aaagh - toddler and teeth brushing / nail cutting

[stuckindamiddle]

tips please!

he hates his teeth being brushed apart from the odd time when it's acceptable for some reason. the twice daily battle is exhausting!

nails I usually manage to do when he's napping - deep sleeper luckily. but if I can't do them then it's almost impossible. and they grow soooo fast!

No magic solution, but buying flashing toothbrushes (you have to brush until the flashing stops) helped distract my almost 2 year old from the onslaught on his human rights that is toothbrushing. Other people have sworn by strawberry-flavoured or character themed toothpaste, but my boy hates it. I've made it plain it is absolutely non-negotiable, and he has calmed down about it of late.

Nail cutting just seemed to get better by itself. I think that once he happened to be relaxed when I trimmed them after a bath or something, and realised that when he wasn't flailing around, I didn't have to grip his hand tightly, which turned out to be the bit he hated, not the actual cutting.

Hello. What helped for us was me telling him about a girl I saw on the bus - she was about three or four and her teeth were really brown and rotten looking

So I said to DS (who is now 2.6) that the reason he needs to let mummy brush his teeth is that if he didn't, his teeth would be like the brown, sore teeth of the older girl on the bus. I elaborated a bit and said, do you remember the girl on the bus? She was crying because her teeth were all brown and they really hurt her. That was because she had never let her mummy brush her teeth. And we want your teeth to feel nice and stay white don't we!

He immediately let me and has ever since. Sometimes he solemnly says, "That old girl," while we do it!

Hopefully it wasn't overkill.....but he never wanted us to brush them before that, it was always such a struggle!

I asked my dentist for advice on tooth brushing and she said "put him in a headlock, and if that doesn't work, put him in a headlock upside down".

I'm not keen so try singing a toothbrushing song. "This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth." to the tune of Here we go around the Mulberry Bush.

Or this one:

Nail cutting seems best done immediately after a nap when she's not tired.

Teeth brushing, best option seems to be to let her have an otherwise "forbidden" item to play with (in our case, electronic room thermometer) while I do them. She also is more cooperative if I demonstrate on my teeth/teddy bear's teeth first.

I have found giving him a bit of a say in things helps, e.g. where shall we do your teeth - bathroom or bedroom? Do you want me to cut your nails in the bath or after your bath?

He seems to respond well to having a bit of control over the situation.

We have also watch the peppa pig episode about teeth on youtube a few times, which helped.

I ended up having to hold dd (then 16 mths) in a tight cuddle (facing outwards), holding her arms down and her head still while dp brushed her teeth. Because dd was screaming he could do it relatively quickly. Which was just as well because I felt like a monster.

This was after months and months of singing, playing games, reasoning, bribing etc. Nothing worked and dd was growing more and more teeth which weren't being cleaned properly.

After a few days of the tight cuddle strategy dd seemed to resign herself and now only protests a bit on occasion but gives in quickly. She even has a token go at brushing them herself at the end.

Sometimes you have to do things your children hate even though you'll feel dire.

Nail cutting hasn't been a problem as long as I pretend to cut at least 4 teddies nails first and sing tommy thumb. I started off my cutting my own nails in front of dd and she seemed quite fascinated by it.

we always brush our teeth together as a family. Always have done, so he sees us do it and naturally wants to imitate.

If he is reluctant to let us do his teeth, I sing 'tickle those teeth, tickle those teeth. tickle tickle tickle tickle those teeth' and he sees it as a game and will let me at them.

We keep things jolly and playful. If he really really objects we don't push it. It has often meant he was actually teething, so was sore.

DH and I have attempted to turn it into a game and call it Tickle Teeth - after his bath, DS1 lies on the changing table and either DH or I blow raspberries all over him whilst the other takes advantage of him laughing his head off to brush his teeth.

Seems to work although it only works with 2 people! DS doesn't seem to mind having his teeth done but now will only brush if we tickle him at the same time.

Every couple of days we make DD watch the episode of Night Garden where the Tombliboos brush their teeth. She's slightly more compliant for a couple of days afterwards. We do have to stand there chanting the rhyme about the Tombliboos brushing their teeth to make them shine like loons though