Teeth Cleaning Nightmare!

[Mum2Toby]

My ds is 18 mths. He has 12 teeth at the moment. We've been having difficulty cleaning them. He shuts his mouth, hits the toothbrush and cries!! It's turning into a daily battle. I've tried to make it fun by letting him hold his toothbrush when I'm doing mine and telling him I'm 'tickling' his teeth with it. He lets me for all of 10 secs then enough is enough!
When he's holding the toothbrush himself he just bites it and suck all the toothpaste off.

What do I do? I am so worried that his teeth will start to decay before he's even got them all!

Anybody got any advice.....there must be an easier way!!

I'm interested in this problem,too. My dd is 10 months old and only has 1 tooth! Since she was about 6 months old we have used one of those fingertip gum massagers to get her used to the idea of tooth brushing, but now we've graduated to a proper toothbrush she's not having any of it!She will hold her own brush and chew/ suck it, she will hold my brush, she will attempt to brush my teeth with her brush, but if I try to brush her tooth she yells, and shakes her head about.

That's exactly the same for us as well (ds 19mths) although it does vary from day to day.

I've started singing a little song (the oki kokey only with the words "we put the toothbrush in, we take the toothbrush out, in out in out, wiggle it all about" ) which sometimes helps sometimes doesn't.

I also give him a choice if he's particularly fractious whether to have his teeth cleaned right way up or upside down. He doesn't enjoy having his teeth scrubbed while hanging down from my knee but at least he tends to open his mouth wide while complaining

I also concentrate more on the top teeth in the morning and the bottom in the evening - that way I figure his whole mouth gets cleaned in a day.

I do wonder if he's getting his last molars through and he finds cleaning teeth uncomfortable, but I thought they're not supposed to come through until 2 years or so - so hard to tell. I think ds is just being awkward though. I did get into the vicious circle of it being a battle, but soon realised that was counterproductive - I try not to make a fuss now if he doesn't have the toothbrush in for long. I just hope that the toothpaste he sucks off the brush does something!

ds does drink water - very rarely has juice, so I keep telling myself that it can't do his teeth too much harm at this stage (I hope) as juice is the worst culprit for tooth decay. He does like biscuits though which is a bit of a worry

I have exactly the same problem with dd, 21 months. She has 16 teeth and will quite happily suck and chew the brush but not attempt to brush. I've tried getting her to clean mine while I clean hers and that worked once and once only. I have also tried using our electric toothbrush and that worked once and once only. A couple of months ago my dentist told me not to worry too much because there are gaps between these first teeth and food doesn't tend to get stuck, but I am getting concerned.
This morning I managed to get my fingers in her mouth without being bitten and she has one half of a back molar so maybe that's been bothering her recently but not for the last 6 months surely!
Any hints or tips from anyone out there who has overcome this problem would be very welcome.

We named ds1's teeth after his favourite Thomas the tank engine characters. Right top teeth were Percy, bottom right, Thomas, top left, Grumpy Gordon and bottom left, James. The front teeth, top and bottom were the cheeky trucks!! The Fat Controller had to then be called upon to inspect that all the engines were in tip top nick (usually his fav teddy bear!). After this we never had any probs. He was about 15mo at the start and now at 25months does a v good job of brushing them himself!!

Never had any real problems brushing teeth. I must admit we did not do them twice a day initially. To get them used to the brush I did their teeth when they were in the bath ( with fresh water from the sink tap!).
I amazed to say that I can't remember when we started brushing properly - and here I thought I would remember all these magic moments

my dd (3) hated having her teeth brushed - I invented "Mr Toothbrush" with a silly voice who likes to look in her mouth to see what she has eaten today and who will eat all the bits stuck in her teeth! Sounds a bit silly but works wonders!

honeybunny, I will remember that one!
Seems like another problem we all grapple with, with no easy answers. ds (12mo) does all the things already mentioned - buut I'd say he is just not very co-operative, rather than putting up full scale resistance. I was just hoping things would get better and in the meantime trying not to make a big issue of it - I do insist that we get the toothbrush in and wiggle it around a little. Probably not at all effective, but at this stage I am just trying to establish a principle so that hopefully he won't fight it too much when he's old enough to

Another idea for what it's worth...
We brush each tooth for a favourite person - real or fiction. DD (22 mths) will come up with names as we go. We've been doing it this way for about 6 mths and it's reasonably succcessful. Also, I stand her on a chair in front of the mirror and I stand behind her while I brush. I find that I get much better go at her mouth. I have to be fast though and some nights are better than others. I'm ashamed to say we don't do them in the morning, but I was thinking we should start....

Have to add my bit here.

Don't worry, I'm in the business and my DS makes a total fool of me during tooth brushing. It is important to get the idea of toothbrushing and as many adults are pretty bad at Tbing anyway, sucking on the brush for the wee ones is not disasterous. Make sure you use only low fluoride paste (or water only for the younger ones), as most of the 0-6 pastes are now.

It is only a phase, the good brushers will rebel one day and the bad brushers will let you do it soon.

Decay is caused MAINLY by frequency of sugar intake (solid or fluid) so be careful with snacks and drinks and try not to get stressed.

Also, I use a singing toothbrush at work to coax the wee ones. It goes 'I'm a little brushy brushy, brush them bright, morning, noon and night' You get to memorise these little tunes.

Your dentist might be able to get one, we use it just for the tune because the actual head is far too large. Which reminds me, don't buy a large head, baby heads are best, my personal favourite is sensodyne size 2, bit boring design but good size for little mouths.

Hope that helps.

Have to admit I couldn't face the battle of the daily brush when my 2 were tiny - it wasn't until they got a bit older that we really got stuck in -once they'd got all their teeth. I did feel a bit guilty but life is hard enough and I just told myself "Thats why they have 2 sets" to make myself feel better. Once thy'd got the set though I did get more serious. We used to sing kind of "Ahhh" but musical rather than screaming if you get the idea, to get the mouths wide open. Both of them are really keen to do it themselves so we have the rule that mummy gets to go first - that way I get to push the toothpaste around while they are singing. Then they get a turn. They usually run it under the tap and then suck the brush a bit but they also have a good go at brushing and I think they are getting quite good. We've had very few battles. I tend to back off if they protest too much as there is nothing worse that making an issue of it. I think its just something that comes with time.

Ds (25 mo.) reminds me if I forget to brush his teeth before bed. When he first got teeth and we started trying to brush them, the problem was getting him to keep his mouth open for more than 2 secs. He just wanted to suck on the brush. I ended up deciding that better to have him enjoying the concept than viewing it as a battle ground. So I let him do all the sucking he wanted and tried to get a little more brushing in with each new tooth. He still likes to suck, but now there is more brushing than sucking.
For the experts out there, I was wondering if it would be ok to get him one of those battery operated toothbrushes that rotate. His older step siblings have them and he is obsessed. I'm just worried that the brush is too hard for his little baby teeth.

Sofia
Not so keen on electric toothbrushes for this age group, not recommended by anyone I know to be honest. Having said that, I'm all for gimmicky contraptions that may raise interest.