Help! We can't get our toddler to brush her teeth in the morning at all. The evenings are just fight after fight after fight. It is extremely frustrating.
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Do you brush her teeth for her, or does she brush her teeth herself? We brush my son's teeth...he's never really put up a fight though. What if you took her toothbrush shopping and let her pick a new one and then get really excited about it when it's time to brush? That kind of tactic usually works well with my son.
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We let her pick out her toothbrush and we use a sugar free bubble gum toothpaste. I think she just accepts it now (we had battles before) and knows it will be over faster if she doesn't protest.
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We let him brush first and then we have our turn. Most days he loves it, sometimes it's a fight, but we can usually get a 30 sec - 1 min brush in!
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With force
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Our son HATED it. I bought two new toothbrushes and toothpaste. He holds one toothbrush while I brush his teeth with some toddler friendly toothpaste. Now he kinda likes it.
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Letting her pick out her own new toothbrush at the store helped, and brushing our teeth along with her helps too. Also, if your LO likes Elmo there are 2 good “teeth brushing” video songs on YouTube.
We are not always good about morning brushing though, just so busy in the morning that it often gets forgotten
at least we make sure to get a good brushing done at night
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We always brush her teeth at 2yrs 10 months. We had to do a behavior chart (check out free printable behavior charts. com) with a star for every time she did well on the chart, plus a sticker. Two good sessions meant an extra book at bedtime and when she got to 5/7 good days in a row, she got to pick out a small prize.
But we just were at a friend's house and they had light up toothbrushes that have made LO super excited about teeth brushing. We got the same one at target and the brand is firefly. They are cheap and blink for a minute so LO knows how long to brush on top and then we turn it back on to brush on bottom. It has been fabulous.
here is the link:
http://www.target.com/p/firey-lightup-timer-toothbrush-soft-2-count/-/A-14071887#prodSlot=_1_1 -
With force. But usually we let them start the brushing and we finish and it goes pretty smoothly.
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@Mamaof2: Haha, yep!
I lay her down on the counter and have to hold down her flailing arms and legs and try to jab the toothbrush around in there as quickly as possible.
I've tried it all - letting her brush her own teeth, watching DH and I brush our teeth, Daniel Tiger's toothbrushing episode, picking her own toothbrush and toothpaste... girl just HATES it.
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@yoursilverlining: I'll have to try the Elmo songs - she's recently started loving Elmo (what is it about that guy?!)
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@swurlygurl: I have found it just takes time - both my kids happily brush these days!
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@yoursilverlining: we really suck at morning tooth brushings...
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Vibrating Elmo toothbrush, singing a silly tooth-brushing song I made up, and watching the Elmo tooth-brushing video (he's way into Elmo right now....)
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This has become our daily battle too with our 23 month old. We still brush his teeth (he sometimes likes to hold a separate brush at the same time, but even with that. we're lucky if he will open his mouth to let us in for very long) and it just take a long, long time. I am going to be following this for more great advice!
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It takes time, for sure. I started off by saying, "let's just count to 5" and then slowly i increased it to 10, etc. These were all very loooong seconds of course.
I found that as soon as i bought her a new toothbrush, she was all for it. Also, brushing our teeth together helped.
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some days are easier than others, most days it is a fight. Some strategies that have worked are letting him play with my iphone, the buttons on the air conditioner, screen time, some other novel toy, letting him use mommy or daddy's toothbrush at the same time. He is starting to get the hang how to do it himself, so if he willing to do that, i find he gets more done than what i am able to. i truly emphasize with the whole process as it my least favourite activity!
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I started brushing my teeth at the same time as he was holding his brush, and i would do all kinds of funny things in the mirror, like move my head from side to side, etc to get him to copy me. He eventually started copying my brushing and now, he brushes first, then I brush. I even have a little mirror I use to inspect his work, he loves that!
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One thing we've tried recently is letting him spit in the toilet after he brushes. He likes spitting, but usually he's not allowed to, so this way, he can spit freely into something that isn't too tall for him (the sink, even if he's on a step stool, is too tall).
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She pitches a fit when I do it. But let's Daddy do it twice a day. Which doesn't help since he is only home 3 nights a week.
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Force! Sometimes it works if I tell him we have to "get the food buggies out of his teeth". But otherwise, force. And we tried having him pick out his own toothbrush. That worked for 1 night.
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DD loves to brush her teeth, we had her pick out her toothbrush and tooth paste. She sees me brushing my teeth so I let her brush my teeth for me and then we switch and i brush her teeth for her. We make AHHH and EEE sounds and she thinks its hilarious.
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i tell her she has yuckies in her teeth and we have to keep them clean. I tell her I'll count to 10 and then it's over. So she opens up, and I brush. Once I reach 10, I stop. She knows that once I count to 10, its over so she hasn't fought me about it yet. sometimes 10 seconds isn't enough so I'll count kinda slowly.
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@mediagirl: my lo used to be way worse but she's gotten better lately. When she was really tantrum ing I would lean her back on my lap and dh would brush while i held her arms down. That's how we do infant/toddler exams at work. She would cry but at least she had clean teeth.
Now usually she'll let me brush no problem while she's doing something else.
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Our daughter loves to brush her teeth. Any time she sees her toothbrush, she HAS to do it. We have the silicone toothbrush that has a billion bristles on it, so she basically chews on it and it brushes her teeth. We put a little toothpaste on it and she goes to town.
at least we make sure to get a good brushing done at night
I found that as soon as i bought her a new toothbrush, she was all for it. Also, brushing our teeth together helped.
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