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How can I brush my child's teeth? Help?

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!

7 Answers

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    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.

    Source(s): my 4 year old has tried to not let me brush his teeth, and I've held him on the ground to do it. this happened twice, and he learned that no matter what, his teeth will be cleaned (of course I gave him a big hug when I was done and explained why its important).
  • Serena
    Lv 5
    9 years ago

    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.

    Source(s): Mommy of a 22 month old and 4 year old
  • 9 years ago

    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.

  • Anonymous
    9 years ago

    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.

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  • 9 years ago

    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.

  • 9 years ago

    If you make it more a game than a situation. Then you and your baby will start to enjoy it. The ooh, ahhh and eeee game work. Taking there mind of the subject is the key.

    Hope that helps

  • TJS
    Lv 6
    9 years ago

    You can just wipe them with a cloth for now.

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