HELP with brushing teeth

[sneekpeeks]

My 15 mth old will not let me anywhere near his mouth to brush his teeth.

He used to love brushing his teeth, I bought another tooth brush so he could do it too and it was something we always did at bathtime, but all of a sudden he screams when he sees me get the tooth brush out

I thought his gums might be a bit sore (if a tooth was coming through), so left it a day or so, but the last few days we ve had a real fight on our hands, and its such a shame to end the day with a battle.

Does anybody have any tips/advice that doesnt involve ABH

Hi sneekpeeks.

We had this problem with dd, although she was older. We now sing the Ting Tings Great DJ to brush her teeth to.

The imagine all the girls ah ah ah bit is for mouth open and the ee ee ee part is for front surface of teeth!

I don't know if this will help or if you even know the song in question?!

But hope it helps anyway.

Thanks MT !! I do know the song - its fab !!

I've tried singing and 'say cheese, ch, ch, ch' etc, etc.......

Think got to a point now of no return

Give your dc a toothbrush to play with, get some books to share showing toothbrushing, do you brush your teeth at the same time? That is always good for encouraging them to do it, as is letting them watch themselves in the mirror.
I let them have a bash at it themselves before giving it a quick going over after.

I did think about trying it in front of a mirror, will try that later and will also look out for book.
Thanks

I try and think of all the delicious things they have eaten that day that we have to brush off. "we have to brush your teeth because you had an ICECREAM, and APPLE JUICE, and a YOGHURT, and a BANANA, and some RAISINS... ". The list of delicious foods makes her open her mouth for some reason. Worth a try?

He will open his mouth, but as soon as we go anywhere near with the actually tooth brush it clamps shut again..................

Having exactly the same problem! And ds's teeth seem to be turning yellow, which is rather worrying. Does anyone have any experience of this?

We've been (trying to) brush his teeth since he was 9 months, and like the OP, used to quite like it. He still likes putting the toothbrush in his mouth, but brushing? No way!

Can you recommend any books showing toothbrushing?

Good advice re singing and listing foods eaten.

A dentist once told me that brushing teeth with small children was all about teaching them good habits for the future. He said not too stress too much about whether you're managing to clean their teeth very well (as its very difficult and in some cases impossible!) but just keep reinforcing the'habit'. In his opinion by far the most important factor in a young child's dental health was diet(ie not too many sweets and most importantly not endlessly sucking on bottles or beakers of juice).

I am following hairytoe's philosophy. My DD - 21 months - does actually let me clean her teeth but only for about 10 secs. I have decided that on this thing I'm not going to make it a battle of wills because I think it's more important in terms of long term habit than in terms of rigorous cleaning right now (she has no sweet things in her diet - not even juice - other than fruit and even then, not dried fruit).

So you might, if you feel comfortable with it, step away from the confrontation for a few days and just let him chew on the toothbrush.

One thing we do is that she brushes my teeth while I do hers (bit messy but distracts her) or she holds one toothbrush and waves it around while I try to get in with another one.

Am just coming out of this phase at 23m (sorry)

She will let me if she's in the mood but most of the time it's still a bit of a battle.

If dp is about, he sits her on his lap, I approach with the brush and then attack when she lets rip

I let her do her own in the morning, but do feel it needs to be done properly in the evening

We had a real battle initially. Now DD is nearly 28 months and will have her teeth brush without too much protest most of the time. After trying everything I could think of, I finally said that she had to have her teeth brushed for a count of 10 (which is now 20), and she could count with me. I stretch it out a bit by saying "is that 4 now? are you sure? well what comes after 4 then?" etc etc so on a very good day it lasts about 50 seconds I suppose - enough time to cover them all. I had to go for that way of doing it even though she wasn't best pleased when it suddenly dawned on me that, yes it might be a few seconds of yelling on her part, but that the alternative was fillings and really painful dental work on a little girl. Plus when I count and she's yelling she knows it's going to stop soon (at which point she normally stops yelling, smiles sweetly and runs into her bedroom for a story).

Thanks for all the great advice, guys

Have gone back to letting him have a chew on the brush when in the bath and then hopefully after a while he will let me get back in there.
He does nt have much sweet stuff at the moment away and drinks lots of water throughout the day ~ which I heard is good cos its neutralises the acids in the mouth ~ so fingers crossed !!

daringdoris

DS teeth are going yellow too, hence the posting ~ am going to ring the dentist later for some advice on that xx

Yes HairyToe, absolutely agree about good habits, difficult to brush los teeth etc, but when your baby's teeth are yellow you start to worry!

I too am going to ring the dentist tomorrow. What did yours say?

(Sorry if this is already dead, been having connection problems.)

Couldnt speak to the dentist on friday ~ am going to try again tomorrow.

Been letting DS have a chew on the brush the last few days and this morning he let me (on for 5 secs) have a go
Its a start !!

Will post tomorrow if dentist comes up with any info