She will never let me brush or brush teeth herself 3 year old

[Lottiebugz22]

I'm so concerned about my 3 year olds teeth. She refuses to brush her teeth. I've tried songs, choosing her toothpaste, singing, bribery. Everything you can think of. She just hates the whole sensation. The thing is I can't even hold her to brush them and I'd have to physically pin her down and risk hurting her. I don't know what to do anymore I'm so worried!

Honestly if nothing else works then I’d pin her down and do it. Mine went through a phase of it and I don’t think teeth are something you can let slide. It didn’t take her long to realise it was better to let me do it nicely. Then she gets to do the rinsing.

Headlock and get on with it. Show her pictures of rotten teeth and say how much that will hurt

I'm really sorry but you'll have to pin her down and do it. It takes 2 minutes. You are her parent and the health of her teeth are your responsibility. You can ask her to do it first and the Mummy does it, get a star chart and stickers if you want to to soften the blow. No way at 3 would she be doing it properly anyway. Hey Duggee has a cute teeth brushing song.

That should say " then Mummy does it " btw

I tell my kids if they don't brush their teeth properly the dentist will have to take out their rotten teeth and it's not very nice.

Yup headlock time. Maybe you won’t be able to do it properly in the headlock but she’ll learn that it’s better not to fight it.
Tell her it’s non negotiable. It’s going to happen. So best just open her mouth and let you brush them the easy way.

Shes too young to be allowed to do them on her own properly.

I used to wrap ds in a big towel after his bath and do it, he couldn't struggle then. He used to howl which made it easier. Soon got fed up of that and let me do it properly.

Just do it, you won't hurt her.

Teeth brushing and buckling car seats are the only thing I ever pinned down a child to do. They'll come round quick when they know it's not negotiable.

Use an electric toothbrush.
She has a turn and then you do “the check”
Let her play with it for a week first.
Its better not to rinse.

We also resorted to the headlock

I have 3 year old twins. They usually always say no they don't want to do it, but ultimately they have to have their teeth cleaned, its non negotiable. Most of the time they will relent without much argument, but if they really object then it's headlock, arms pinned and just get it over with.

Try not to make her scared of the dentist though, threatening her with the dentist is not the best idea. Just pin her down and get on with it.

I swaddled mine in a towel when they went through phases of refusing.

Hey Duggee toothbrushing episode is good. Is it the flavour of paste she dislikes, the particular toothbrush…? When my 3yo refuses to do something, saying “OK, I’ll do it for you like I did when you were a baby” often works: “No! I BIG, I do everything!” And then she’ll do the required task with a resentful, mulish expression.

What’s the teeth routine? We do DD’s in the morning downstairs, not in the bathroom, so she’s pleasantly distracted by toys. Plus she can see breakfast being prepared and can’t eat til her teeth are brushed and she loves breakfast, so even on refusenik days she acquiesces. At nighttime we do it in her room after bath, so the stories she loves are RIGHT THERE – but oh, no, no stories until she has clean teeth.

Pin her down twice daily, religiously, and eventually all will come good.

I gave a choice - the hard way or the east way but it's going to happen. She soon chose the east way every time.

On a wider note, children essentially need to know that the parent is in charge.

Electric toothbrush. She will play with it and use it as a magic wand for a while but eventually she will brush each teeth by herself. Just make sure that her hair is tied up in a ponytail

Another one here who wraps a toddler in a towel
He hates it
But I don't see any alternative other than rotten teeth

We used to play a game when DS was a toddler to persuade him to let us brush his teeth. We would say that the brush was a bee that wanted to find its dinner in his teeth. We would then do the bee's voice talking about the food he'd eaten that day ("ooh yummy - carrots - I like those... I've found some strawberry - that's delicious..."). Looking back at the toddler years, it's a good job no one else could see the weird things we would do to persuade him to do things.

Sometimes we would count the teeth as we brushed. I think that helped because he started to understand how many we would count up to, so would know that it was only for a limited time that he needed to put up with it.

Sometimes, though, you do just need to go for wrapping in a towel and going for it. It can be easier to do if you've got someone who can to the wrapping and someone to do the brushing

I got an electric toothbrush recently for ds3 and it's a lot better as my son also hates having his teeth being brushed. I still pin him down but now he lets me with the electric toothbrush and doesn't resist at least. This is also something I don't negotiate with.

Peppa pig does a dentist episode if she's a fan of that?

And this is exactly how I ended up with a dental phobia before I even went to school, that I haven't been able to get rid of my entire life..

Mine goes through stages of refusing, I swaddle in towel and do it, it's just one of those things that has to be done.

My 3 year old wants to do it himself and doesn't do it properly at all. He just licks the toothpaste and chews on the bristles. I don't have that much patience and I cant let his teeth rott. I pin him down and brush it, it takes 2 minutes, he cries and then we go about our day. I do the same at night and will continue to until he can do it himself properly. I even floss him when hes asleep.

Sometimes you have to pin them down and do it eg car seat, medication

Teeth are non-negotiable. If my DS plays up, I cradle like a baby and brush them myself. He also has no treats the next day at all - he understands that sugar is bad for your teeth and you only get it if you're sensible and brush it all off properly

You'll have a lot more pinning to do if they end up having to have teeth removed!