Brushing teeth and a wilful 18 month old - any ideas?

[daisyhun]

My 18 month old dd simply will not let anyone brush her teeth and refuses to do it herself.

If I get the brush in I can waggle it a bit but then she just pushes it out. She only has 6 teeth at the moment so I think I usually manage to just about touch them all with the brush before she rejects it but does anyone have any tips on how to get her to accept that she has to do this?

I'm wondering if this is part of a bigger thing as she has suddenly, after being an extremely compliant and well behaved little girl, become very wilful, and screams if I try to get her to do anything other than what she wants. This has all coincided with the birth of my new dd (2 weeks old today) - but she seems to accept her new sister in every other way.

Any tips gratefully received!

sometimes singing a song helps with my ds...this is the way we brush our teeth being a favorite...

does she have a special teddy? perhaps you could pretend to brush his teeth first....

maybe you could let her have a brush first and then maybe she'll then let you have a go?

I would probably say it's about attention seeking and the new baby - we had a big phase of this when ds2 arrived....

maybe just some extra cuddles and attention from you would help - I know it's hard with a new baby...I always she a big difference in ds1 if we put ds2 into another room (happily playing with his baby gym or sleeping) and give him some one on one....

Good luck x