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Original poster

Cleaning 20 month olds teeth (or not)...please help!

31 replies

Justonecheese · 12/09/2011 20:20

Hello everyone, I'm new.

I'm after a bit of advice please - I am having an absolute nightmare getting my 20 month old DD to clean her teeth/let me clean them...

We have tried stickers as a reward, letting her stand on a chair at the sink and play with bath toys in the sink, singing songs, cleaning her toys teeth, cleaning our teeth at the same time-but we are now lacking any more inspiration/ideas...

She clamps her mouth firmly shut and if we do manage to get the brush in at all then it is a really traumatic experience with her crying, screaming and wriggling around, thrashing her body everywhere trying to escape!!

Can anyone help please?? Or should I not be so worried about it?

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Iggly · 12/09/2011 20:38

I give DS a rubber toothbrush thing after meals/snacks for him to chew on so his teeth aren't too bad. For proper brushing, we sing and tell him to open his mouth. Don't make too big a deal of it. You can also give a bit of cheese after meals as apparently this helps clean teeth.

Original poster

Justonecheese · 12/09/2011 21:29

Thanks iggly. Not heard the cheese thing before-DD will love that as her favourite food is cheese :)

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Bumperlicioso · 12/09/2011 22:07

I once read a thread on here where the poster would have the cat under her arm and use it's paw to help clean her teeth refusnik! In the absence of a cat we used a giraffe puppet to good effect.

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Dental health Families General parenting

YesYes · 12/09/2011 22:09

I had a great tip on here, to pretend to find animals in the zoo amongst the teeth. Used it and it worked. Still use it now sometimes!

We find all sorts of things and animals in DS's teeth!

Harecare · 12/09/2011 22:14

You have to clean teeth at that age. Sometimes DD2 23months does the same - clamps shut, it's so annoying. She's quite good at doing them herself, but I like to "check". Sometimes she's OK, but other times it's a case of holding her tight and talking nicely as she struggles and cries.
Now I'm wondering if I'm being too harsh? I HATE teeth cleaning, even DD1 who is 4 and has an electric brush still needs checking and while she doesn't get upset I get annoyed with her moving/fidgeting/singing as I do it.
Having seen a friend's DDs rotten teeth I still prefer to be strict than let teeth go dirty.
I like the puppet idea.

wonderstuff · 12/09/2011 22:20

We have a flashing toothbrush (£1 from ASDA) which is fab - it flashes for a minute for the top and a minute for the bottom - DD loves it so much, before she would impatiently whizz brush round for a few seconds and give up now she enthusiastically brushes until they are all clean. She is a year older than your dc though... I found that as soon as she understood the teeth would fall out if she didn't keep them clean she would let me brush them without too much trauma.

workshy · 12/09/2011 22:26

my kids used to have ostriches and elephants in their mouths at that ages, and they needed a good wash!

what ever works lol

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 12/09/2011 22:35

I still clean DS1's - he is just 3. We use a variety of tactics.

He is the Gruffalo and we must clean his terrible tusks.
He is Lightening McQueen and we have to examine the engine and clean his radiator.

And so on.

About a year ago we went through a terrible patch with him and teeth. In desperation we wrapped him up in his bath towel and DH held him while I did his teeth. We talked about it with him, explained how important it was and he realised that we were 100% serious about brushing them. Things improved immediately.

Original poster

Justonecheese · 12/09/2011 23:37

Thank you everyone-I might try the zoo idea, could work with her

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Harecare · 15/09/2011 22:06

Since posting on here we have had no tearful tooth brushing! DD1 (4) loves the idea of a zoo in her mouth, DD2 (23 months) doesn't want animals in her mouth, but is happy if I just find bits of whatever she's had for dinner in there! Thank you!

YesYes · 16/09/2011 14:00

That's great news! I remember that teeth cleaning struggle all too well. And it's difficult as well because it's not something you're prepared to be relaxed with (well I'm certainly not!) like you may be with sleep

Hopefully it's helped some others too :)

moonbells · 16/09/2011 14:06

we still do all the tooth brushing for DS (nearly 4) because he has a congenital enamel defect on some of them and we have to be very sure they are properly brushed.

Boy did we go through the wars with him. We've done everything from the towel swaddle to the singing game to saying we've got to get a) that bit of sausage b) oooh there's a bit of carrot (etc) to using the adult electric toothbrush occasionally.

Feels a bit odd not trusting in him to do them, but if we don't do it for him then there's a good chance he'll have to have teeth out before he's 5 and we definitely don't want that!

bearhug · 16/09/2011 17:25

I used to have to pin my DS down to brush his teeth. Much stress for all involved. Found a great tip on an earlier thread though which has worked really well for us. I do sometimes wonder what the neighbours think, but we now encourage animal noises at toothbrushing time! Lions are good, and sheep. Bees for the outside of the teeth only :)

shouldnothavegonetospecsavers · 17/09/2011 21:09

Animal noises is a great idea! I can picture ds doing the 'raaahhhhs' and 'buzzzzz' noises now! hee hee hee thanks for that bearhug

Dalrymps · 17/09/2011 21:33

It's hard at this age. We found that stage difficult with ds1 and on occasion one of us had to hold him whilst the other had a good brush. Obviously he'd squirm etc but we'd give him a sticker afterwards. After a while he cane round to the idea and let us brush them.

With ds2 (18mo) what works is to let him hold a 2nd brush then quickly brush around his efforts

Original poster

Justonecheese · 29/09/2011 21:38

Hello everyone, since posting in here I've had much more success with teeth brushing. Have bought a toothbrush with flashing light and alternate between finding animals in there and needing to get that last bit of carrot/yoghurt etc off. So thanks to all of you for the suggestions, has worked wonders :o

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Dalrymps · 29/09/2011 22:25

That's great news

smileitssunny · 13/10/2011 22:18

Thanks Justonecheese for your thread. I've watched with interest and started using the 'Is that a giraffe I see in there?' technique, with small improvements.

Original poster

Justonecheese · 14/10/2011 20:23

Ah that's good news smileitssunny! It's a bit hit and miss with us but one thing I would definitely recommend is to try and do teeth straight after breakfast/dinner whilst toddler still in highchair (a friend shared this gem with me). I was doing teeth after bath pre stories and DD is already too tired at this point. Tonight straight after dinner was an improvement.

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PurpleCrazyHorse · 16/10/2011 18:14

DD is just 2 and we're going through a bad teeth cleaning patch and when all else fails DH hold her arms and I brush them. In fact when she cries it's easier as she's opening her mouth . Teeth cleaning is a zero compromise thing in our house and I think she's just testing us at the mo. However, going to try the animal noises to see if that helps tonight and will also try straight after dinner - thanks for more top tips.

MsInterpret · 24/10/2011 20:31

Thanks for this thread!

We were having an absolute nightmare with DD (22mths) until I tried animals hiding in her mouth. I must confess I didn't think it sounded like a winner but was ready to try anything. It worked a treat! We root out tons of animals, often by her suggestion, usually the ones we've been reading about in stories - 3 little pigs, a wolf, all manner of monkeys...

CornishMade · 25/10/2011 11:46

My DS loved the animals in the mouth idea initially. At his suggestion we were also finding all sorts of other characters / family members etc but it only lasted a couple of months, sadly.... Then he clamped shut again. I was back to pinning him down and trying to tickle him (to make it a play fight rather than a real fight) but it was often ending in tears. Now he's accepting that the toothbrush train goes into the tunnel and all the passengers on the train cheer as it's such fun :o ... But it's going to be hard to know what to do with him when that idea is out of favour!

Original poster

Justonecheese · 25/10/2011 20:27

Ooh cornishmade I'm going to have to try that one-we are having a nightmare with it again and there have been lots of tears :(

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ILoveDolly · 25/10/2011 20:33

They do resist don't they? My dd2 is 21mths and although will sometimes let us brush her teeth, she will at other times do the wailing/thrashing/clamping thing. Keep at it, and also - I know this might be obvious - do you brush your teeth with her? (in the morning is easiest). My dds both liked to see me do mine. Also I like to say stuff 'there goes that cereal' - 'bye bye foody bits' etc to emphasise the cleaning function.

ILoveDolly · 25/10/2011 20:34

OK i just read your post a bit better and you have tried brushing together [hblush] tired - sorry!

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