Cleaning toddler teeth

[TheWeatherGirl1]

Howwwwwwwwwwww?

15mth old is not interested in having his teeth cleaned. No thank you.
I can sort of get to the top front ones but the bottom ones are an impossibility.

Any hacks for me?

Sing the teeth cleaning song. It helps my DS know what’s going to happen and how long it will last. It’s difficult to see teeth while DS is upright so I recline him on his changing mat in sort of a dentist chair position.

Ah, the teeth cleaning song!
Okey doke

I make dd go EEEEEE so I can brush her front teeth and then AHHHH so I can get to her back teeth. I practised it first without a toothbrush and she found it hilarious. Still a bloody mission though, but we manage.

Failing that I have wrapped her in a towel when she’s being particularly stubborn (basically swaddling her) and do it that way. I have awful teeth and I’m paranoid about hers! Needs must and all that.

Brush brush brush on YouTube helped us for a while. Let him brush your teeth while you do his. Or a simple headlock

I downloaded a toothbrush cleaning song, something along the lines of the Wiggles.

We then had to start physically pinning her down to brush them.

She's 3 now and incredibly lazy. On the plus side this means that she wants me to brush them for her so my advice is encourage your child to be lazy!

Any teeth cleaning song as long as it’s consistent. There are loads on YouTube. This is the way we brush our teeth, etc. Or even make one up.

I just let my DS watch me brushing my teeth a few times and he wanted to do his too. He mainly just holds it in his mouth but he'll let me take it and brush his molars and stuff.

Sit with the child on your knee and your arms round them - much easier and less confrontational than sitting in front of them. You can also use your arms to restrain as necessary.

It's so important that you clean the back ones too even if your child is not keen - the screaming from toothache would be much worse than a minute of crying while you brush their teeth.

I'm a dentist and a parent.

He doesn't have back ones yet, I'm only working with 7 so it really shouldn't be this hard.
I do it when he's laid down after a bath and I say Teeeethhhh and the mouth pops open willingly, and I'm thinking 'I've got this', and then the tongue gets all involved and prevents the brush from getting anywhere near the teeth.
Sigh.
It's like he doesn't mind the idea but then can't quite see it through.

I'll try the songs, thanks all

DD is quite keen to do it when I am in the mornings so I’ve started pretending in the evening (as I brush mine later)

I don't know how well they compare with a normal toothbrush but I use brush baby silicone ones with DD.