I found a way to brush DS's teeth!

[TheLemur]

I know there are a fair few of us who have trouble getting any kind of tooth brushing cooperation and we often have to resort to the 'mum knows best, hold him down and just do it' approach

Well I was employing said approach and started tickling DS at the same time. It worked brilliantly - he laughed instead of cried and his mouth was open for me to have a brush! I kept up a commentary about the toothbrush tickling his teeth and where my other hand was going to tickle him next and it worked really well. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but if the crying came back through the laughter I'd blow a raspberry on his tummy and start tickling again. This isn't the easiest technique as there's a lot of wriggling and writhing going on but we had a lot more fun than normal!

Actually, this would be good if there were 2 of you, one to do the tickling and one to brush.

ooooh, am going to try this tonight! many thanks

nope didn't work sorry

Great idea!! Also going to try this! Another trick I have is to say "lets make bubbles in your mouth" (he loves bubbles) and to read Topsy and Tim Visit the Dentist a lot. Both only work for a limited period though. Good luck!

try it while he is asleep

DS 3 hates having his teeth cleaned, but has got lots better since I bought 2 superdrug glitter gel toothpastes in different flavours- and let him choose which he wanted to have and squeeze it onto brush himself!

i had the break through yesterday of saying to DD i was going to 'tickle' her teeth - magic...her breath had getting smelly because she just doesn't do it right herself.

hope your way carries on working OP

Another good tip I read on here was to look for 'animals' in DD's mouth.

Also stickers.

Stickers don't work for my DS, only chocolate buttons, which kind of defeats the object! I had some success the other night by getting his teddy to 'hold' the toothbrush and to have teddy brush his teeth instead of me. He let me give them a real good going over that way.

mine doesn't moan any more.

started by mentioning the dentist in nemo and how that was because they didn't clean their teeth

then started saying how much the dentist would admire her teeth

now we let her have a go (and then WE do a special balconies and grin polish to finish off)

am hoping the same approach will work for DS

Doesn't work here either, sadly Usually it's a case of pinning him down, waiting til he opens his mouth to scream, and then going for it. Occasionally he can be persuaded that I'm a dentist and he needs to open wide for me, but not often. The other 2 were nowhere near as bad as him....

Genius, will try that one. I'm reassured to see that other mums have to also hold down their toddlers to brush their teeth. My DS can be a total nighmare about it and it's a bit of an ordeal, and I dread doing it. Will try the tickling