Help with 17mo teeth cleaning please!

[NadjaCravensworth1]

Any tips to get a 17mo to clean her teeth? She won't let me do it AT ALL, just clamps her mouth shut if I try to do it for her. She will take the brush (cute toddler toothbrush) and bite it and brush for maybe 3 seconds and then done. She's got about 6 teeth. Any tips for making her do it for a bit longer or letting me? I don't make a big deal out of it, try to sing songs, brush mine at the same time etc but she seems to be resisting more and more. She's not talking yet but she understands most things and definitely knows what I want her to do. She's a really content child, not difficult at all so I'm sure its me doing something wrong in the process!

Two things you could try. Put something she really wants right in front of her eyes but she only gets it if she has her teeth brushed.

The other thing is to make it a fun experience. I used to claim that certain teeth made animal noises and when you brushed them you made the noise. So you'd suddenly start making pig noises then go back and brush the same teeth again to see if it happened again.

Is she just 17 months @NadjaCravensworth1 or is she almost 18 months?

Thanks for the suggestions, she's just 17 months, I'm not sure she'd understand the concepts just yet but will defo try!

Ok so if she's just 17 months and not talking I'd call the HV and ask her to do the 18 month Ages & Stages Assessment.

It's fine for them to score grey in a couple of things but if she's scoring grey or black in communication, I'd insist on a referral for a hearing test and SLT.

Thanks, I've had a look at the questionnaire and she can do about 80% of it. Defo nothing wrong with her hearing, she hears a dog bark from about 3 streets away (!) and will go and get a specific thing/perform a task in another room if asked etc. ..she's close to talking I think, lots of mama/dad/grandad and lots of animal noises so I think she just needs a little more time. Thanks for the teeth tips though, will defo try 👍