Help my 18 month old wont let us brush his teeth!!

[loopylou10]

Over the last few months since my baby started sprouting his first teeth, we have had a battle trying to brush them. We followed advice from health visitors such as allowing Jack (my boy!) to hold his toothbrush whilst watching me and my husband brush our teeth, also to pretend to brush the the teeth of his favourite teddy. This was meant to allow jack to see that brushing teeth can be a pleasureable experience. However, this was not the case. Its not that he wont have the brush in his mouth, cause he will. He just wants to do it himself but all he does is suck the toothpaste of the brush without any real brushing action. When he has the brush in his mouth we then try to take his hand and encourage a brushing motion but he just flings his head from side to side and starts whinging. The last thing i want to do is to restrain him, and to me this is not an option!!. He doesn't talk yet which obviously makes it more difficult. I am going to register him at a dentist and take him for visits so he can get to know the surgery and staff, i'll also get some good advice hopefully. In the mean time does anyone have any tips. I am sure i'm not the only Mum to have experienced this!. Your advice is welcomed.

i used to let my ds clean my teeth. after he did mine i was allowed to clean his.!

Afraid I had t go down the restraining route for a while in the end because I felt having clean teeth was more important than upsetting him a little bit. I did try to make it fun (most of the time!). Getting him to clean yours is a good tip - that helped us. The resisting phase passed.

my 16 month old can be a bit reluctant too.

i am currently trying distracting him with anything that works. he's got lots of teeth now so i really want them to get a good clean.

so far we've brushed them while in his high chair with cbeebies on , while sitting on my knee reading a story, holding random objects from bathroom cabinet etc.

the brushing teddy's teeth thing has worked sometimes. he does like brushing mummy/daddy's teeth or just sticking his fingers in my mouth.

sometimes he's ok, like you i don't want to hold him down or anything. i think that would make HV much more of a fight anyway!

good luck!

Brisk business like attitude. Minor cajoling. Allowed to play with electric toothbrush, ultimately restraint. It is not optional. They are both excellent about it now.

Personally, I'd just leave it and wait for him to want to brush his teeth.
Restraining him is only going to cause resentment towards teeth brushing, and really... is it that big a deal?

er, yes i think it is generally considered to be quite important to regularly brush teeth as soon as they appear.

i doubt they'll magically avoid decay just because they're baby teeth?

You are right jaggythistle - it's very important! Baby teeth are in fact more prone to decay than adult teeth although due to the presence of baby drool and the fact that their diet is controlled by parents (hopefully no toffees and coca cola for breakfast etc!) they tend to survive until the sugar intake/parental control changes!
However a tiny bit of fluoride toothpaste brushed around the teeth daily is vital to help prevent decay - I'm a Dental Hygienist with an 11 mo DS and I'm afraid as soon as I saw a hint of tooth I was in there with the brush! He hated it and would much rather suck the toothpaste off and chew the brush (which is actually quite cleansing and worth letting them do but will wreck the bristles pretty quick!) He is slowly getting used to me brushing them but still complains as I do have to restrain a bit but never let him get too pissed off as that is counterproductive and will lead to future trouble.
My advice would be not to worry too much and do let him do it after you've had a go.... it may mean you only do a tiny bit to start with but once he's realised that this toothbrushing lark is part of the norm and something that is done every day, he'll get used to it. Distraction is good... you can get electric toothbrushes that play tunes or you could sing a song to him whilst you brush his teeth?!

It's tricky I know as I thought I'd have no problems as cleaning teeth is my job but no-one told my son! And boy does he squirm! But he knows once Mummy has pinned him down had a go, that he gets to chew/suck happily and all is forgiven!

Hope that helps? Oh and getting him familiar with Dentists at a young age is a very good idea... a good one will let him ride on the chair etc :)

Have you tried a Brushbaby?

DS (2.4) has always been awkward/reluctant about brushing his teeth. Burhsbaby worked when he was smaller, and now he'll do it if he can look at himself in the mirror. And if Monkey brushes his teeth too. And if he can do mine. After all that, he brushes his teeth and I give it a final going over by tellimg him i need to "Check for spiders"!

I'm afraid I went down the restraint method. We would ask dd "nice way or nasty way" if she refused to open mouth, we would put her on floor, hold her mouth open (all gently) and brush. 20 seconds later all is calm again, but she certainly often volunteered her mouth at the mention of "nasty way" Now at 3.5 she cleans her teeth brilliantly, and allows us to too. In fact it is her favourite passtime

another vote for restraint here - better than a mouth full of mouldy teeth! it was horrible for a few months, and then she finally gave in and conceded that it was going to happen no matter what. She's 2 now and pretty good: we clean her teeth and then let her mess with the brush herself 'up down up down' she says (I know that's not A1 brushing technique, but it's a start)

I think good oral hygiene is something that will set them up for life - all the elderly people I know who didn't take care of their teeth are really suffering for it now

i used to hold DS2 upside down across my knee, tickle his tummy and whilst he was laughing then give his teeth a quick brush

now he is a bit older (2.5) I pretend that he can't be a really scary monster until his teeth are clean - part way through brushing I get him to "Rah!" at me in a scary monster way, I then act a little bit scared but promise him that I'll be more scared when his teeth are even shinier

good luck!

My DS flatly refuses too (15 months) and I don't fancy restraint. We use a Brushbaby and he seems happy enough (most days) to chew away on that, as long as mummy or daddy have a go too. I've been told by an orthodontist that at this age having the flouride smeared in the mouth is the most important thing. As someone has already said, we control their diets pretty well at this age so we don't too worry about too much nasty stuff causing tooth decay.

I do make sure DS sees me clean my teeth "normally" though, in the hope that soon he'll want a go!

I think 'restraint' might be over-stating it a little - DP would simply hold her arms by her sides while I brushed her teeth...wait to you have put eye-drops in and then you know the meaning of 'restraint' in relation to a a 2 year old!

Restraint / lockdown here.

My parents didn't muck about with tooth brushing when I was little and I grew up without fillings and good teeth. Same goes for my dc's too.

We used a puppet to brush dd's teeth at around the same age. I believe one mnetter went so far as to get the cat under her arm & use it to brush her LO's teeth!

Kids under the arm and it done and dusted very quickly here. You don't need to use that method for long, they soon realise that it has to be done.