I'm exhausted after massive teeth cleaning battle!

[TheCountessOlenska]

DD (23 months) has recently taken against me cleaning her teeth for her, she wants to do it herself but she can't do her back teeth really so I'm not sure what to do for the best . .

I have let her have her way for the last couple of weeks but tonight I tried pinning her arms and forcing the brush in - this resulted in the most MASSIVE trantrum - she was beside herself and ending up throwing her bedside light on the floor and fusing it !! Also hitting me and banging her head on the floor..

Now I don't know what to do for the best. DH isn't around at bedtimes so I don't have any help. Should I just leave the tooth brushing to her for a while?

I am so our day ended so badly!

Well I'd try a few nice distractions first, singing a 'toothbrushing' song of some sort, pulling funny faces and getting her to copy so her mouth is wide open, get her to do your teeth while you do hers. If none of that works then pinning down is the only option I'm afraid - believe me she'll be a lot more upset if she has to have teeth taken out. I lay DD across my lap with one arm holding her down and her arms out the way while I brush with the other hand. It's grim but it needs to be done. I don't brush for long, just make sure I get every surface at least once.

Have you tried letting her do them once a day and you do them the other end of the day? That's what we do. Dd is older but I've done this for a while - gives her good practise as I teach her along the way I don't just let her get on with it exactly.

with a child a little older but it got so bad with me i actually asked the dentist to have a word at a check up worked wonders and no problems since

Thanks Ling - I felt so awful forcing her as I would not usually force her to do anything but, like you say, her teeth have to be cleaned! I didn't even manage to do them properly as she was jerking her head around and she's really strong! However, she may get used to it I suppose. I will try your advice of brushing each others tomorrow as well

you could try doing it with her in front of a mirror
maybe using thoes disclosing tablets , don't know if she may be a wee bit young for those

ds is a bugger for not doing his teeth properly and he's 9 ffs!

dentist recommended xylitol which i get in waitrose and he has a tiny spoonful

also recommended stages electric toothbrush with timer

X posted - thanks all! Yes, I let her do mornings anyway and she let me do evenings up until a month ago. It is the terrible twos come early I think!

It isn't ideal but it's a necessary evil I reckon. Maybe try doing it a little earlier too? If she's tired at bedtime she's bound to kick off.

She will get used to it though, my DS was the same and he grew out of it.

I invented (at least I think I did) the "Arghhhhhh" method of tooth brushing.

DS1 had to open his mouth while I brushed but was allowed to scream Arghhhhh as loundly as he wanted all the time that I brushed.

Goodness knows what our neighbours thought!

How about my turn, your turn? You tell her she can have a go after you?

Bribe her with chocolate buttons ;)

DS isn't a fan either! Love the Aarggghhhh method and might just steal that one!

my didn't work....