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Parenting

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Original poster

How on earth do I get DD1 2.1 to let me brush her teeth?

30 replies

CloudAtlas · 10/12/2007 19:21

Every thing I try seems to result in a floppy bodied tantrum, we both get fed up and her teeth don't get cleaned. The last three nights I have refused to read her a story unless she lets me clean her teeth. She has gone to bed each night with uncleaned teeth and no story. It feels really sad missing out her story, because it's a really special time, and she loves it, but I feel like I have exhausted other ideas.
Any ideas, please help. Her teeth will surely go black and fall out.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Maidamess · 10/12/2007 19:23

Try letting her hold a toothbrush while you clean her teeth.

Or I used to say 'Oh I can see a bit of cheese there at the back, let me get it....and there's a cornflake! '

She was so busy thinking back over what she had eaten during the day, she let me do it.

ArmadilloDaMan · 10/12/2007 19:23

don't make it a big deal.

Sing a song (we sing the one on cbeebies).

Make a game of it.

Anna8888 · 10/12/2007 19:25

Have same problem with my daughter (3) who hates brushing her teeth - unless my mother is around, when she does it brilliantly and voluntarily . However, since my mother and I live in different countries, that is hardly a solution going forward.

I have an electric toothbrush and try to use that for the brief second I am allowed in her mouth...

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Original poster

CloudAtlas · 10/12/2007 19:28

Ok, good ideas there, will try again tomorrow. I did used to have some success brushing her teeth whilst she watched in the mirror and talking about how lovely and clean they were getting, but she looks at me now like she isn't falling for it! DD is also fine if my mum does it, annoyingly because I think my Mum believes herself to have the right technique, when actually I think the technique she employs is simply not being me!!

OP posts:

Anna8888 · 10/12/2007 19:32

CloudAtlas - rest assured, you are right, grandmothers manage lots of things just by virtue of not being mother

BroccoliSpears · 10/12/2007 19:49

I let my dd clean her own teeth in the evening, and then I just have "a quick finish off" ( to actually clean them).

In the mornings it seems to work if I let her share my toothbrush; she sees me cleaning my teeth and wants to join in, so I just give them a scrub with mine, mid-clean. I suppose it's not for everyone, hygene wise, but it's better than her not cleaning at all.

Original poster

CloudAtlas · 10/12/2007 19:57

It's the 'quick finish off' which is causing the problem, but good idea about doing it with my toothbrush in the morning. will try tomorrow

OP posts:

Janni · 10/12/2007 20:02

We do 'make a really big roar like a lion'
say 'ee ee ee like a little mouse' and looking for lots of daft things in her mouth, with me making great big gurning faces.

Lubyloo · 10/12/2007 20:02

Eeew - can't think of anything worse than sharing toothbrushes even with my own child. It can increase the chances of your child developing tooth decay as you pass the bacteria from your mouth to theirs so is not recommended.

We have also had terrible problems with 2 year old DD but seem to have found the solution with an electrical toothbrush. She loves it and I feel like her teeth are getting a much better clean.

chocolateshoes · 10/12/2007 20:05

Anotheer vote for an electric toothbrush. DS (2.5) has a Spidreman one. I help him direct it onto his teeth to make sure they all geta good clean.

BettySpaghetti · 10/12/2007 20:05

When DS went through this phase we bought a child-safe mirror from Boots -he loved opening his mouth really wide and watching his teeth being brushed. Never had a problem again.

ChasingSquirrelsUpTheXmasTree · 10/12/2007 20:09

hum, going against the rest here - but with both of mine in this phase I basically pin them to me (on knee, one arm behind me and hold the other arm) and brush quick. they usually object loudly - which gives me the opportunity to do inside properly.
ds1, now 5, happily brushes his own and lets me do a check now - so I guess it wasn't too tramatic.

milliec · 10/12/2007 21:02

Message withdrawn

splishsplosh · 10/12/2007 21:08

dd has a special chair she sits on, sometimes we sing aaah aaah aah noises to various tunes, so her mouth is wide open while i quickly brush it, sometimes i let her clean my teeth with my brush, while i do hers... it seemed to help when she saw me cleaning (co-operative, 6 year old) niece's teeth - maybe you could clean your dh's teeth???
also I do the first bit, then let her finish off, as that way she has to let me have a go before she gets her fun.
good luck

ChasingSquirrelsUpTheXmasTree · 10/12/2007 21:09

milliec - ok, well that technique is the one I use on ds2 as he doesn't object too much, what I actually did with ds1 was to pin him on the floor, straddling him so that my bum kept his legs down, and pinned his hands with one of my hands and used my other hand to brush. I don't remember it being a very long phase and after it ended he happily let me brush.

threestars · 11/12/2007 00:48

Ha ha, Chasing Squirrels, I remember having to resort to that with DS1 a few times...

What really finally changed his thinking was showing him DH's brown tooth (because it's kind of hidden behind other teeth, plus he drinks loads of coffee the whole time, plius he can be a bit lazy sometimes). I told DS1 it was like that because he never brushed his teeth as a little boy. Now, every time DS1 runs away from having his teeth brushed, I just have to mention "brown teeth" or "yellow teeth" and he comes running back! He's very proud of having white teeth. He's 3 now, but I've been doing that since 2 and a bit.
Ooh, I hope I'm not messing with his mind.

threestars · 11/12/2007 00:50

...maybe show your daughter a picture of that man from The Pogues?!! But that could just be waaaay too scary.

NappiesGaloriaInExcelsis · 11/12/2007 01:12

i want a pic of that mans teeth.

oops · 11/12/2007 01:20

Message withdrawn

slim22 · 11/12/2007 01:28

Instead of sucking on his bottle of milk, he know sucks on his toothbrush while I read the bedtime story.
I encourage to brush a little every few pages.

Morning, same thing, he can watch 10mn of TV before rushing out to school if he picks up his toothbrush in the process.

I also found that brushing same time as him works. He apes me and w have a good laugh pulling faces.

PS: We do professional cleaning once a year (should be twice I hear) and he can still remember pics of yucky yellow teeth he was shown. We certainly don't want poo poo in our mouth now do we?
I'm not very proud of using that image but when all fails, I do, and it works

Maybe a new flavour for the toothpaste would help. Have a couple of tube and let her choose which flavour she'd like

jabberwocky · 11/12/2007 03:43

definitely a battery-operated toothbrush. I keep a couple of spare ones in the cupboard as that is the only way I can brush either of the dcs teeth.

TwinklyfLightAttendant · 11/12/2007 05:44

Fond memories of sitting on Ds1, before the advent of the battery toothbrush!

BroccoliSpears · 11/12/2007 12:24

Is that really true about sharing toothbrushes = tooth decay because of shared bacteria?

mistlethrush · 11/12/2007 12:32

You can also pin down arms using the straddling technique suggested by ChasingSquirrels - then you've got one hand left to hold head still and the other one to do brushing - then when they're screaming you get a good chance to do the inside

However, after getting to be having this type of session rather too regularly, he has realised that if he cooperates we can both have an easier time which isn't a problem for either of us - and I get to do the outisde first (teeth clenched and baring teeth) then open (although his tongue does tend to push the toothbrush out of the way a bit).

He sometimes does the outside himself and gets me to help with the inside.

Chosing tooth brush design can help.

He also now (2.7) regularly tells me that if you don't brush your teeth they go brown - so we are making progress, although its been a bit of a battle at times!

Kathyate6mincepies · 11/12/2007 12:36

Broccoli, mine loves using my toothbrush as well, so I have an extra one that just looks the same as mine.

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