying to get her interested in the toothbrush (with & without toothpaste) but all she's interested in doing is throwing it on the floor or sucking the wrong end! I've tried to get her mouth open but no joy and she just gets into a state......
Any suggestions??

I started by letting DD dip it in a glass of water herself and just chew on it. She loves waving it around and splashing water on me.. At this age it's more important she is relaxed about having a toothbrush in her mouth so just let her play with it.

I let my dd play with her toothbrush with and without toothepaste before we started brushing her teeth. Once she got used to the sensation she was great at letting me do her teeth and often wants to do it herself (she's 22 months).

Agree with all that's been said - also try

*ignore her and just brush your teeth n her presence. she will prob want to do it too!

*use the mirror to play

*sing a silly song

*letting her clean your teeth and playing around it.

More important at this age to get them used to toothbrush, than the need to give their teeth a good scrub.

What worked with ds was to brush my teeth at same time, giving him his brush to copy/chew/whatever and also sing silly song about brushing teeth.

cool, thanks for the suggestions. I think the dentist got me paranoid when i was last there as he said leaving milk residue on them over night could damage them!
I suppose as with all these things its easy to get stressed but its just not necessary.......!!