Tooth Brushing Battles

[JollyPearlShaker]

I have a 3 year old daughter and trying to get her to brush her teeth is a real battle every morning and night, but I find the evening brush the most difficult and also the one I give up on most. Is it the same for everyone? Any tips to avoid the meltdowns in the evenings?

Have you tried an electric toothbrush? Oral B make a Frozen one that my DD was pretty impressed with at that age.

I'm a typical MN no screentime zealot but I let both of my children (aged 4 and 22 months) watch videos at toothbrushing time. Older one has been watching Numberblocks (occasionally Alphablocks, Colourblocks or Wonderblocks) since he was about 2.5 and got bored of the Hey Duggee toothbrushing song. The result is that he has healthy teeth and is really good at maths, so that's a double win.

Can she say what she dislikes about it? If the toothpaste is too strong or she dislikes the taste, you can get tasteless Oranurse. If it’s the feeling of the brush, you can get triple sided brushes that mean the whole thing is over quicker.

Try a different flavoured toothpaste. You can get fruit flavoured ones and very mild minty ones.
An electric toothbrush helps as well or any fancy toothbrush

Also have a 3yo, also have toothbrushing issues. We rotate through:

• Watching a video, this is either a toothbrushing song or a video that is max 2 mins long so there's no drama about turning it off
• Doing a 'speed run' ie we do everything for getting ready before a timer goes off, so it's a race against the timer and teeth are included in that
• Brushing in a stupid position, last night he wanted to lie on his bed sideways.
• Pretending to be on a mission/paw patrol/whatever tv he's into at the moment and needing to brush to achieve something/complete the mission.
• Race against his baby brother
• Good old fashioned threats 😅like no books until teeth are done
• If all else fails I wrestle him into submission. I am all about autonomy and independence but teeth are non-negotiable here, no matter how upset he gets.

It's such a fucking ball ache, so boring, and I almost died when the dentist told me most kids need help brushing until they are SEVEN YEARS OLD. Help.

We have been having this battle with our 8 year old since he was little. EVERY SINGLE DAY. TWICE A DAY 🫠
Things we did... Changed toothpastes, numerous times until we found one tolerable, watched Videos at brushing time (Hey Duggee and Blippi toothbrush songs were winners) and when really little we let him brush our teeth at the same time. Good luck!