1 yr old hates tooth-brushing...

[HensMum]

We've been brushing DS's teeth since they came through at 6 months. He never used to mind, but it's got worse and worse and now will not tolerate it at all. I have to say I've been kind of letting him get away with it, especially last thing at night as it's literally the last thing we do before putting him in his cot and I don't want to wind him up too much. I also don't want to make toothbrushing into a battleground as I suspect that's only going to make the issue worse. However, he's not had his teeth brushed properly for the past couple of days, so this morning I held him tightly while forcing the brush in, with him screaming. Not ideal .

What's best to do? Try and keep it light and hope he'll come round? Or force him? I've tried making a game of it, letting him watch me brush my teeth but it's just got worse. I really don't like to force him but also don't like the idea of all of his milk teeth rotting away...

If he's anything like my DD, he won't come round.

Which is why, at 2.5 years, we still have the screaming routine, with me practiaclly pinning her to the floor to get the brush in her mouth, every night.

I hate it, she hates it, but not sure what else to do!

Sorry!

I always just put a tiny bit of toothpaste on Ds's brush and mine, give him his brush and we both brush our teeth together. He basically just chews it, but it's better than nothing and better than a fight.

my ds went through a phase for a few weeks of not letting me brush his teeth. I felt pretty bad after forcing him for ages when I found out he was pushing out a couple of teeth poor love! Perhaps your ds is about to get a couple more teeth? When my ds was at his worst I got a finger brush, it was much easier as he used to love biting my finger [ouch!] but I used to rummage around a bit at the same time to get his teeth vaguely clean. Worth a try?

finger toothbrush

DD used to be a reluctant toothbrusher, but now she loves it. The only problem is that she always wants to do it herself rather than letting me help.

Me brushing me teeth whilst she did hers helped, also doing her teeth whilst she was in the bath.

The best thing though was the cbeebies toothbrush song. She now asks to brush her teeth like Lola. They don't show it much anymore (they do the stupid thing with Chris and Pui dressed up as a tube of toothpaste), but think that it's still on the cbeebies website.

Oooh, I like the idea of brushing in the bath. He enjoys his bath, even when over-tired so we might be able to get it in then. Will try a finger-brush too. We used to use one but he went off it. He's definitely got at least one more tooth coming so I don't blame him for not wanting it done, but still, it has to be done.

I always do ds' teeth in the bath in the evenings, much less messy apart from anything. He now gets in to the bath and points straight away to his toothbrush and shouts "dat" to get me to do his teeth

DS1 had a period when he didn't want to brush his teeth and I started to brush them in the morning and he liked it. They get so tired and highly strung in the evenings, so I brushed his teeth in the morning or during the day for a little while and then it became easier to do them at bedtime.

my dd was like this. the dentist told me to get her in a headlock and bloody do it!
they have to have it done, the more you do it the easier it gets. now she's two we play more games, I sometimes let her scrub at mine while I do hers.
A thing I read recently from the dentist says they can do their own teeth...at age 7! So get him used to it now

Tried the finger brush last night and this morning and it was much better! I think it's the novelty of a new thing at the moment so may try switching between a finger brush and normal toothbrush to keep him interested.
Thanks for the suggestion!

Glad that helped hensmum, hope your ds continues to co-operate!