brushing teeth

[kfillmore]

do you struggle with teeth brushing? DD will chew on a brush on her own but we can barely get the brush in. I don't want to force it. It seems like some people hold their baby down. Soon as she protests I stop. I am afraid that her teeth are going to fall out! Also that she will never learn that she needs to brush them.

what do you do?

[lifeguard]

I don't fight about it. I try every day & if we get some brushing done I consider it a success. It's just not worth creating a huge drama over every day.

[boigrrrlwonder]

By letting her watch tv while we did it. Eventually, she got old enough that an explanation sufficed, but before 2yo, we used tv.

[redvlagrl]

Honestly, there have been times when I have forced it. Actually it was easier when she cried because her mouth was open. I figured that the few times it was bad like this were far less traumatic than bad dentist trips/fillings/extractions etc. DD has been through stages.

What did help was getting a new toothpaste (Weleda) which is loves and asks for "teeth? brush teeth?" in the morning when I am doing mine. We also do it at night before bed, so I figure if one session isn't so great it is ok.

She visited the ped dentist at 14 mths and he said her teeth were great and once a day brushing is fine.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS fights it HARD. and we force it. We've already spent over $2000 having cavities filled, etc in his mouth so yeah, it is pretty important that his teeth get brushed every night.

[Amanda L]

My pedi and dentist said that at my son's age it is more about establishing routine than actual brushing. They said that letting him chew on the toothbrush when he wouldn't let me actually brush his teeth was good. I don't want him to see tooth brushing as a control issue later in life.

[justKate]

Brushing teeth is one of the few things that are non-negotiable. DD's 8 teeth get properly brushed ~6 times/week. Twice daily would be better, but I don't want to torture her too much.

[nukuspot]

I just signed on to ask the exact same thing! DD is 15 mo and she only has 5 teeth, but she clamps her mouth shut and it's a huge fight to brush. So if she just chews on the toothbrush I feel like at least that's OK for now. That's all we really get most nights.

We already hold her down to cut her nails and that is a huge trauma...But otherwise she scratches her face up terribly in her sleep. I don't want to have yet another thing we need to restrain her for, and every day! So I chose to nit fight her on the tooth brushing thing at this point. Nails at least are only once every 2 weeks. But I do feel like a bad parent because some nights I can't even get the brush in for a chew, even.

[LadyCatherine185]

just wanted to add-- we got some Spiffie tooth-wipes as well, to do throughout the day (because it takes 2 people to actually brush his teeth) and he is not as resistant to those. I can usually at least wipe the front of his teeth with those.

[petey44]

I didn't think it was a big deal to make sure dd brushed, until my friend's child developed some pretty serious tooth problems (under 2 yo) because of lack of brushing. We just built it into the routine. She was resistant at first but we stuck with it and now she's fine, she even reminds us that it's time to brush her teeth. DH is convinced that she came around to it because he bought her an battery-powered toothbrush (we have electric ones, so it's more like ours). I hate the wastefulness of it, but if it gets her to brush...

[blizzard_babe]

Tooth-brushing is a non-negotiable in our house, too. For months, it was a fight... EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Things have gotten much better, but... yeah. For me, it's like riding in the car seat. Yes, you may prefer not to do it, kiddo, but in ways you are not yet able to understand, it's what you need.

[Anna's Lovey]

I was just talking to my dental assistant friend about this today. She said that she's seen kids with entire rows of teeth rotted out from not brushing who have to be put under general anesthesia to be worked on. Needless to say, she forces the issue, even to the point of flossing!
I don't floss, but we did start forcing the teeth brushing issue when our dd was around 18 months. Right now we are at the point where she'll let me brush her teeth after she's brushed for a little bit. For some reason, "there are monsters in your teeth. Let me get the monsters out. Out monsters! Out!" works like a charm. (A little trick I read somewhere).

[mama2rey]

Toothbrushing is also non-negotiable here. What I do say works for us is using two toothbrushes. My son holds one (biting on it), and I go in with another one saying "my turn!" I also make it a game. I ask him what the sheep says and he says "Baa!" and I go for it. It is part of the routine. At night he gets a bath and after we brush teeth. In the morning, we all brush our teeth before we leave the house.

[just_lily]

We let her do it. She really likes standing on her stool and putting her brush under the running water. She basically gets the brush wet and then sucks the water off about 50 times in a row, and then she is usually agreeable to letting Mummy have a turn and I brush them for her.

[rightkindofme]

Most of the children in my family have their baby teeth rot out of their heads because we have genetically bad teeth. Teeth brushing is not optional. We started using a little finger tip thing mostly on gums before she was old enough to object much. I think she only had two teeth and she was barely touching solid foods. We have had periods where she fought tooth brushing. I pretty calmly explain to her that there are bugs that live in our mouths that we have to get off our teeth before we go to sleep. If we don't the bugs eat our teeth. The few times she really has fought (I've probably done this five times ever) I did pin her on the floor between my thighs and brush her teeth. It sucked for all involved.

Mostly we make it a game and that works. My husband actually does 95% of the teeth brushing these days now that I made the routine possible. (He just couldn't force the issue. He's not that kind of person.) He gives her a tooth brush while he brushes his own teeth and they talk a lot about teeth bugs and how important it is to get them all. Then he 'finishes' brushing her teeth for her and is very silly about darting in to get the bugs. He generally attacks small sections at a time and is silly the whole time. She laughs and plays along. Our newest bedtime/teeth brushing incentive is we found 'kid flossers' and she is really excited that she gets to floss now too. It was always one of those grown up things before.

It's rare for them to have a hard night now. It took patience and dedication on my part to get this routine in place but it has seriously paid off. She simply is not capable of understanding the consequences of not brushing her teeth and I am not going to put her through the hell of bad early experiences at the dentist's office. I had nightmares for years and terrible panic attacks at the dentist's office because I had to have so much work done. I think that the relative 'trauma' of me forcibly brushing her teeth a handful of times is balanced out by our overall very positive, loving relationship.

[Latte Mama]

Originally Posted by mama2rey

Toothbrushing is also non-negotiable here. What I do say works for us is using two toothbrushes. My son holds one (biting on it), and I go in with another one saying "my turn!" I also make it a game. I ask him what the sheep says and he says "Baa!" and I go for it. It is part of the routine. At night he gets a bath and after we brush teeth. In the morning, we all brush our teeth before we leave the house.

We also use 2. A little regular one for DS to use first and then I go in with the battery powered one. He's actually pretty good with it now. he used to fight it but mellowed out with time. Brushing is non negotiable here as I have very "soft" teeth and have had a lifelong history of caries and dental problems. I will do my best to prevent my son from going through that.

[Carhootel]

I like the idea of using 2. We do it every night. always. sometimes it's a fight but for the most part it's ok. We let him take a turn first (he puts it in his mouth and basically pushes it up and down so it looks like he's brushing but really he's just mimicking the motion. Then we say 'mommys turn' or 'daddy's turn!' and we go in and just do a quick pass of the teeth he has, we don't try to get them really scrubbed unless he's more willing.

[dawncayden]

Because of ds1's (4.5 yrs) dental surgery at 2 years old, we've had to force brushing. For him I would give him the choice of sitting up for me to 'check' or he could lie down for me to 'check'. Lying down would mean my legs over his arms and his face up. He would usually pick the sitting up but if he wouldn't let me brush we'd have to do it the other way.
Pretty soon he was really good at letting me check either by lying down or sitting, then he would have his turn at brushing himself.
With ds2 (16 m) we started brushing lying down from the beginning. He tolerates it for about 30 seconds Thankfully he only has 7 teeth, so they don't take too long to brush.

[BeanyMama]

When my boys were that age, I asked them if I could see their huge dinosaur-like teeth and then I'd make crazy faces and exclamations in fear as I brushed. It worked every single time. My current toddler isn't interested in scary teeth but lines up for brushing because her siblings do, I think.

[YayJennie]

My son is 16 months old and got teeth pretty late, so he's only got 6 right now and 4 aren't even all the way through. We just started brushing teeth, but he won't let me do it. So I just give it to him and model how to brush. When I brush my teeth in front of him, he gets a better idea of what to do, and will brush a bit. I'm sure it's not actually getting his teeth *really* clean, but we do this twice a day, and I think it's great for his age.

Once he has more teeth and is older and eating more sweets (right now the only sugar in his diet is the occasional Popsicle) I might push the brushing a little more, but for now, I'm completely satisfied with letting him enjoy tooth brushing and doing it himself. I really feel like if I forced the issue, it would end up a battle that would make him hate brushing his teeth, and I'd rather have it be fun right now.