teeth brushing

[readyforbed]

DS2 flatly refuses to let me brush his teeth. Either he wants to do it himself (which consists of about 3 strokes of the brush) or he clamps his mouth shut. It's not the toothpaste as he is happy enough to eat that out of the tube when he can get his hands on it! DS1 has been brilliant ever since I told him that the bugs would eat his teeth if they weren't brushed properly, but DS2 simply says "I don't want teeth" (he is 3!). Any suggestions?

brush teeth in the bath

Tried that - same response or he just grabs the toothbrush and throws it away.

brush with toothpaste on finger?

No idea

Am struggling (STILL) with dd2 who is 21m

It is a man-handling exercise every night here

or no toothbrushing until he wants to - just brush your teeth alot when he's watching.

We seem to have cracked this with DD (19 months). We bought her a sonic toothbrush and it tickles and she likes it. Also we sing the Cbeebies toothbrushing song. (To the tune of the okey cokey: you put the toothbrush in, toothbrush out, in out, in out and brush it all about, first you brush the fronts and then you brush the sides, then spit the toothbrush out.....ooooh brush your teeth in circles...etc.)

It's bloody hard to clamp your mouth shut when you are singing!

tell him if has no teeth he wont be able to eat sweets and maccy d's

agree with whomovedmychocolate, try singing. we either do the cbeebies song or some very dodgy operatic singing! i find if i brush my teath at the same time it also encourages dd

try an electric toothbrush. transformed my dd.

i find that if you lie them down and make them cry they open their mouth quite wide and you can brush them. Then sit them up and let them have a go so its not an entirely horrible experience

I have same problem with DS. Is it OK to use an electric toothbrush on kids under 6?

My dentist says it's fine and sonic one remove twice as much crap so if you only get a good 60 seconds in, it's two minutes in the manual toothbrush stakes.

thanks micci, that just might work!
will try all of these, the singing as he likes the sound of his own voice, brushing with him...and as he needs a new toothbrush anyway, might try an electric one as well. Fingers crossed.

seem to recall someone recently saying her dc only let older dc do it. hope that made sense!

just out of interest shitemum - what specifically do you do to make them cry in the first place?!

Yes, i sound a bit harsh dont i! she cries because she doesnt like being lain down and having her teeth brushed, so i dont actually have to 'do' anything. Hope that reassures you

I must admit that I sometimes have to do the same as shitemum. My dd just won't let me brush her teeth and she eats quite a bit of fruit, so I'm paranoid about them rotting.

Thanks for the advice everyone. bought electric toothbrushes today and made up a song (which included letting mummy help for a bit). Both of them had great fun and their teeth got brushed brilliantly - here's hoping it's not just a novelty thing!

Mine eat a ton of raisins and dates etc every day so they need to have their teeth brushed properly...or as well as I can manage.

When dd started refusing to brush her teeth I told her that her teeth will be rotten and instead of looking beautiful, she would look like an old witch!

It worked like a charm and now she asks me to brush her teeth three times a day!