DD refuses to brush teeth

[ThirtyNineWeeks]

DD just turned 2 and will not let us brush her teeth (she is capable of doing it herself, which we encourage, but she refuses). Any tips? I'd hate to think her milk teeth are going to rot; she has snacks with sugar in cakes/biscuits/chocolate/fruit but has only ever drank water - absolutely zero fruit juice or squash etc.

Find a nice flavoured toothpaste and get a cheap disposable frozen electric toothbrush

I think you just need to tell her straight that no teeth brushing, no snacks.

Don't let her promise to brush them later if you give her the snacks now, do it the other way around.

So if she's a good girl at bedtime with teeth brushing, and again in the morning she can have her snacks tomorrow. If she refuses to brush her teeth at bedtime tomorrow then she gets no snacks the following day. And stick to it. It will be hell at first but she will have to learn the consequences of her choices and decisions.

Thank you. I am way too soft (and DH has given up completely; no support there). You'll think she's precious when I say she has a weirdly acute intolerance to noise (cries when I use the handheld vac and recoils in alarm when the cornflakes packet is rusted) and hence I've avoided trying an electric toothbrush

Does she ever see you brush your teeth? Would "brushing my teeth with mummy" be something she might go for?

Had this battle with my daughter for many many months from a similar age. Unless she's very advanced in her understanding and emotional intelligence I think she is too young to understand that something that happens today (not brushing teeth) results in a consequence tomorrow. You have to try whatever you can to persuade her, make it into a game (can i see a fairy hiding behind your teeth? Can you roar like a lion?), sing songs, make funny faces, whatever it takes. I found it easiest to do when DD was doing something else, like playing in the bath. Or letting her watch TV but only while i brushed her teeth. You could try a sticker reward. You have to be consistent, otherwise she'll see it as an optional thing. Yes, sometimes we had tears (though harsh as it sounds, if she was crying her mouth was at least open to get a brush in) but for me health things like this are non negotiable. If it's any consolation my head strong DD now is fine, she starts, I finish. Obviously if you think your DD might have additional sensory issues with noise sensitivity etc than that might be a different thing.

We had a phase with both dc of having to pin them down and hold mouth open. It didn't last long. They learnt it was going to be done so they may as well do it the nice way. Horrendous and traumatic for us parents, but they don't have any decay!! We used Google images to show them brown teeth, they got a bit obsessed with looking at them .

There isn't a single two year old on the planet who is capable of brushing their teeth properly. By all means allow your two year old to try, but an adult needs to finish off. An adult needs to take responsiblity for brushing until the child is about five or six. (If a child does not have the coordination to write their name then they don't have the coordination to brush.)

I used time out when my children were little if they refused to cooperate. Making your two year old cry over tooth brushing is traumatic then a filling.

I agree you need to make it fun and turn it into a game. There's a great Aquafresh app you can put on your phone which explains how to brush your teeth and sings a funny song, my 2 year old loves it. Now we don't bother with the app I just sing the song if he needs encouragement. It's a free app too.

My 21month old hates teeth brushing we do a mixture of singing, counting down in blocks of 10 seconds, letting him brush my teeth whilst I brush his, letting him play with light switch whilst brush and holding him tipped backwards so slightly upside-down which he loves...strange child! It's always been non negotiable twice a day!

Teeth brushing is non negotiable. Hold her down if needs be.

There isn't a single two year old on the planet who is capable of brushing their teeth properly. By all means allow your two year old to try, but an adult needs to finish off.

This.

My son is 2. He always "brushes his teeth" first. He takes his brush with the paste, chews it, sucks it, brushes the front few teeth, moves brush around a bit, more chewing. He does this as I brush my own teeth so we are basically sitting brushing together.

Then it's my turn with him. No compromise. More paste then I just scrub scrub scrub and tell him which part in doing so he knows. Bottom set one side, now the other, now the top one side and the other, then a quick once over the front. Some days he is tolerant and they get a real good clean and some days I just get the brush across the teeth but they're always done, twice a day.

Would bribery work? Let me do a little brush then you can see an episode of Peppa Pig or something?

Thak you, everyone. Non-negotiable - that's it from now on

www.amazon.co.uk/Brush-Baby-Baby-Toddler-Toothpaste-0-3Yrs/dp/B00BXG00OQ

DD was much better after we switched to this toothpaste. Extremely mild flavour, we used to get it from Boots or Sainsburys. It's still a batlle sometimes though. And YY to no snacks if she won't brush her teeth. We tell DD that "clean teeth are happy teeth".

reallytired is wise. Once she's old enough to wash her own hair in the bath, she might be old enough to brush her own teeth.

My daughter learnt to wash her hair on her own at approximately the same age as she learnt to write her name so what MrsMorton says makes sense. I still supervise teeth cleaning with my six year old.