15 month old hates brushing teeth?

[Dee49]

My little girl refuses to let me brush her teeth. If I start brushing them she flinches and cries which makes me think her gums are tender due to teething - at the minute it feels like there’s a new tooth every week. If I give her the brush she’ll chew on the bristles for about 10 seconds before throwing the brush down. How do people get their kids this age to brush properly?! She’s too young to understand things like reward charts.

Things I’ve already tried:

• letting her watch me brush mine
• different brushes
• different toothpastes (she does like an apple mint one but tends to lick it off the brush instead lol)
• singing a brushing teeth song while we brush, this did work for a little while but doesn’t anymore

Any ideas? Worried she’s going to end up with bad teeth.

Non negotiable. Wrap them in a towel with arms by their side and wait for them to scream and brush away!

They soon realise that it's easier to just comply and have them done without the hassle.

Agreed. I have very few non negotiables but this is absolutely the hill I'd die on. If she's refusing I'm afraid it would be something I forced. Teeth brushing is so very important and not something I'd be faffing around trying to cajole her into.

No 15 month likes it, just persevere. I sat in a bath for 2 hours once to cut dc's toe nails! You are the parent, kids don't like their parents sometimes and it's fine for her to cry

I have this with my 15 month old. She pushes her tongue over the top ones as hard as she can so I actually find it very hard to get those and worry I haven't done them enough.

I have a 19 month old. It's a constant battle. I'm a dental nurse, husband is a dentist..., we still fight every day... I used to swaddle her up and do it but now she clamps down. In the morning we brush each others teeth, or I pop her in from t or the tv and do it while she's distracted but it's hard work

I honestly don't know how people are successful by clamping them down. My little boy would go absolutely berserk if I did that, and how the hell do you brush teeth in the middle of a tantrum like that?! And then not have them have a complete aversion to teeth brushing moving forward?

Anyway, my little boy is 2.5 and its still a battle, but it gets better. We got him a little silicone chew toothbrush thing off amazon which worked for a while. We've just persevered, managing a bit of brushing every day twice a day, with the view to make sure he doesn't end up hating it (he's an extremely strong minded little boy so I am glad we didn't ever pin him down to make him hate it) I want to scream sometimes, but keep a smile plastered on my face to keep it cheery. He's been to the dentist and she agrees with my approach. Even getting fluoride in his mouth twice a day is better than nothing. He is much better now he's 2.5 but it's still not something any of us enjoy, and some times are much more successful than others.

Thanks everyone, I’ll just have to try to be stricter about it, hard though if her little gums are sensitive and sore, I don’t want to hurt her

My grandson has been the same. He’s three now. We bought a tub of xylitol ’mints’ that prevent plaque from forming on their teeth. He gets one after his teeth are cleaned and is now totally cooperative in getting his teeth cleaned.
A word of warning: pick morning or evening tooth brushing for the xylitol as two a day can have a rather laxative effect!

I used to sit mine on my knee and make it into a game. I would pretend they were on a dentist chair and would lay them back and make all the sounds etc. they thought it was funny.

Also, have you tried the toothbrush in the photo I've attached.

Non negotiable, headlock here

My 12m old absolutely screams the house down. I'm worried that the neighbours think something sinister is going on! I was worried that her gums are sore, but today, at my in-laws house, we brushed her teeth while her grandma was in the room and she let us do it without drama! I think we just need distraction until she's old enough to "help".

Have you tried an electric toothbrush? There is a baby one on Amazon and the novelty did the trick for my teeth brushing hater.

I do agree though, I've always swaddled him and just got on with it as I see it as non negotiable so I think partly he's just given in and realised it's more fun to press the button to switch it on and do the wheels on the bus actions while I sing than fight me from inside a towel

Her gums will be much more sensitive if she has tooth decay.

Youtube danny go toothbrush song.
Mine is 17 months now and had the exact same issue as you 2 months ago. Since we discovred Danny (recommended by someone at nursery), we can now easily brush as long as danny is playing.
Downside is of course it means screentime and mine took quite a liking to Danny so now we have to watch 1-2 of his other videos before bathtime.
Upside is little one has clean teeth and is learing to dance 😁

That brush looks good actually I must try it!

Got the same issue. Two year old hates it. Sometimes it works by showing him a video but mostly even that won't do the trick..I very, very rarely use brute force but this is the one time I do and I do worry about creating a lifelong aversion to brushing. However, I can't let his teeth rot, can I?

A few things you could try:

1. Videos or any sort of distraction

1. Friends have said with their child giving them a toothbrush to play around with while the parent brushes helps.

1. Letting them brush your teeth first. (This is absolutely, seriously unpleasant. I don't blame them for hating it. It didn't work well for mine either. As in he still hated it but I can imagine it working for other kids).

1. When they are older there are apps and even toys to motivate them. We had a Thomas train that went round a track for 2 minutes which really helped with DD. And for a couple.of years we used the app where a picture is gradually revealed of a Disney character in a video.

Mine was the same. We had to just wrap her in a towel and do it, one parent
holds her the other brushes seemed to be easiest. Then we managed to graduate getting to do it in the high chair and the bath. She’s 18 months now and is mostly cooperative if I brush my own teeth at the same time, she’s just getting to that phase of wanting to do everything herself though so that’s a new struggle 😂
It’s just something you have to force unfortunately, even though you really feel horrible doing it, cruel to be kind and all that, and it won’t last forever.

15 months is still very young when it comes to teeth brushing - 2 onwards im much stricter about it