Toddler teeth brushing

[CatnipEverdeen]

Hi all, I'm hoping someone might have some advice on this! It's impossible to brush my toddler's teeth! He's 17 months old, probably has around 10 teeth. I'm trying hard, and I'm more than willing to pin him down and do it, but I genuinely just don't know how to do it successfully! I can try and hold his hands down, but then his head shakes around. I can try and hold his head, but then a hand gets free! And he's strong!

At the moment, I only brush his teeth in the evening before bed (after milk), not in the morning. I hope that's not really bad. I give him one of those brush baby chewable toothbrushes to chew on, and then I also go in with a toothbrush (I don't think I achieve much). Any advice would be really appreciateod!!

Thank you for reading

Wrap a towel round him and hold down!

Friends have had success with the hey duggee toothbrush song.

Hang on a couple of months and he’ll be old enough for bribery.

Does he watch Peppa? DC1 thinks we get a call from Dr Elephant (dentist from Peppa) every night to check in. Dr Elephant regularly reports to Santa.

There's also a free Aquafresh tooth brushing app which might distract him? Funny characters/songs etc.

Completely the same with my almost two year old. He hates it. Like yours, he chews the brush by himself for a bit and then I finish by holding his arms and going round for as long as I can before the tantrum kicks in. It feels horrible forcing him, and I never feel like we've been thorough enough with the brushing, but in my view anything is better than nothing and he needs to learn that it's non-negotiable. No success with the toothbrushing videos yet as he just wants to watch and listen to them rather than copy them, but I'm hopeful as he gets a bit older he'll start to catch on.

I just pinned my two down at that age, not nice but I felt it was worth it! I read on here a while ago about brushing something they like out of their teeth so I used to brush Thomas, Edward, James and the other trains out of my sons teeth, now with my daughter I try and find unicorns, eg, there's a little unicorn with blue hair, let's brush her out - she opens her mouth really wide and loves it which is a huge change from before!

I ask the 2yo if she wants to know how Skye* brushes her teeth. This involves brushing her teeth while woofing and throwing in the occasional “This pup’s got to fly!” Works every time

*substitute favourite character here

She's 2.5 now though so a bit older.

Mine has just turned two and has only just started letting me brush them without fighting against me. Prior to that I had exactly what you’re going through and nothing helped sorry! Hopefully he will outgrow it too but I sympathise!

YouTube theres a brushing song, it's a weird monster showing how to brush each tooth. It worked wonders, also books on brushing, brush your own teeth around him etc. Don't hold him down and force it, honestly I've been there and it really does make them think it's a chore, instead of something to be done (and the two I did it with still have to be nagged to brush teeth whereas the others see it as part of a routine!(it's a small poll so might not be accurate ) Best of luck OP!

If you need to pin down, the easiest way is lie him down on the bed between your legs (you are in sitting position) with him facing the same direction as you, put his arms out to the side, bent at the elbow and relaxed and pin each arm down with one of your legs. His head is pinned gently between your legs and you can easily reach his mouth with the toothbrush! His legs will be all over the place but that's fine! A nurse showed me this method for getting inhalers into mine and it works for tooth brushing too!

Thank you everyone these have all been really great suggestions! Tomorrow is a new day!

Have you tried an electric toothbrush? This was a game changer for us and we have built up to the full 2 mins 'because Mr toothbrush is still awake'

Download the Disney Magic Timer. It has honestly changed my life.

I make DP do it, she’ll submit to him but not me. We’ve also had success with separating it from the bedtime routine entirely, it’s done downstairs before bath/PJs/etc, and involves a long rigmarole of us all, including 9,000 teddies, brushing our teeth and giggling at how it tickles. She will now do 50% of the job herself unless she’s in a tizz about something (and when is a 15 month old not in a tizz?!), at which point it’s pin down, scream (good because then we can reach the molars), DP attacks.

Thanks again everyone. Can I ask - when do you take them to the dentist? I haven't done this yet. Should I be already?! I have horrible visions of him screaming his head off and biting the dentist's finger off

We have only just been able to stop pinning and brushing, we use the aquafresh app now! Life changing

We've been going to the dentist since she had her first teeth. I book a double appointment for us - it's good to get them used to go. The dentist normally just has a quick look and attempts a feel of teeth/gums!

This has made me feel so much better! I’m a Pinner downer too! I’m glad it’s pretty standard practice 😂

Well... to be honest I just gave up and let DD (2) do it herself. It’s a battle I just can’t fight. I know that probably makes me a bad parent but I just can’t pin her down. She is getting better and seems to be coming out of the other side, and especially in the last few weeks has been brushing pretty well. Flavoured toothpaste helps.

She also has her milk after her teeth being brushed at night! Which is a whole other issue. So you are doing better than me!

Going to have a look at some electric toothbrushes now though.