When to take teeth brushing more seriously? (1 year old)

[Skyla01]

My LO is a year old and has several teeth. She has a baby toothbrush and fruit flavoured toothpaste. In the morning after breakfast she is pretty good at "brushing"- at the moment I just leave her to chew on her brush for a few minutes. Night time is a different story as she's going through a phase of crying at bedtime so always refuses her toothbrush. As a compromise I put some toothpaste on my finger and quickly rub it over her teeth.

My query is- I guess there comes a point where I need to brush her teeth whether she likes it or not? I'd rather not force the issue unless I have to.... But looking for advice for what other folk do?

Yes, when she has her first tooth you need to take it seriously. Play games, sing song, in front of the TV, whatever works. You also need to make a dentist appointment for her.

Start now with the non-negotiable tooth brushing routine. We let LO do it and then we 'finished it off'. If she was fractious, that was just a 10 second token brush by us, but always always she had to let us have a little go after she had finished. Have never (would never) do it by force or against her will.

As soon as they get teeth

As soon as they have any teeth.

DD loves an electric toothbrush, we got the brushbaby. We have them and she likes having one that’s similar and likes the sensation. She likes normal mint flavour 0-2 stuff.

Sticking your finger in her mouth isn’t an alternative to proper brushing.

If the issue is she thinks brushing means bedtime then do it earlier and have stories afterwards so it’s not such a direct sequence of events.

Thanks all. Problem is at night she's so upset (just another phase hopefully short-lived) that I'd need to brush her teeth against her will & she wouldn't be very happy. Although she'd be crying anyway... At least she's fine in the mornings.

Does she bath before bed? If so could you brush teeth while she’s in the tub? Turn it into a bit of a treat?

We started brushing our daughter'ss teeth around 6 months using bicklepegs brushes that go on your finger. we found it much easier to brush her teeth using those until probably just after a year or so. Now we use a brush baby brush and apple toothpaste and count up to 60 seconds. she sits on my husband's lap and I brush them for her. She likes the distraction of the numbers. A couple of months ago we used to list animals for about 40 seconds while I brushed. She cries a little bit occasionally but generally opens her mouth when we go near and knows its over after 60 seconds.