Toothbrushing tips?

[timorousbeastie]

Brushing DD's teeth is challenging, to say the least. She has always fought us, but it's getting worse as she gets older (she's 16 months now). As soon as I try to put the toothbrush in her mouth, she clamps her mouth shut and turns her head away. Yesterday, tooth rushing resulted in a massive scream-fest - which in some ways was good, because at least her mouth was wide open while she was crying, so I was able to really scrub all her teeth. But I don't want her to associate brushing her teeth with being tortured, thus making it worse every time, so I'm hoping that I can find a way to do it that doesn't involve mass hysteria on her part. Plus it doesn't exactly work well as part of her bedtime routine, if I then have to spend 30 minutes calming her down afterwards. To make matters worse, two of her teeth overlap, so I really need to be able to scrub them (or ideally floss, but I don't see that happening any time soon) to get them clean.  

Things I've tried, with no positive results: letting her hold a second toothbrush, brushing the teeth of one of her stuffed animals, letting her watch me brush my teeth, letting her actually brush my teeth, singing happy songs, having her watch herself in the mirror, letting her run around the house while I'm brushing (that one's ever so much fun), letting her play games on my phone while I brush, I hold her while H brushes or vice versa. 

Does anyone have any tips that work for them? At this point, I'm practically ready to throw one of those dog dental bones at her and let her chew on it - it would have to be more effective than what I'm doing now!

[deo]

If DS2 is being a challenge, I make it a game talking about what he ate that day like... "lets see what you had for breakfast, ooh there is peanut butter (brush a tooth), What else did you eat today?" and usually he opens his mouth to talk and that's when I get the brush in there.

Singing while brushing also helps.

[aspentosh]

I remember there being a lot of trickery at that age. "Let's see who can open their mouth wider!" or for longer, or whatever. We always found it was best to tag team- so whoever held her mimicked what we wanted in the mirror. Wide mouth, tongue out, etc. Then the person brushing could concentrate on efficiency.

[momin2013]

Jun 22, 2015 12:56:39 GMT -5 deo said:

If DS2 is being a challenge, I make it a game talking about what he ate that day like... "lets see what you had for breakfast, ooh there is peanut butter (brush a tooth), What else did you eat today?" and usually he opens his mouth to talk and that's when I get the brush in there.

Singing while brushing also helps.

This exactly. I usually talk about the cookie or whatever he ate earlier and then go, "oooo, I think I see that cookie in there, we need to brush it! Oooh, there's another one!".... Usually it gets him laughing so I can get in there and brush away for a few seconds each time.

And singing sometimes works too.

[niq]

Things we tried that had some success around that age:

* Being silly about it. "ooh, I see some of that broccoli back there, I've gotta clean it out! Open wide and we'll do it together."
* Letting V brush his stuffed animals' teeth first.
* Saying we're going to count to 10 or 20 and then we'll be all done.
* Pretending to be Elmo. My Elmo sounds like an old lady who lives in queens and complains about her neighbors with funny names and facial hair (hipsters? or Muslims? Either one, Grandma Elmo is an equal opportunity hater)
* we sing the DT song to try and work through the morning. I don't know if it's sinking in.

I think things finally started getting better around 19 or 20m. Now he mostly knows the drill.

[timorousbeastie]

Jun 22, 2015 13:01:30 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Jun 22, 2015 12:56:39 GMT -5 deo said:

If DS2 is being a challenge, I make it a game talking about what he ate that day like... "lets see what you had for breakfast, ooh there is peanut butter (brush a tooth), What else did you eat today?" and usually he opens his mouth to talk and that's when I get the brush in there.

This worked with both of my kids, too, especially as they became more verbal and could add to the list of things they ate.

Have you tried an electric toothbrush?

No, I haven't tried an electric toothbrush. I might try picking one up this afternoon to see if it helps. 

[Deleted]

I have to use the back end of the toothbrush to get in her mouth first because she didn't like the texture of the bristles. Maybe try that? Are you using toothpaste yet? I think we need to start that soon.

[Ashley&Scott]

That's just a rough age. Keep powering through, it will get better. I promise she won't hate you or brushing in the long run.

Things we tried at that age that worked reasonably well. Sit on the bed & have her lay on her back with her head in your lap, have your DH tickle her while you brush. Singing silly songs while brushing. Reading books about brushing your teeth. Getting an electric toothbrush. 

[simpsongal]

Um, DH holds him, pins his arm and I wrestle him down and just brush them. He hates it and clamps his mouth but it's over in a minute and then he's fine.

[indylady]

We sing a little song that we made up and try to be overly excited that it's toothbrushing time. We sound ridiculous but if we're smiling and happy, DS seems to think what we're doing is fun.... at least for now!

[nessness]

Can I piggyback on this question to ask for tips on brushing an 8-month-old baby's teeth? I use a finger toothbrush but she bites my finger and it doesn't feel very effective.

[halfpint]

We have tasty non-flouride toothpaste, he loves the taste.
We also have a special toothbrushing song, and sing it every night. He even finishes it now
We do a little bit of brushing, then let him hold the brush and chew on it for a bit on his own.

[MadamePresident]

honestly at that age, I do what I can and call it good enough.

[litasail]

We got DS a spinbrush that you could put stickers on (they came with the toothbrush). Every time he brushed his teeth he got to choose a sticker to put on. Helped us stop the fights.

[ijack]

have you tried letting her brush her own teeth?

[timorousbeastie]

Jun 22, 2015 14:22:32 GMT -5 ijack said:

have you tried letting her brush her own teeth?

Yes. But all she does is chew on the wrong side of the handle. Too bad there aren't bristles on both ends; otherwise I'd be willing to count that chewing as brushing!

[ijack]

I would pose it as a choice "do you want to brush your teeth first or do you want mommy to?" And I'd let her have a chance to do it herself either before or after you (depending on which one she picks). And I wouldn't negotiate with her - tell her that brushing her teeth is something that you have to do, but she gets to pick which order you go in. Hopefully it will get easier!

[spk926]

Jun 22, 2015 14:47:22 GMT -5 timorousbeastie said:

Jun 22, 2015 14:22:32 GMT -5 ijack said:

have you tried letting her brush her own teeth?

Yes. But all she does is chew on the wrong side of the handle. Too bad there aren't bristles on both ends; otherwise I'd be willing to count that chewing as brushing!

This has bristles on both sides. They're soft but they're bristles. We would put some toothpaste on both sides and she would gnaw on this long all over her mouth. I counted that as tooth brushing for a long time. Finally at 2.5 she's getting better at having her teeth brushed with a real toothbrush but more often than not it's a struggle.

[Deleted]

At that age, we encouraged DS to scream. We made it a fun game of "who can scream the loudest? 3, 2, 1, AHHHHHH!" And we all screamed, while he screaming I brushed his teeth.

[countthestars]

We let DD use a soft bristled adult sized toothbrush that she thinks is "Daddy's toothbrush". Everything is better when it belongs to someone else at our house.

[meltoine]

I let them do it by themselves for a minute first if they fight it. Then I tell them "I need to check your work" and they let me go back over once they've had a chance to feel like they're in charge.

[timorousbeastie]

Jun 22, 2015 13:01:30 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Jun 22, 2015 12:56:39 GMT -5 deo said:

If DS2 is being a challenge, I make it a game talking about what he ate that day like... "lets see what you had for breakfast, ooh there is peanut butter (brush a tooth), What else did you eat today?" and usually he opens his mouth to talk and that's when I get the brush in there.

This worked with both of my kids, too, especially as they became more verbal and could add to the list of things they ate.

Have you tried an electric toothbrush?

We may have a winner here, @mrswindycity. I bought an electric toothbrush this afternoon (it's one with stickers, litasail, but I haven't broken those out for DD to try yet), and DD loooved it. As in, she didn't want to stop, so I probably brushed her teeth for close to 5 minutes! Hopefully when the novelty wears off, she will still let me brush her teeth. But for now, it's awesome!

[timorousbeastie]

Jun 22, 2015 13:48:04 GMT -5 nessness said:

Can I piggyback on this question to ask for tips on brushing an 8-month-old baby's teeth? I use a finger toothbrush but she bites my finger and it doesn't feel very effective.

That sounds pretty normal to me. I basically just let DD chomp on the finger brush while I did what I could to move it around a bit. But don't take my word for it, as I now can't brush DD's teeth at 16 months

[timorousbeastie]

Jun 22, 2015 19:36:15 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

They make flossers in the shape of animals that my toddler liked. Good luck!

Oh, yeah, I picked those up at the store today when I got the electric toothbrush. I didn't try them tonight (I didn't want to press my luck after the new toothbrush was such a hit!), but DD was incredibly excited by the animals on the bag when she saw it at the store. Hopefully that excitement lasts when I try sticking them in her mouth