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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Top tips for teeth brushing?

4 replies

legoismylife · 07/05/2009 21:25

I have a 2yr old who I spend every evening battling with to brush his teeth. Tonight in desperation I tried to smear toothpaste around his mouth with my finger but it only ended with his teeth clamped shut on the end of my finger while his big brother tickled him to get him to let go. He didn't. Ouch! Any top tips for making this less of a battle very welcome!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

ilikeyoursleeves · 07/05/2009 21:29

Has your DS always been like that or is it new? My DS (1.5 yrs) goes through phases of liking getting his brushed or hating it, things I've found helpful are singing (esp 'what's my name it's iggle piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggle' while brushing quickly only on the piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggle words- he seems to find that funny!), getting DS to 'brush' my teeth plus his toys, brushing them in the bath, holding him in a headlock, letting him chew on the brush, sitting at the sink and doing it while he plays with water etc.

Good luck!

Aranea · 07/05/2009 21:38

I've always found making up toothbrushing songs helps.

Or checking behind the back teeth for dragons. Or peering down the throat to see if you can spot the kangaroos down in Australia.

Basically anything that makes it less of a chore and more fun.

feedthegoat · 07/05/2009 21:43

We had varying degrees of success with checking for certain things ('lets see if you have any monster teeth' etc). This worked for a while then wore off. Reading a story book which stops if he messes about is working a treat at the moment. He also has a go himself when we've finished. I've just got to get him to open wide for the dentist now!

bosch · 07/05/2009 21:47

Make it clear that brushing teeth is not a choice. And tell them that you can see what they ate that day on their teeth, mine have all loved that.

Ds1 and 2 (7 and 5) have electric toothbrushes, we'll get one for ds3 when he's 3, but I will brush ds3's teeth for him until he's 5 at least (think guidance might be til they're quite a bit older)

Ds1 had fillings because we didn't fight enough over brushing teeth. I felt so bad, I've never taken any nonsense from any of them since, I brush their teeth/they brush their teeth, it happens...

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