How do you brush your LOs teeth with out it being a giant battle? E will happily accept the banana teether or other such silicon nubby teethers/tooth brushes as long as she is in control and I don't care about how clean teeth get but when I try and use an actual tooth brush you would think I was trying to torture her. She clamps her mouth shut and squirms. I have tried letting her hold another brush, I have tried putting it during different times in the bedtime routine, I have tried brushing her teeth in the bath even. Tips suggestions?
She is 16.5 M and has 10 teeth.
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Stick with it? In the beginning, I sometimes had to wrestle him down to get it done. There was a period of time when his dinosaur got his teeth brushed first, lol. I do it every night, always immediately after bath , as part of our routine. It helps that he knows when to expect it. He's used to it now and usually cooperates. I'll let him "do it" and either I go after him or I do my routine first. I also sing a little song showing him how to open his mouth "Aaa aaa aaa aaa" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle little star. I go through the song twice, to approximate 2 minutes and now (at a little over 2) he imitates the song with open mouth.
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At that age LO wasn’t too happy about brushing his teeth either. His pediatric dentist did actual cleanings with floss so I wasn’t too worried when I gave up. Once LO became 2.5 he enjoys brushing his teeth. He asks to brush now because he loves his Paw Patrol toothpaste and that’s also when he gets his Paw Patrol vitamins.
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Just keep doing it. I recall a time when I had to pin my kids down and practically pry their mouths open to brush their teeth, but I have a lot of teeth problems as an adult, so brushing teeth is just non-negotiable to me. Eventually they realize it's a fight they can't win and just accept it as part of the daily routine.
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Yep, just, keep, going. I feel bad for my oldest because we're pretty diligent about teeth brushing and sweets, but she still got cavities so it's genetics. She was pretty good though, always let us brush after she brush, etc.
My youngest, man, she is the one we have to pin down usually and she will cry/scream her way through it but we still do it. Finally at 2 years 3 months, she more or less willingly lets us do a 2nd brush....
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For one I just do it (and so does DH for the matter) and we try to make it as fun as possible. So we sing a song (and now at around 24 months they choose the song themselves) or we tickle their toes or something the like. Once they are a little older we also let them choose whether they want to go on a monster hunt or sing a song or just want their teeth brushed (it's how we do it with our 4 and 5 year olds).
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I remember to get over the initial fight with my older daughter, I gave her a toothbrush and let her brush my teeth WHILE I brushed her teeth. So not ideal that I was getting jabbed in the mouth the whole time but she got enough of a kick out of that that she let me brush hers too.
It was much easier with my younger because she was used to seeing her sister get her teeth brushed and always wants to do whatever big sis does.
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Thanks all, I think I need to move teeth brushing to the floor for a bit so there is no where to fall and I will have a bit more leverage. Obviously I want good dental hygiene to be a habit.
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When they were that age I often used the line: "We can do this the easy way or the hard way - your choice." Easy way was normal teeth brushing. Hard way was me sitting on the toilet, holding them like a baby while pinning their arms down, and attempting to brush. They mostly chose the easy way!
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Wanted to add that there’s a toothbrush that is a 360 degree round brush. I think it’s called the Baby Buddy 360. It’s great because since the bristles are all the way around you can kind of brush top and bottom at the same time and works well when they chomp on it. I’ll try to post a link but my connection is really spotty right now.
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Brilliant Baby Toothbrush by Baby Buddy - For Ages 4-24 Months, BPA Free Super-Fine Micro Bristles Clean All-Around Mouth, Kids Love Them, Blue, 1 Count https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N6NLWWS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6HMKCbCCDRZ4Z
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The Sesame Street / Elmo toothbrushing song. I'd play the video on my iPhone and she'd love doing what Elmo was doing. Plus, the distraction of the video was enough additional sensory imput that the teeth brushing sensation didn't seem so intense to her. We did that for a better part of a year, twice a day. Now, she loves brushing her teeth!
I'm not always all about technology to solve problems, but sometimes it works!
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We use a small electric toothbrush (the Gum Crayola ones were perfect) and tell her it is time to "tickle" her teeth. We make silly laughing noises while we "tickle" her teeth and she actually enjoys it.
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They brush first, then we "check".
Make it silly - talk about getting sugar bugs, pretend you find food that they ate that day in their teeth, an elephant, whatever.
Hold them down, and do it. When they are crying, their mouths are open.
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@Rocker2014: +1 to Elmo. I still know every word to that damn song more than 2 years after we stopped needing it.
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Well what worked tonight was wrapping her in her towel like a swaddle and laying on the floor. Lets see if this repeats other nights. Apparently I just have to fret about it on the internet to strangers.
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@snarkybiochemist: When it was really bad for my older son, I would take him to the living room and have him lay on the couch with his head in my lap. If he will wouldn't cooperate then we just held him down. But sometimes just a change in scenery can help.
My 2 year old loves to "brush" his teeth but absolutely hates it when I do... unless he sees me brushing big brother's teeth. Then he is all for it. So for now I'm still brushing my almost 7 year olds teeth (mostly only at night)!
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When my son was resistant my husband would hold him upside down- it kind of made him laugh and he could get in there. If you keep it up it becomes a routine and they will accept it, like buckling into the car seat. We usually can just a sing songs and take turns and get it done easily.
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I agree, I just do it. At first there might have been a bit of a fight (I don’t even remember) and now at 3&5, they know it’s non-negotiable so it’s not a big deal. It’s all about setting up good habits and expectations.
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@snarkybiochemist: It took quite a while and is still sometimes a battle now at 2.5 years. Good luck! ETA: yes, my girl loves to brush her own teeth, and sometimes has a problem when I do it. So I always let her do it first while I brush her hair. And then I do it second, and count to 20 on each row of teeth. I hope that's enough time brushing.
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Just want to reiterate you have to keep doing it to get them used to the routine and some nights it will be a full on battle. For my older one, I rocked him while brushing his teeth and sang him a song and that really seemed to help. With the younger one it was a lot easier because he saw his older brother doing it so it's just part of the routine now. I have bad teeth and it's just been so important to me to prevent it from happening to my kids. I have a 5 year old nephew and this year he had one tooth pulled, a root canal, and two fillings all done at the same time and it had to be scheduled at a hospital where they heavily sedated him to get it all done ....so you don't want that to happen ...
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