Brushing my baby's teeth - any tips?

[mydailymailhell]

My baby now has six small teeth. I'm trying to brush them but he clamps his mouth shut when I try. I've tried playing games with him with the brush, letting him play with it etc to no avail. I've resorted to rubbing toothpaste on his teeth and risking getting bitten! I bought s standard baby toothbrush but can't remember the brand but it seems quite hard. Can anyone recommend a soft toothbrush or any tips on how to successfully brush his teeth?

My first dc was easy with tooth brushing. Dc2 was a nightmare - I had to hold him back and just get in there (sometimes with him screaming) in the end as he would not cooperate! He eventually grew out of this and suffered no lasting trauma to his tooth brushing experiences I think the advice is, it has to be done.

My son is 17months old. Some days he is fine brushing his teeth, others it's a real battle. But I do quite like his toothbrush. It's soft (comes with two replaceable attachments, depending on baby's age), electronic and also lights up. So can be helpful as my son usually finds it entertaining and on the days he doesn't, the fact that it vibrates means that even if he is just clamping down, the toothbrush is still doing some work on his teeth/gums. Here's a link:www.brushbaby.co.uk/babysonic-electric-toothbrush.html

I've purchased from Boots and Amazon, probably available at other places too.

HTH