Teeth brushing dramas

[RenF]

We've been 'brushing' my daughter's teeth since her first one popped through, and at 14 months with the grand total of 5 teeth, we're persevering with brushing morning and night.

But... what is reasonable to expect at this age and what should we be aiming for? She's pretty temperamental about having her teeth brushed, occasionally refusing entirely, sometimes only letting us brush for a few seconds, and sometimes willing to chew on the brush herself for a while. I wouldn't say we get much proper brushing done at all!

We've tried: brushing teeth looking in the mirror, which worked once or twice before she got bored; sitting on our lap and brushing; giving her the brush and letting her do it herself without interfering; brushing facing her whilst she is in the bath; brushing our teeth together... all with limited results (ie she's mildly diverted for a while but ultimately not fooled by our attempts to make it 'fun')

Is this normal? Or should we be pinning her down and forcing her to let us brush for at least two minutes!? (Not really). What is other people's experience?

[Mrs TP]

How truthful can we be? I ended up with pin down for my first two children - stresses all around. No 3 who is 3 has irregular brushing when she is in the mood so can be 3 times some days and 3 times some weeks - I do it, she does it, her siblings do it for her all with permission and no pin down and sometimes noone does it for a few a days. Older two both had teeth out and fillings and younger one as yet untroubled - irregular sustained brushing working better for us.

[newtoedf]

My eldest was dreadful at letting us brush her teeth. I really wanted the answer to be just leave her, she'll come round but all the advice I found was unanimously of the view that you must keep brushing so I ended up pinning her down twice a day for more than a year. From the age of 3 though it has been plain sailing and she is mostly very co-operative now.

I found sitting on the floor with her lying between my legs to be much safer than attempting some sort of arm lock while she tried to leap off my knee and meant the brushing was quick and calm and much less confrontational if a bit undignified for all concerned

[oimissus]

I did a mixture of armlock and lying on the floor with head between my knees, sounds dreadful! But with 2 dentist grandparents I had to do it! Word from me ma (retired children's dentist) is, I think, anything is better than nothing and don't give them anything other than water or milk to drink (that was her absolute mantra).

[Monkey]

I tell mine that if she does not brush her teeth they will all fall out and she'll much less pretty...

[jennyh]

In our experience it was difficult until she was old enough to have some control over it and could be bribed. (Everything is easier when they understand the basic notion of you do this, then I do this...) so she started getting better around 18 months and I let her chew it etc with minimal interference. Over time she naturally became more interested and at 2 she now wants to brush when I brush and understands she has to try and do the top ones, bottom ones and back ones and then make a funny face to do the front ones. Often she will do it with the promise of being able to go to the park in the morning or the promise of books at bedtime. Obviously this isn't a rule and she frequently throws a fit but like they say above, do your best which is better than not doing it at all and watch the sugary stuff. I have also started holding back on giving raisins without brushing soon after as I heard they are dreadful for tooth decay as they are so sugary and just sit on the molars.

[shaunag]

With both parents dentists I religiously brushed m daughters teeth morning and night without any protest from her until I went back to work when she was about 1. Then husband was on morning duty and was a lot more relaxed about teeth. Coincidental timing or not she started making a huge fuss about her teeth. So the battles commenced with inevitable tears every night. Spoke to my mum about it- she told me to relax and not force it (she is mum to 8 but was never pushy with us as her mum had given her a very strict upbringing). So, now we are all much more relaxed about teeth and like mrs tp when it happens it happens - we aim for the before bed time brush and are happy with that(but yes I do stress when it doesn't happen). We talk about teeth and having smelly breath if u don't brush your teeth and big up all the teeth brushing we come across, but I think mums way works for us- I don't want all things teeth to be a horrible experience (I also think that when her teeth are sore she is anti teeth brushing and can't really blame her for that). So, whatever works for you and you can live with is probably what I would set the bar at! Happy teeth brushing!

[cazbee]

We had success with one of these (but the boys version). About ?7 from Boots.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spinbrush-Battery-Powered-Toothbrush-Girls/dp/B003C4HCQG

It comes with several sheets of tiny stickers to stick on the blank brush. Every good brushing effort gets a new sticker to go on the brush handle. I think our little one also likes having his own electric toothbrush like Mummy and Daddy and there is the novelty factor of having the button to press on and off.

[Chillaxed]

Thanks cazbee. Any idea of the recommended minimum age to use the 'spinbrush'?

[cazbee]

I did look this up on the Arm and Hammer website and it doesn't state a minimum age, just to use adult supervision for under 3 year olds and to regularly inspect the brush in case of loose parts. It is much less powerful than an adult electric toothbrush. Might be worth checking with the dentist as well if using on a very little one.

[bumpy]

We brush at night for him and in the morning at the same time. He's an extremely competitive 3 year old so at the same time to see who finishes first - though we're also racing against this egg timer so know he's doing it for a certain length of time. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smiley-Sand-Egg-Timer-minute/dp/B008H6EY42/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359548420&sr=8-2 Other days we offer to sign a funny song or tell a story of his choice while we brush his teeth and sometimes we resort to this http://crappypictures.com/teeth-brushing/

[etta166]

When they are teething, toddler teeth can be particularly difficult to brush. I've been through good phases and phases of pinning down both my children. Brushing songs work well for us, I started with songs about brushing teeth but now as long as I sing something they are both pretty compliant. I guess this is a hangover from pinning them down, but they still (at 3.2 and 1.5) both brush their teeth lying down on the floor...

Electric toothbroshes gave us about 2-3 months of good brushing before the novelty wore off. Different kinds/flavours/colours of toothpaste help keep things varied and a bit more interesting.

One thing that worked well at about 14m was letting our children brush our teeth while simultaneously brushing theirs.

Good luck and remember that it's only a phase :)

[Chillaxed]

OK, thanks cazbee, will give it a try.

Loved your comment, etta166, about your kids still brushing their teeth lying down!

cazbee Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I did look this up on the Arm and Hammer website

> and it doesn't state a minimum age, just to use

> adult supervision for under 3 year olds and to

> regularly inspect the brush in case of loose

> parts. It is much less powerful than an adult

> electric toothbrush. Might be worth checking with

> the dentist as well if using on a very little one.

[RenF]

Thanks for the wisdom folks... now, any tips on cutting finger nails and persuading a slippery mini-toddler to remain sitting down in the bath gratefully received! :)

[susyp]

finger nails i did when she was asleep. Then when older I promised to paint them if she let me cut them. More tricky now she is at school but for some reason she is obsessed that her daddy has to cut them not me - despite the fact he can't see a thing without his reading glasses on - and those are normally lost. Her decision!

No chance on getting a toddler to sit in the bath!!

also to echo re teeth that luckily (!) my dad has some teeth that are quite black (how?!) which my daughter has noticed so i tell her her teeth will go black too if she doesn't clean them. I used to tell her she would end up like a witch with teeth fallen out but now that she is almost at losing milk teeth i've dropped that one..

susypx

[lucyA1308]

bath time =bath toys (they can be quite expensive, so often an empty shampoo bottle will provide good distraction and fun); singing songs with actions, means that they generally are sitting down watching you, waving their hands in the air with you; And remember it is just a phase. They will grow out of it.

Re. Teeth brushing. I told my 3 yr old, who likes to make an issue of it, but usually gives in eventually, (probably an attention seeking thing, which I am now getting a bit fed up with) that her teeth will fall out if she didn't brush. that scared her quite a bit, and she has been better, but she is also looking at everyone's mouth, including other children whose milk teeth have fallen out, and I can tell that she is worrying about them, and thinks that that has happened because they didn't brush properly.

[etta166]

finger nails I do when my children are distracted, something like watching tv or listening to a story. As for getting them to sit in the bath, we have quite a lot of toys and have also been though "traning" phases where if they stood up and wouldn't sit down when told, then they came straight out of the bath (which they both see as a very bad thing).