Hi,
My dd is 1.5 year old, and trying to brush her teeth has become such a chore! She fights it everytime! Even when I say, here you try then let Mommy help. Anyone have any ideas to help make this task a little easier?
Thanks.

Did she pick out her toothpaste and toothbrush? If not try taking her to the store and letting her pick out a toothbrush and toothpaste and then let her try brushing her own teeth and you can help her with the ones she misses.

Good luck!

Stephanie :D

That is exactly what we did with our son. He always wants to do what mommy & daddy do. He likes when we pretend that we put deodorant on him... :D

This is something I have heard of but haven't done myself. Let her brush her teeth and let her know you'll have to check when she's done. She'll open her mouth for you to check and you'll say "oh I see a sugar bud here and one there, so I need to get them all out" or something like that. I can't remember who told me they did that with their kids. might have been sugar monsters or sugar bugs or something like that. just making a game out of it somehow.

Janell

We have had many struggles in this department with our 21 month old. Here are our tricks. We bought a firefly tooth brush. It has a light that flashes for a minute so I get to brush until it stops and then he gets to brush. We have a brush your teeth song that we sing. And on nights that he is being particularly squirelly I let him hold my tooth brush and brush my teeth while I brush his teeth. I sit on the toliet so he can reach my mouth.

I hope you find something that works :lol:

I really recommend the firefly it was only $0.97 at Walmart.

You know in the early days I just used to do the best I could. She wouldn't really open her mouth at all for me. She probably only got a good tooth brushing once a week :roll: :lol: But now she loves it. She still isn't very co-operative when it comes to opening her mouth wide enough. So it takes a while to brush her teeth.

Don't stress over it though. I'm sure it will get easier. And I'm sure those baby teeth will be fine. And they fall out anyway so don't worry too much! As long as their teeth are not rotting then they will be fine.
I do know a little girl that had to have baby teeth removed. I think she had an accident and banged her mouth on something as a baby and also her mother used to let her go to bed at night with flavoured milk in her bottle.

I ditto letting the child pick out their own toothbrush. We also buy natural toothpaste here. That's a good option that way you don't have to worry about them swallowing too much fluoride. I know there's not really enough on the toothbrush to cause a problem if swallowed, but, fluoride just makes me nervous! We all do fluoride free here. Anywho...

Then just do what you can to make it fun. Sing silly songs..practice vowel sounds (opens the mouth in ways that aids in getting to all the teeth ;) ) say you want to count their teeth to get them to open well. Tell them you will take turns brushing. Some days, for us, it works better for the parent to brush first, then the kid can 'finish', other times, it works better the other way around. Don't ask, I can't explain why LOL *shrug* That's just how it goes. I don't try to figure it out, I just go with it.

The light up toothbrush is a great idea. We've used those too. Perfect, just perfect for taking turns. "You brush til the light goes out, then it's momma's turn to finish up"

Gotta let them know this isn't an 'option' You gotta have your teeth brushed..period. Get over it! ;) If you want to be ugly about it then mom will do it all, but if you have a good attitude, then you can have a turn and help. Works with mine anywho.

It'll get better in time.

Oh man, do I feel your pain! I hate brushing Timmys teeth. He hates it and fights me every step of the way. I've tried everything to make it fun, but nothing seems to work, so what I always have to do it tackle him, hold him down, and tickle him so I can get to his teeth. Sometimes he'll just let me brush them though. I don't know it's crazy.

Do you all know that song ... "you wake up in the morning and what do you do? You brush your teeth! Ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch! You brush your teeth. Ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch"
I sing that to Abby when I'm cleaning her teeth and it gets her to grin and open her mouth for me LOL And I do the "ch ch ch ch" part while I'm brushing them LOL :wink:

Our two were the same - we actually ended up buying this book about a little boy who becomes a pirate for the day and the book depicted Pirates awful bad teeth - we kept saying to the kids "That's what happens when you don't brush your teeth - you get ugly pirate teeth!"

I also turned toothbrushing into an opera - when I wanted them to open their mouth they have to sing "aaaahhhh" like in an opera and when i want them to shut their mouth they sing "eeeeeeee" and bare their teeth.
They thought the game was so funny the allowed the teethbrushing and still like to play eee and aaa to this day even though they are a few months shy of four!

they also pick their own toothbrush and I allow bubblegum flavoured toothpaste (which gets kept in my bathroom out of harms reach to ensure they don't EAT IT as such)

With Eden we let her brush first and then say, "Uh Oh I see a piece of cheese in there, let me get that out" or what ever she ate that day. Then she lets us brush her teeth. We also ask her what is in her teeth and she'll name a food or an animal or a toy etc.. This has really worked for us.

Good Luck!!

Rhyanne and I went to the store and I let her pick out her own toothbrush. I bought her this stages toothpaste from Oral B which is safe for them to swallow. I put a little on the brush and let her do it herself for a week or so. Mostly she just sucked the toothpaste off but at least it got her used to the idea. Now she has no problem with me helping her brush her teeth.

yeah our toothpaste is swallow safe too -

We just found our answer to this battle this week. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had given up and went months without even attempting to brush ds's teeth. He never let us put anything in his mouth so wasn't spoon fed either, and naturally, clamped his lips tightly closed when he saw the toothbrush. We tried lots of things that you might try also: brushing our teeth in front of him and explaining what we were doing, brushing the teeth of his teddy bear and then letting him brush the bear's teeth, letting him "brush" his own teeth and trying to "check and finish" for him. Finally we tried both dh and I brushing his teeth and he resistance totally melted. Now we can brush his teeth daily. DH puts him on his lap face-to-face, then leans ds back. We both open our mouths and show him our teeth and he imitates and then I brush. When he needs a break, he sits up. Afterward, he is so proud and smiles and claps and says, "Yay!" Hopefully you'll find your answer soon because I know how frustrating it can be!

I let my dd pick her toothbrush. I also get her swallow free toothpaste with characters on it (like carebears). She likes that. I also let her brush her own teeth and finish up for her afterwards. Has worked for us and she has never given me a fuss. Hope this helps.

I let ds pick out his own toothbrush too... also what someone told me... sing a song like twinkle twinkle little star & sing it the whole time you're brushing so they know how long to do it. When the song's done, their teeth should be clean. Works for washing hands too... soap up good and scrub the whole time you're singing for clean hands.

Well guess what. I took your suggestions and went to the store to let her pick out her own toothbrush. Well now things sure seem to be better! She wants to brush her teeth and lets us share in the duties when we tell her we have to get the sugar monsters out! Thanks!

My son allows me to go in to get the *bugs* he missed. That is how I am able to clean his ears also.

I am not lying... they are bacteria bugs.. hehe.

You have to do what you have to do.. ! :D

We went through this when my DD was that age. I used to tell her about "animals in her mouth" and how they need cleaning. Or I'll say, "I see Elmo in there and let's clean him off!!" Then she'd play along and say, "Big Bird needs to be cleaned too!" and open her mouth. HTH!!!