My 15-month-old has 12 teeth, so it's obviously a good idea to brush them each day. When we first got her toothbrush, she liked it when I would brush them. But now, when I try to brush her teeth, she will NOT have it. She shuts her mouth tight, and I can't even get the brush in there unless I were to just pry her mouth open (while she screams) and brush really quickly. Did any of you experience this with your children, and if so, do you have any tips to share? I'm just worried that her teeth and gums won't be healthy if I can't brush them every day. Help, please!
Liberal & Proud!2012-02-08T12:24:34Z
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a combination of the first two answers is what I did/do:
1.) let the child do it first. have them "show you how well they did" with a big smile, and tell them how shiny they look. then I say "oops, missed a spot" and I take the tooth brush and go to town. 2.) you know that sound that's made when you take your finger and go up and down real fast over your mouth? (lol), well, I call it "bubbly-ubblies" with my kids, and we do that with the tooth brush. It relaxes them and turns it into a game.
So there with you hon. It is a fight everyday for my 22 month old son. He loves his toothbrush and toothpaste, but hates it when I brush his teeth. I use the baby finger toothbrush that slips on your finger, I can get the job done fast, and though he bites down on me, he doesn't do it as hard as he does on the toothbrush (which I can't budge.) It is a nasty job, I hate doing it, but my only thought it my daughter was the same way and she started to deal with teeth brushing much better.
What I did with my son was I gave the toothbrush to him and let him brush his own teeth, then after a minute or two I would tell him that now I am going to help him brush. Letting him do it first got him used to the toothbrush without a fight.
You may find that more teeth are coming through and it hurts her, My daughter had 12 teeth by 5mths and we starting letting her brush from them. We had to stop with my son as i found it was simulating the gum too much. Not sure if that is medically correct but we found that he had teeth coming through every time he started brushing again. For Birthdays we got my 2 & 4 yr (birthdays a week apart) old electric tooth brushes which they got to select them self. they thought they were very clever selecting their own tooth brush (soft brush though) They love them. We still need to help the 2yr from time to time.
Take her to the store My daughter was like that & had her 2 front teeth pulled at 2 after that i took her to the store and i told her pick out a tooth brush she likes & training toothpaste i think they even have glow in the dark tooth brush. buy some mini dora bathroom cups my daughter could not wait until i was done brushing her teeth so she can play with cups in the sink for about a min or so try stuff like that.