Getting toddler to brush his teeth

[mumofgeorge]

Hi,
I'm after a bit of advice from experienced parents out there...

My toddler (17m) refuses to brush his teeth! He is happy to suck the brush and take off the water and paste, but whenever we try to actually brush his teeth he gets very cross and upset. We've been trying to get him to copy us (which is failing), and tried pinning him down, but I'm worried this will just distress him and make him even more unlikely to want to brush them.
He's now nearly got a full set of teeth and I'm worried they aren't getting cleaned properly.

Has anyone any good tips on how to get him to brush better please?!

Thanks very much!

you just have to pin him down
its just something he has to do

Sadly you do need to do it - I didn't push this enough with my DD who now needs a filling...

I've always done a headlock thing. Ds1 and ds2 soon understood it was easier to just let us do it. Ds2 20 months sometimes has to be pinned down for it but usually gives in.

I'd rather distress them slightly and look after their teeth than let them rot.

We began by pinning. We too were worried we would make them 'toothbrushing phobic' but our dentist said the most important thing was to keep the teeth clean.
Now at 18mos our Dts are happy (mostly) to sing Aaaaaaaaaah while you brush or they request the brusha brusha song
(Brusha brusha brusha, brush those little bickiepegs, brusha brusha brusha "I think I can see a bit of broccoli here! Brusha brusha etc. etc."
Lame, but it works (at the moment!)

Yup, just pin him down, they've got to be cleaned. Don't give him the option of not cleaning them.

OK - thanks for the advice!
Looks like the pinning down technique is the way forward. You've made me feel better about doing it!
x

I like pin and singing (her arms, generally don't have to do more than that) and start singing this is the way we brush her teeth which calms her down.

DS1 hated teeth brushing, until the dragon hand puppet came along and did it. No trouble after that (well, until he was 5 and then tried a different solution). It's a power struggle, everything's a power struggle, but if you distract DC from the struggle, they forget it's about power.....

The pinning down technique is employed often in this house. Sometimes, though, we get him to try copying us - you know, open mouth wide, cheesey grin - and get in there with the toothbrush.

We have also tried giving DS his own brush and letting him do it, following up with a quick go around with the brush. In DS's case it's definitely an independence thing and once he's 'done' his teeth he's quite happy to let someone else have a go.

This drives me mad too! When DS was that age I used to brush his teeth while he was sat in the bath as he was too busy playing with toys to notice much. Then we moved on to taking it in turns to brush each others teeth. Now he's older (2.8 months)we have been reading about Peppa and George going to the dentist; I can get him to pretend to be George. I do then have to brush Mr Dinosaur's teeth afterwards though. I also bribe him "when I have brushed your teeth, then you can choose a story for us to read".

I only have 1 child, and a part-time job so I can afford the time to persuade and cajole even if he is driving me mad. I have tried the headlock/pinning down but found my DS would clamp his mouth shut, or if I did get the brush in, he would clench it between his teeth so I couldn't move it. How anyone with more than one child twins, or a more demanding job gets through this particular daily irritation I have no idea.

It was a pin-down job with DD2 at that age (for quite a few months)

Often a 2-man job

But teeth HAVE to be cleaned (IMO, anyway)

Yes she got distressed but not as distressed as I'd have been had her teeth rotted and required extraction

Nothing else worked, btw

My DD is 2 this week and has gone through several phases of finding having her teeth brushed distressing; I imagine when there are teeth coming through it's probably a bit sore/uncomfortable, but like the others have said you just have to push on through and do it.

So far, having been restrained doesn't seem to have made her afraid of having her teeth brushed. Plus when they're howling it's often easier to reach their teeth anyway

I've done the 'you do it properly like the Tombliboos, or I do it.......... OK I do it' (headlock), or after a while, him doing it quite well and I help with rinsing.

He's 2.6 now and loves brushing his teeth because Kitty Toothbrush is waiting. He chose her himself - a hideous bright pink toothbrush with a snap-on cat head to keep clean. Probably his most prized possession - just have to persuade him that Kitty needs her sleep!

Just an update: thanks to everyone who replied. After about a week/ten days of screaming when being pinned down, he's now opening his mouth for teeth brushing and sometimes even trying to help. Hurray! Thank you so much. I'm sure I'll be posting again soon with the next problem :-)