HELP!! 11m old hysterical when we brush his teeth!!

[MrsRose2018]

Hi

Pretty much what the topic says!

Our 11m old has about 10 teeth now and gets absolutely HYSTERICAL when we try and brush his teeth! It completely ruins bed time and takes ages to bring him back after we stop! We've tried EVERYTHING we can think of!

The little brushes he holds himself, the small soft brushes, letting him hold a toy whilst we brush, watching Duggee (that's our go to for all things unpleasant), me reading a book whilst my husband brushes, sitting him up and letting him brush his own teeth....

He’s clearly/we've made him traumatised by the whole process now so I honestly don’t know what to do! I'm tempted to stop trying actually brush his teeth effectively and just let him have a play/joke around and try and make it fun for him and then try again later! Would that damage his teeth?

Does anyone have any tips/ideas?

I'm completely out of ideas! I'm all for being tough for what's best for them but he's sobbing by the time the ordeal is over 💔

TIA x

I sympathise, my DD has had phases like that and it's awful. What's working well for us at the moment is giving her another toothbrush to hold. I say "aaaaah" and open my mouth wide, she copies, and we brush each others teeth. She's a bit older though (16 months) so not sure if it would work for you. Maybe back off for a couple of days, and give him some toothbrushes to hold and play with so that he can get used to them.

@scully29

Yes agree you dont want to go 6 months without brushing babyteeth, but surely a week of non brushing to de-escualate and reapproach is not going to cause a lasting problem! At 11 months with an 11 months old diet! Im sure it would be fine and by going for a total change of pressure, spending a week adult teeth brushing and non forcing and then some subliminal elmo and teddles etc and then some play brushing, and keeping as a straight-after-tea, rather than bedtime kind of time (for now!) is going to be a good long term strategy rather than battling every night. id definitely be trying that. Better to aim to change focus in to getting them to want to brush teeth & making it non negotiable when less of a battle. For mine (5&7) its completely non negotiable and they are perfect with it. Any sign of a not-to-standard tooth brush and I mention the need to completely cut sugar, which works for mine ages, but 11 months is so young. Best option for that age is normalisation or distraction I think.

Who knows what every 11 month old eats in all honesty? You shouldn't not brush teeth.

I'm assuming the child has some sort of fruits (if he likes them) which are high in their own sugars. It shouldn't sit on teeth.

1 week, 2 weeks, 6 months or whatever. Teeth shouldn't be left. They'd be grimy after one week.

Could cut out fruit for a week and go with cucumber etc? Theres grimy and theres pinning down and the trauma of that. Doesnt even have to be a week, just 2 days could work and distraction work.

There is no trauma. They'll get over it.

Just wanted to update!

Me and my husband brushed our teeth together (we didn't try to brush our sons) this morning whilst watching the Elmo brush your teeth song!

We danced around, had our Son try to brush our teeth and just generally made it fun and it was actually a real success!!

He happily held on to/chomped on his own toothbrush and found the whole thing hilarious!

Thanks so much for all your advice! Will do the same tonight and for the next week x

So glad to hear you are having a happier experience