The teeth cleaning saga.. Any advice welcome.

[Kiki92]

My 13-month-old will quite literally not tolerate having his teeth brushed. It's becoming a battle.

I've tried a normal brush suitable for his age, a silicone finger brush, a chewable banana toothbrush, apple-mint flavoured toothpaste instead of mint. I've given him the brush. I've tried brushing my teeth at same time as him. I've found ridiculous tooth brushing songs on YouTube to sing along whilst doing it... He just won't allow it.

What else can I do? I manage to get a few food brushes a day, but it doesnt feel like enough... I really don't want him to have unhealthy teeth, but I don't want to make oral hygiene a massive cause of anxiety for him.

Wrap him in a towel swaddle-style and just get it done. A few minutes a day of stress for a lifetime of good dental hygiene. Teeth brushing is the only non-negotiable thing in this house and dd knows now that no amount of whinging/wriggling etc will mean it won’t get done!

At that age I did ds' while he was sat on my hip making faces and silly noises in the mirror.

Although we've had to do the pinned in a towel move previously, when he was really hating it. Now we watch the Hey Duggee teeth brushing song and play along to it.

You could try playing games with the toothbrush in the day without any toothpaste and try to make it a fun activity.

We go with the getting it done however possible twice a day thing. It’s a couple of minutes twice a day and it’s non-negotiable in this house. Doesn’t matter how much screaming or wriggling happens, the teeth are being brushed and brushed properly!

I used to play games with ds:
'What's this here on your back teeth?? Is it an elephant??'
mad elephant noise
'Let me brush it away'
And he'd giggle and let me brush
Then there'd be a monkey swinging from the top teeth I'd have to quickly get.

In the end I had a whole catalogue of beasts and accompanying noises including some crazy minions who used to run all over the place shouting banana while I tried to catch them with the tooth brush.

Ahh I miss the days of tooth brushing games! May be worth a try?

We give the option of the hard way (clamp them down, get the job done) or the easy way. Mine’s a little older than yours, so maybe that helps, but a couple of days of the hard way is all it took.

All my DC have hated every toothpaste apart from The Aquafresh stages range. Maybe give that one a try if you haven't already.
Otherwise I agree it's a case of minimum fuss, swaddle him and just get the job done. The more it becomes a saga the more it will become an issue.

Mine were like this. I simply held them down with the help of their father and got it done. Unpleasant for all but no other way. At 6 and 4 they are both now doing it themselves. It gets better.

Another one saying just do it. I balance DD across my knee with knee foot on bath, clamp her hands down with one arm and get in there. Her loud protests mean her mouth is nice and wide open.

Have you tried the Brush baby chewable brush? My lo used to love this brush..

I use the brush baby toothbrush too and my boy is so much more tolerant of it. He doesn't love me doing it but I can get it done. I then let him hold onto the brush afterwards and chew it for as long as he likes. Hoping this will be an incentive but who knows.

Sorry to jump in on your thread but I have a quick question - does anyone know if the flavoured non mint toothpastes are actually good at cleaning teeth? We have a natural blueberry flavoured one but I am not sure it's actually doing any good....

It's non-negotiable here and has been since my DS' first tooth at 4 months. Twice a day, swaddled in towel and held and then brush for as long as I can manage. My husband has far better luck than I do so he takes over if he's home in time.

Had endless battles with DD2. I tried every flavour of toothpaste I could find. She hated them all. We now use Oranurse unflavoured toothpaste. It contains the full amount of fluoride but really has no taste. It does cost more but it is worth it for me because the battles are much harder with a 6 year old.
You can get from Amazon.

Thank you, everyone. I'm going to be trying all of your suggestions. It really does sound like I have to toughen up and just get it done though!

Toddler of same age here and tooth brushing time can be a nightmare! On a good day he watches peppa pig whilst in his high chair and he will let me do it , on a bad day he cries in his high chair and I get access to his teeth anyway haha . I've found I struggle more in the evenings if I don't get the timing right and he's overtired.

Try the strawberry Colgate toothpaste, give a toothbrush in each of his hands and you brush with one in your hand!

I used to faff around for ages singing and all sorts. Then I decided it was a non-negotiable and she had to get over it. Now some days it's done with no tears and some days we have gritted teeth, clamped lips and screaming. It's tough. It's getting done regardless. I still sing but that's more for my own amusement than hers

We have constant battles with our 2.5 yo too as she insists on brushing her own teeth which is obviously not getting them clean. Some days I have the energy to play stupid games and cajole her into doing it. Other days I’m just too exhausted or she plays up completely and I have to pin her down to do it (I’m so glad I’m not the only one to resort to this!) Ironically it’s a good way to clean them as a screaming kid has a nice wide open mouth.

I also take the kids to the dentist every 4-6 months so they’ll hopefully spot any issues straight away.

My DD was like this. Tried everything recommended on these threads. It usually worked once but not again. I did the pin her down but only about once a week... am a wuss.
Eventually at 18m or so I hit on the solution for us, I would play peppa on my phone and pause as soon as she shut her mouth or messed about. She quickly put up with it for Peppa. Started doing just 30s before telling her we were done, and then worked up. By about 3 she just let me do it normally. Dentist says her teeth are perfect. Thank god as I probably should’ve been more strict on it.
Now am blessed with twins (18m) who love having their teeth brushed so much that they cry if they see the brush and I don’t put toothpaste on!

I had to do the pin down until recently and now she reluctantly opens her mouth for me whilst screaming. I give her lots of praise so it's getting better but it's still a fight. In the morning I just let her chew her brush.

@Rosebud1302 it must contain fluoride to be effective. I have a strawberry one that has the required amount.

Teeth get brushed. End of story. I would just hold mine down and get it over with. Not nice but it's for their own good and my DC now know how important it is.

Avoided excess sugar (obviously). Encourage rinsing mouth with water after juices or other natural sugars. Use right paste for age. Towel wrap as above.
Nearly 4 yo recently started to refuse again after years of no issues so I showed her pics of diseased teeth... pretty grim but it worked!
Enforced tooth brushing is awful but after a few tries they will accept it’s just easier to join in. We talk about smooth happy teeth and furry grumpy teeth.
I struggled to give Calpol when they were little, I just had to learn how to do it quickly and efficiently- same situation. You could view it as preventative medicine, might make it easier in your mind to ‘administer’.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku-ForS6G3I

Still works with mine aged 6&8!

My dentist told.me getting some toothpaste on DS teeth with a finger is better than nothing, but he really did put up a fight when I took him to be seen. Dentist was quite impressed with how stubborn he was...

We pin him down and brush. Sometimes, and I mean very rarely, do we get a day when he's ok with us brushing his teeth. He hates it but it has to be done.

@sylbunny do you know what it is called?