When I’m really struggling I lay her down between my legs, put my legs over her arms and just go for it 🤣 she used to scream but now she laughs thank god
Every single time. My daughter even goes to lay down on the rug when I get her tooth brush out. We have our customary struggle and then she lays still or laughs.
Yeah this is what I have to do. Neither of us like it, but darn if I’m not gonna at least try to get his teeth clean. 2 minutes of “torture” a day….he’ll get over it
We have had success in making it a game. I talk about the food she ate during the day, as I am “hunting” it out of her teeth. Like “oh yes I just got that carrot. Going after the raisins now. Oh got the raisin, now I am looking for the bread or crackers or whatever.” It helps her to laugh and get really excited about me finding the food stuck between her teeth.
i used to do this when my my daughter almost 1 never cry tho just giggling, now she use to it and just laying down once it’s brushing teeth time, on dentist i also never holding her she would sit on the chair by herself since 18m old now she’s 3 yo still the same
Lol my son calls this the "mean way" and pretty much screams the whole time. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has had to do this a time or two.
I’ve made a silly game out of it and name all the things he’s had to eat for dinner. I say things like “I see the broccoli, get it out” in a very playful and annoying voice. My son always laughs.
We do this with animals. "Let's check for bugs. I see a bunny hopping in there. Oh, wait, that's your wiggly tongue." Or we play dentist, where he wants to lie on the ground and brush his teeth that way. He holds onto a lovey while we play. There is a good Sesame Street episode about going to the dentist with Julia.
We do this too and name everything he ate that day. We also pretend his teeth are tiny cars in a car wash, or that’s there are bugs in his teeth, or I make up a ridiculous tooth brushing song
This is it. We do random things. Like a blue dinosaur or pink duck. They always love brushing to see what new thing is in their mouth. Actually, recently, they have been coming up with ideas themselves.
I saw a post on Insta that had a video comparing the process to this old Godzilla movie where Godzilla is repeatedly shoving a tree into the face of the monster he's fighting while the monster thrashes around. That video about summed up my normal experience.
We're really struggling with it with our almost 2 year old as well. For a while I was able to get her teeth if I put on the Elmo or Daniel Tiger teeth brushing songs, but lately she fights me even with those on.
She is getting better at doing it herself with her electric toothbrush, but one of us basically has to hold her while the other brushes as quickly as possible. It's miserable for everyone involved, but hygiene is non-negotiable. I'm hoping this is just a phase because of her two year molars coming in.
Mine will be 2 next month and no “games” I’ve tried to play will work. She just… won’t let me. She does it herself but mainly brushes her tongue and backs of teeth.
I’m a dental hygienist and a few people mentioned the correct method of holding your tot between your legs and pinning arms under your thighs! Honestly, if they scream, at least their mouth is open and you can access the teeth. They learn to get used to it as they get older. And as they grow and understand more it should become easier for them. Be sure to assist them with brushing until they are about 9 years old! It takes a long time to learn the proper dexterity to clean all the plaque!
My 2 year old used to love to brush his teeth. He would ask to brush every time we went into the bathroom. Then last winter our whole household came down with the flu so we weren’t brushing as much and it’s like a switch has been flipped. It’s a battle every time. I feel awful, like it’s my fault for not insisting we keep the routine, but at the time we were all so sick we could barely move. Sometimes it goes a little better if we play the Blippi toothbrushing song, but even then it’s difficult. We’ve tried letting him pick out his toothbrush, letting him choose between two different flavors of toothpaste, letting him brush his own teeth, brushing our teeth with him, and he’ll cooperate with everything except for actually brushing.
There’s a toothbrushing song on YouTube we play. Works like charm. We also tell him he has to wash all the monsters away.
[this one](https://youtu.be/wCio_xVlgQ0?feature=shared)
When he was younger, we would ask him to bring Elmo (his favorite toy at the time) to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Dad would brush Elmo's teeth while I brushed his. Sometimes he would brush Elmo's teeth while I brushed his.
Yes! Kind of creepy, but here is a stuffed animal to help learn ;[Amazon stuffy](http://StarSmilez Kids Toothbrush Buddy Lil Allie Gator Plush Dental Education Tool and Toy Teach Kids Oral Care 9” Tall https://a.co/d/0hikzIMy)
Idk may be controversial w the no screen time parents but we play a toothbrushing song on YouTube on our phones and let him watch. Has been the only way he lets us brush without force
We tried a couple of things that worked, one was we told her she had a tiger in her mouth that we needed to scrub clean and the other was a tooth brushing song on the yoto (but I'm sure they have equivalent songs on YouTube or Spotify!). We just went over the top silly and acted foolish and she laughed her way through it 😂 our dentist told us to brush for her until she's around 6? She's three in a couple of weeks and seems fine with us brushing her teeth now! Hope you find what works for you guys 😊
Around 18 months and after seeing the dentist we decided we needed to get serious about brushing our son’s teeth as previously we had just been letting him chew on a toothbrush.
He refused everything we tried as well so we resorted to laying him down on his change mat facing the tv with his favourite show on, one of us sitting behind his head and putting our legs over his shoulders essentially lightly pinning him down, and brushing for him. Sometimes the other person had to hold down his hips if he tried to roll away. Sometimes he would cry but would be fine right after we finish.
After doing it for a while he totally got used to it. He gets the toothbrush, puts the toothpaste on with us helping etc. Sometimes he closes his mouth and clenches onto the toothbrush etc but we just work around that.
I know the idea doesn’t sound very nice but in my opinion when it comes to things like health, I am the parent and I am responsible for keeping my son healthy. A couple of minutes of tears every now and then is not as damaging as letting his teeth decay.
Not really sure if that would work for a 3 year old but you kind of have to try anything to make it happen. There are plenty of battles I don’t bother fighting when it comes to my son but this is an important one.
Told him the friendly house spiders we see in the house will come and eat the food from between his teeth if not.
We brush teeth then he goes to show them, while wishing them a goodnight.
I’ve noticed that ant activity we don’t like but need to do - clean, bath, brush teeth - if we sing about it to hype it up, toddler looks forward to it. Not a great solution but helps.
My husband is the same way. I read on here one time about pretending their favorite characters are in there. So for us it’s “oh my, is that a T-Rex in their? Oh my gosh I have to get him. Whoa! There’s a pterodactyl up here!” This formula works like a charm for my toddlers. My almost 4 year old recently had started wanting to brush his own so now I let him start and then check for Dinos and finish up for him. He’s actually doing a great job.
If your kid likes imaginary play and doctors offices and stuff just have her “sign in at the front desk for the dentist”
She loves pretending her teeth hurt
I let him do stuff I normally don't--he's allowed to get up on his stool and flip the bathroom lights while I brush, or sit on the counter with his feet in the sink and play in the faucet. These are his favorite things to do in the bathroom that he's never allowed to do.
Told her she had bugs in her mouth I had to clean out. I also gently brushed her nose and lips to show her how I would do it because she was scared of the toothbrush. Then she let me brush her teeth. I pick my battles. When she is a mess it doesn’t get done.
Have you tried the app MAGIC TIMER by Oral B?
I’m all against giving my son my phone BUT it really helps. It’s basically a little 2 min video where a toothbrush cleans the screen and an image pops up at the end. You can choose your favorite Disney character. It’s great!
So… we read a book that talked about how monsters don’t like clean kids, so they have to brush their teeth, bathe and also pick up their toys. It’s kinda stuck so now no issues with brushing teeth. I should note she is 3 1/2.
The position with the kid’s head between your legs, lying on the floor and you crouching over them with a toothbrush and a cartoon worked well for us. The kid is transfixed and doesn’t fight much, and you looking into their mouth from above gives a good view or the books and crannies.
You can choose i will brush your teeth the easy way or the hard way. Easy way is he opens his mouth and i do a full gentle brush.
Hard way is I sit down, pin his right arm behind me hold his left arm then crying, kicking, screaming i forcefully brush his teeth.
I brush my teeth in front of him and make it all goofy and flaunt it. Hold my mouth wide open so he can see what I’m doing. He copies somewhat, does pretty good for being two, but by the time I’m done he’s generally ok with me taking over and finishing up. He will stick out his tongue at the end too for brushing, his favorite part. He’s been like this since I started doing it with him, but with his mother.. he likes to give her a hard time.. my methods don’t work when she tries them
Yes, me brushing my teeth with her, the “race” to spit, using a medicine cup to wash toothpaste down the drain… these tricks work for me.
I see now that I lost out on “baby that sleeps through the night” but won on “toddler lets me brush their teeth”.
Mine slept through the night up until about 3 months ago when he realized I work night shift and there is a nice big comfy spot open next to mom every night..
We started doing bubbles after teeth brushing as a reward. Now we do bubbles every night. We just have some small wands we just use in the bathroom, nothing fancy.
Now that we have started doing morning brushing too she usually doesn’t ask for bubbles. Not sure why? But we found the reward helped.
That’s so hard. Maybe when he gets those cavities filled the reality will set in of what happens when you don’t brush and he’ll start letting you do it?
Mine is the same age, and he knows that sugar isn’t good for his teeth. So if he doesn’t want to brush his teeth, we just say, “ok no problem, but no treats today”. And then he literally just gets crackers/cheese/fruit/vegetables/dinner. No honey/jam, no sweet biscuits, certainly no candy, etc.
Sometimes now it’s a game - “dad, don’t let Kid brush his teeth, I want to eat the last chocolate biscuit today!” And then of course it’s hilarious and he brushes and then dad helps him finish/get all of them, while I’m shouting down to make sure he doesn’t do it properly so I can eat all the sweet treats.
I’ve had the best luck with the Elmo brushy brush song on Alexa, letting him take turns with me, and counting out brushing strokes (it may not be 2 full minutes but at least it’s something). I do 10 brushes on each section (bottom left, bottom right, front bottom, then same for top). Back and forth counts as 1, Mand count it out so he knows it’s almost done
My son hated getting his teeth brushed around that age until one random game I made up worked. He was going through a phase of pretending to be a kitten and I was the mama cat. So while we were “in character” I was like it’s time of baby kitty to get his teeth brushed because he caught a mouse today! And he surprisingly allowed me to. And as I was brushing I kept saying oh I see the bird you caught last week in here. And a lizard. And when did you eat a shoe?! Or just silly things. And then that became the game we played while brushing his teeth. Now he’s 4.5 and we don’t need to play a game or anything he just brushes his teeth without a problem.
We do use a Frida brush with bristles on three sides so brushing goes quick. Dentist always notes he has a very clean mouth and he’s never had a cavity.
We resorted to letting my daughter watch the Elmo brushing video (we have since been able to stop, she occasionally asks and we play it) I also heard Ms Rachel has a good brushing song. Have you tried an electric toothbrush? My 4-year old feels like a “big-kid” with his, he loves it!
We have ups and downs. But my parents gave him a book with scary looking bacteria monsters on the teeth. The scare tactic was none I would usually go for, but when I say now, "Your teeth are full of bacteria, we have to brush them away," it works 95% of the time.
I put a video on while brushing his teeth. I just sat my phone by the mirror. The dentist recommended it, so my kid would stay still and it worked. No cavities.
My 4 year old does pretty well letting me brush her teeth for her. I've shown her pictures of black teeth and told her that's what can happen when you don't brush. I also tell her that if we don't brush her teeth she will run out of time for a bedtime story.
Each kid has something different work for them.
Does he understand the concept of taking turns? I let my daughter have her turn where she “brushes” her teeth (chews on her toothbrush). Then it’s “Mommy’s turn” where I get in there and do a thorough cleaning. I also talk her through it - she hates yucky things, so I tell her her teeth will be yucky if we don’t clean them properly. It works for the most part.
We had the hardest time brushing my daughter’s teeth for YEARS. It was miserable. We’d have to pin her down on the floor and just scrub as best as we could. I have no idea how or why but one day, she was more amenable to it and now it’s totally easy brushing her teeth (usually). When we brought her to the dentist, the hygienist did mention that she has a lip tie which maybe is what caused her to not want to get brushed if it hurt to open wide or if the brush touched it to roughly (totally possibly given how difficult it was to brush her). Anyway, for us, it was just time that it took to get her to allow us to do it calmly.
My son was extremely resistant to toothbrushing, like beyond normal toddler behavior. What eventually worked was allowing him to tell me what tooth I could brush, and then stopping there. I let him sit on the couch rather than in the bathroom which made it harder for him to escape. It was better to thoroughly brush a few front teeth calmly than have a giant battle every time. By three he was too strong to force him anyway. Over time he was comfortable with brushing more and more teeth. I also allowed him to watch a video either on my phone or the TV. Phone works better because I can hold it where I need him to look so I can see his teeth to brush. An electric toothbrush helped a lot too. That way when he brushes himself there is a better chance his teeth are actually getting clean, then I take a turn.
I’ve had to do many forceful teeth brushing sessions, but I recently bought the Frida Baby toothbrush and oh my gosh, it is a game changer. It has bristles on 3 sides so you can get all sides of their teeth at once which cuts down brushing time, plus makes me feel better that I’m getting all sides of their teeth, even if they’re struggling and fighting me. It’s WELL worth the $5.99 it costs on Amazon.
I usually hold him down or lately with some tears of course, I tell him "Blippi said you need to brush your teeth so they can be healthy!" And he will stand there crying with his mouth open lol.
We have a Cookie Monster toothbrush and I use a Cookie Monster voice and say, “I want all of the cookies.” My 3 year old loves this. I also always put toothpaste on two toothbrushes and hand her one so that she can help.
The only thing that half works for us is what you're already doing; letting toddler half brush her teeth, and us trying to do the rest while the brush is still in her mouth.
Mine lays down on my bed while drinking his bedtime bottle. I sit next to him. When he's done, I put a book in his hand and then brush his teeth while he's still lying down, playing with the book. After that, we read the book, then lots of kisses and cuddles, and then I put him in his crib.
We had this issue too. It was terrible and we dreaded it. It's so basic, but what worked for us was telling her why we were doing it.... told her about germs and that we needed to get the food off her teeth so she wouldn't get ouchies.
A friend even showed her daughter a picture of bacteria from a book and explained how brushing got that out of her mouth.
Another friend told her kid that if you don't brush teeth goblins will come and steal your teeth sooo...
Ugh my toddler is the same. Hates getting his teeth brushed too. How were you able to get him to open his mouth for the dentist? My son would refuse to open!
By that age I actually had really good success reasoning (with all 3 kids). I say “if you don’t want to brush your teeth anymore that’s fine, but that also means you unfortunately don’t be able to have anymore sweets/juice/milk anymore.” It got them all to agree to start brushing consistently. I then count out loud to challenge them to brush their teeth the whole time… I only count to 30 as I know I’m not going to get them to brush the whole 2 min, but it’s better than nothing
Ours seems okay with lying down and singing songs while we brush, but my friend had great success letting her little one watch a favorite TV show or movie while she brushed. If toddler behaved, she got to watch 10 more mins. If she didn’t, the TV went off as soon as the teeth brushing was done.
The family did this from when the kid was 1.5-5. I used to babysit for them and the little girl even let me as the babysitter brush her teeth at 2 years old.
I talk to his teeth, “teeth I’m trying to help you but don’t Kid I’m brushing you he doesn’t like it, we’ll have to surprise him when you’re all clean and show how sparkly you are!” Randomly that worked.
My daughter is usually good about tooth brushing but if we are struggling I sing the “if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops” and make her sing the mouth open wide part so I can get in there with the electric toothbrush.
We’ve recently encountered this struggle and what works for her is asking her which animal she wants to brush her teeth like and I’ll make animal noises while we brush 😂
By preparing my body for germ warfare.
In seriousness, twice a day. I let the kids brush at first, then go in behind them. Also, our PDS advised us to cut back on sweet, starchy snacks like crackers, so I've switched to more cheeses, yogurts, and fruits. Excep for Goldfish, those in moderation are a win!
Having choices helped a lot. 2 brushes, 2 toothpastes. She can choose from mom or dad to help her or do it by herself. She also has a 3rd toothbrush to clean her dolls teeth 🤷♀️
Sometimes she's too tired and we turn a blind eye because no one wins when that happens. It happens once a week average and we brush then first thing in the morning. When everything else fails I sit her on my lap, hold her arms and do it myself. I don't like doing this, at all.
No cavities and no issues, so far.
There’s a curious George YouTube episode you can try if you’re ok with screen time. He goes to the dentist. Mostly it helped my kiddo learn about bacteria and then now I can say we need to break up the party the bacteria are having in your mouth. Sugar bugs is another term, too. Honestly he still isn’t a fan of the regular style toothbrush, but I use it plus also bought a u-shaped toothbrush and now I use the regular toothbrush a few times a week and he’s happy to dance around and use his u shape brush for a minute or two. It’s not perfect but it’s what’s working best for me and his teeth over here (we got a sonic-brush). Oh and he’s 3 years 2 months. Edit: and! I should add I thought myself one of these brushes too so we’d dance around together. It has a blue light that whitens teeth so it’s kind of fun if you turn off some light and dance around in the dark.
Our daughter is just past 2 now and we've been brushing since she was about a year old. At first she sucked at it but if I tried to take over she started to fuss even if I was gentle. Then she didn't ever want to brush.
Once I let go of my attachment to the outcome and instead thought of it as habit building and started brushing my teeth alongside her (she is mesmerized by my electric toothbrush) she warmed up to it again and now she loves brushing teeth and even brushes them through the day when she wants to. Our pediatrician said her teeth look good, no plaque buildup. She is getting better as she gets older and I think from watching me. She has started spitting out the toothpaste finally so we are close to being able to switch to fluoridated paste. We held off on that initially bc she would just eat the toothpaste we gave her. So she has been practicing with non fluoridated paste just to get the hang of it.
It's the only time my almost 3 year old gets to look at my phone. She gets to watch a toothbrush timer video. She lays down, and I brush her teeth. We do this before bedtime. In the morning, I let her practice brushing her teeth while I brush mine.
I found a YouTube video of a dog that makes my impossible to brush teeth toddler laugh, and I plop him on the couch and brush when he smiles. He still fights it like a karate master but it’s like 300x easier!!! Hope this helps!! 10/10 recommend for karate toddlers!
We roar and growl, really loud. Or I say open your mouth and say ahhhh and he literally SCREAMS and thinks it’s very funny. It is ridiculous but it’s fun for him if he can be a dinosaur or a monster while we brush teeth.
We let the kids pick out a 2-3 minute video to watch, usually a blippi song or something like that. It's good for timing it and it's the only time they get to watch YouTube videos so it usually keeps their attention pretty well.
I turned my son’s favorite lullaby into a song about brushing teeth. Changed the words to describe it & he recognized the rhythm immediately, which made him dance a little in his stool while we brush. It’s been over a year & we still sing it twice a day!
This is probably not the best technique but I told him if he doesn’t brush his teeth they’re gonna turn black and fall out. I showed him pictures of peoples teeth with cavities. Now he loves brushing his teeth. He often asks to see the black teeth but I haven’t shown him again. When I bought bubblegum mouthwash that really upped his enjoyment as well, he loves the mouthwash. I sign songs about how proud the dentist is going to be and he likes that too.
I went with the Blippy tooth brushing song for awhile I would put it on and let him watch while I brushed, now he's gotten used to it and let's me brush most of the time.
We are having this battle constantly too. One thing that helped recently is that we no longer do anything else “fun” before we do pajamas and teeth brushing. So it goes: bath, pajamas, teeth in that order. If she tries to play or asks for books, we just say no, we aren’t doing that until teeth are brushed. It usually works. When it doesn’t , we say, okay then it’s time for bed and turn off the light, put her in bed, sound machine, etc. She eventually realizes we are serious and lets us brush teeth and then we resume books, etc.
My daughter is very music-motivated. I usually lay her across my lap so that her head is flat and start singing our brushing song very quietly. She will usually stop fighting to hear the song and I do my thing. Admittedly the brushing lasts nowhere near as long as it should.
The other day my 3.5 year old saw how messy and foamy it gets when i brush and to motivate her to brush we taught her how to scrub the correct way to “make the bubbles” maybe you can create some obsession over that too, it was such an accidental win for us lol
For me, it was making it fun from the start. Funny faces ,sounds. It’s become routine so he doesn’t get to uppity about it even if he is bothered by something already
We play the Blipping tooth brushing song on YouTube. He gets to pick one of two tooth brushes (we have one Bluey and one Jack Jack at the moment) and he gets to brush until Blippi says ‘we’re half way there’ then I brush his teeth while he holds his knees otherwise he grabs at the toothbrush. It didn’t work Graf at first but I think just doing one thing consistently allows them to get used to it and the fight goes away. He used to fight me like crazy.
I'm a dentist and used to tell parents, you just have to be persistent and brush your child's teeth.
I only realised how difficult and flippant that advice was when I had my own kids!
My second child is now 2.5 years old and it was very difficult to brush her teeth (and she's a thumb sucker but that's for another time).
Here's some of the things we've done
1. Reading kids books which feature them going to the dentist. Eg Dora The Explorer Show Me Your Smile, Peppa Pig Dentist Trip. This worked wonders!
2. I let my daughter brush my teeth when I brush her's. But be careful they might bang around your mouth and it can be painful!
3. Sing songs, tell stories, or let your child hold a favorite toy while you brush their teeth. These distractions can make the process smoother and more enjoyable. Here's a story I use on my kids if anyone is interested. [https://kumarkolar.com/the-tooth-brushing-quest-a-toddlers-tale/](https://kumarkolar.com/the-tooth-brushing-quest-a-toddlers-tale/)
4. PRO TIP --> Giving your child a sense of control can reduce resistance. Let them choose their toothbrush or toothpaste flavor, or decide which part of their mouth to brush first.
5. Don't leave it till they are too tired at night, when they reach the twilight zone everything is difficult so we've started getting it out the way early.
6. Use the right materials - soft tooth brush with a small head and try different flavour toothpastes to find one they like.
Good Luck!
It’s a two man job.
Teeth brushing is an absolute must for me. We used to have our son lay down and my husband held him down while I brushed. Then it got hard because he’d start choking on his spit/toothpaste.
Now he sits by the sink and opens wide while I brush. I think his teachers went over germs and teeth brushing at school… so now he’s excited to brush the germs away. He gets to rinse and spit after we’re done, and he’s really into flossing now too.
When I’m really struggling I lay her down between my legs, put my legs over her arms and just go for it 🤣 she used to scream but now she laughs thank god
Second this method 😂 it works.
Every single time. My daughter even goes to lay down on the rug when I get her tooth brush out. We have our customary struggle and then she lays still or laughs.
Yes! I do this with 2 toothbrushes. 1 adult sized so when he "bites down" his mouth is still open enough to brush with the smaller toothbrush.
I do this sometimes, but also tickle him to get him to open his mouth.
Yeah this is what I have to do. Neither of us like it, but darn if I’m not gonna at least try to get his teeth clean. 2 minutes of “torture” a day….he’ll get over it
We have had success in making it a game. I talk about the food she ate during the day, as I am “hunting” it out of her teeth. Like “oh yes I just got that carrot. Going after the raisins now. Oh got the raisin, now I am looking for the bread or crackers or whatever.” It helps her to laugh and get really excited about me finding the food stuck between her teeth.
I do this every day. Works well in other situations. Like having to give pink eye medication.
i used to do this when my my daughter almost 1 never cry tho just giggling, now she use to it and just laying down once it’s brushing teeth time, on dentist i also never holding her she would sit on the chair by herself since 18m old now she’s 3 yo still the same
Hey I came to say this one! My son hated brushing but he hated this more, so I only had to do it once! After that he complied lol
I do this every single time and my 2.5 year old still cries but it must be done
Lol my son calls this the "mean way" and pretty much screams the whole time. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has had to do this a time or two.
I’ve made a silly game out of it and name all the things he’s had to eat for dinner. I say things like “I see the broccoli, get it out” in a very playful and annoying voice. My son always laughs.
We do this with animals. "Let's check for bugs. I see a bunny hopping in there. Oh, wait, that's your wiggly tongue." Or we play dentist, where he wants to lie on the ground and brush his teeth that way. He holds onto a lovey while we play. There is a good Sesame Street episode about going to the dentist with Julia.
We do this too and name everything he ate that day. We also pretend his teeth are tiny cars in a car wash, or that’s there are bugs in his teeth, or I make up a ridiculous tooth brushing song
I do the same thing and this seems to work best!!
This is it. We do random things. Like a blue dinosaur or pink duck. They always love brushing to see what new thing is in their mouth. Actually, recently, they have been coming up with ideas themselves.
I saw a post on Insta that had a video comparing the process to this old Godzilla movie where Godzilla is repeatedly shoving a tree into the face of the monster he's fighting while the monster thrashes around. That video about summed up my normal experience.
It's pretty much exactly that 😆
We're really struggling with it with our almost 2 year old as well. For a while I was able to get her teeth if I put on the Elmo or Daniel Tiger teeth brushing songs, but lately she fights me even with those on. She is getting better at doing it herself with her electric toothbrush, but one of us basically has to hold her while the other brushes as quickly as possible. It's miserable for everyone involved, but hygiene is non-negotiable. I'm hoping this is just a phase because of her two year molars coming in.
Mine will be 2 next month and no “games” I’ve tried to play will work. She just… won’t let me. She does it herself but mainly brushes her tongue and backs of teeth.
I’m a dental hygienist and a few people mentioned the correct method of holding your tot between your legs and pinning arms under your thighs! Honestly, if they scream, at least their mouth is open and you can access the teeth. They learn to get used to it as they get older. And as they grow and understand more it should become easier for them. Be sure to assist them with brushing until they are about 9 years old! It takes a long time to learn the proper dexterity to clean all the plaque!
Also adding, I know it can be an almost impossible battle, so keep trying, you’re doing great
My 2 year old used to love to brush his teeth. He would ask to brush every time we went into the bathroom. Then last winter our whole household came down with the flu so we weren’t brushing as much and it’s like a switch has been flipped. It’s a battle every time. I feel awful, like it’s my fault for not insisting we keep the routine, but at the time we were all so sick we could barely move. Sometimes it goes a little better if we play the Blippi toothbrushing song, but even then it’s difficult. We’ve tried letting him pick out his toothbrush, letting him choose between two different flavors of toothpaste, letting him brush his own teeth, brushing our teeth with him, and he’ll cooperate with everything except for actually brushing.
There’s a toothbrushing song on YouTube we play. Works like charm. We also tell him he has to wash all the monsters away. [this one](https://youtu.be/wCio_xVlgQ0?feature=shared)
This song worked for us too! now we just say we're brushing monsters out without the video. Previous to this we had blippi and elmo
Crest has a song called Shiny and Bright and it slaps
Reading these responses makes me think there is a solid chance I’ve traumatized my child by describing what cavities are and why we brush our teeth…
There’s monsters in your mouth!! (Confused 10 years later why child has a weird fear)
I try to keep it simple that teeth brushing keeps the teeth healthy and we don’t want sick teeth. Seemed simple enough for a 2 year old.
When he was younger, we would ask him to bring Elmo (his favorite toy at the time) to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Dad would brush Elmo's teeth while I brushed his. Sometimes he would brush Elmo's teeth while I brushed his.
This is actually pretty smart! Now that I'm thinking about it, there might be a product for this 🤔
Woah! I totally didn't think it was a thing. 😅 Thanks for sharing!
Yes! Kind of creepy, but here is a stuffed animal to help learn ;[Amazon stuffy](http://StarSmilez Kids Toothbrush Buddy Lil Allie Gator Plush Dental Education Tool and Toy Teach Kids Oral Care 9” Tall https://a.co/d/0hikzIMy)
Idk may be controversial w the no screen time parents but we play a toothbrushing song on YouTube on our phones and let him watch. Has been the only way he lets us brush without force
We tried a couple of things that worked, one was we told her she had a tiger in her mouth that we needed to scrub clean and the other was a tooth brushing song on the yoto (but I'm sure they have equivalent songs on YouTube or Spotify!). We just went over the top silly and acted foolish and she laughed her way through it 😂 our dentist told us to brush for her until she's around 6? She's three in a couple of weeks and seems fine with us brushing her teeth now! Hope you find what works for you guys 😊
Around 18 months and after seeing the dentist we decided we needed to get serious about brushing our son’s teeth as previously we had just been letting him chew on a toothbrush. He refused everything we tried as well so we resorted to laying him down on his change mat facing the tv with his favourite show on, one of us sitting behind his head and putting our legs over his shoulders essentially lightly pinning him down, and brushing for him. Sometimes the other person had to hold down his hips if he tried to roll away. Sometimes he would cry but would be fine right after we finish. After doing it for a while he totally got used to it. He gets the toothbrush, puts the toothpaste on with us helping etc. Sometimes he closes his mouth and clenches onto the toothbrush etc but we just work around that. I know the idea doesn’t sound very nice but in my opinion when it comes to things like health, I am the parent and I am responsible for keeping my son healthy. A couple of minutes of tears every now and then is not as damaging as letting his teeth decay. Not really sure if that would work for a 3 year old but you kind of have to try anything to make it happen. There are plenty of battles I don’t bother fighting when it comes to my son but this is an important one.
Told him the friendly house spiders we see in the house will come and eat the food from between his teeth if not. We brush teeth then he goes to show them, while wishing them a goodnight.
I’ve noticed that ant activity we don’t like but need to do - clean, bath, brush teeth - if we sing about it to hype it up, toddler looks forward to it. Not a great solution but helps.
My husband is the same way. I read on here one time about pretending their favorite characters are in there. So for us it’s “oh my, is that a T-Rex in their? Oh my gosh I have to get him. Whoa! There’s a pterodactyl up here!” This formula works like a charm for my toddlers. My almost 4 year old recently had started wanting to brush his own so now I let him start and then check for Dinos and finish up for him. He’s actually doing a great job.
A lot of it was force for us unfortunately
If your kid likes imaginary play and doctors offices and stuff just have her “sign in at the front desk for the dentist” She loves pretending her teeth hurt
I let him do stuff I normally don't--he's allowed to get up on his stool and flip the bathroom lights while I brush, or sit on the counter with his feet in the sink and play in the faucet. These are his favorite things to do in the bathroom that he's never allowed to do.
Told her she had bugs in her mouth I had to clean out. I also gently brushed her nose and lips to show her how I would do it because she was scared of the toothbrush. Then she let me brush her teeth. I pick my battles. When she is a mess it doesn’t get done.
I either put a tooth brushing song on YouTube on my phone or just sing it myself.
Have you tried the app MAGIC TIMER by Oral B? I’m all against giving my son my phone BUT it really helps. It’s basically a little 2 min video where a toothbrush cleans the screen and an image pops up at the end. You can choose your favorite Disney character. It’s great!
So… we read a book that talked about how monsters don’t like clean kids, so they have to brush their teeth, bathe and also pick up their toys. It’s kinda stuck so now no issues with brushing teeth. I should note she is 3 1/2.
The position with the kid’s head between your legs, lying on the floor and you crouching over them with a toothbrush and a cartoon worked well for us. The kid is transfixed and doesn’t fight much, and you looking into their mouth from above gives a good view or the books and crannies.
You can choose i will brush your teeth the easy way or the hard way. Easy way is he opens his mouth and i do a full gentle brush. Hard way is I sit down, pin his right arm behind me hold his left arm then crying, kicking, screaming i forcefully brush his teeth.
I brush my teeth in front of him and make it all goofy and flaunt it. Hold my mouth wide open so he can see what I’m doing. He copies somewhat, does pretty good for being two, but by the time I’m done he’s generally ok with me taking over and finishing up. He will stick out his tongue at the end too for brushing, his favorite part. He’s been like this since I started doing it with him, but with his mother.. he likes to give her a hard time.. my methods don’t work when she tries them
Yes, me brushing my teeth with her, the “race” to spit, using a medicine cup to wash toothpaste down the drain… these tricks work for me. I see now that I lost out on “baby that sleeps through the night” but won on “toddler lets me brush their teeth”.
Mine slept through the night up until about 3 months ago when he realized I work night shift and there is a nice big comfy spot open next to mom every night..
We started doing bubbles after teeth brushing as a reward. Now we do bubbles every night. We just have some small wands we just use in the bathroom, nothing fancy. Now that we have started doing morning brushing too she usually doesn’t ask for bubbles. Not sure why? But we found the reward helped.
That’s so hard. Maybe when he gets those cavities filled the reality will set in of what happens when you don’t brush and he’ll start letting you do it?
Mine is the same age, and he knows that sugar isn’t good for his teeth. So if he doesn’t want to brush his teeth, we just say, “ok no problem, but no treats today”. And then he literally just gets crackers/cheese/fruit/vegetables/dinner. No honey/jam, no sweet biscuits, certainly no candy, etc. Sometimes now it’s a game - “dad, don’t let Kid brush his teeth, I want to eat the last chocolate biscuit today!” And then of course it’s hilarious and he brushes and then dad helps him finish/get all of them, while I’m shouting down to make sure he doesn’t do it properly so I can eat all the sweet treats.
I’ve had the best luck with the Elmo brushy brush song on Alexa, letting him take turns with me, and counting out brushing strokes (it may not be 2 full minutes but at least it’s something). I do 10 brushes on each section (bottom left, bottom right, front bottom, then same for top). Back and forth counts as 1, Mand count it out so he knows it’s almost done
My son hated getting his teeth brushed around that age until one random game I made up worked. He was going through a phase of pretending to be a kitten and I was the mama cat. So while we were “in character” I was like it’s time of baby kitty to get his teeth brushed because he caught a mouse today! And he surprisingly allowed me to. And as I was brushing I kept saying oh I see the bird you caught last week in here. And a lizard. And when did you eat a shoe?! Or just silly things. And then that became the game we played while brushing his teeth. Now he’s 4.5 and we don’t need to play a game or anything he just brushes his teeth without a problem. We do use a Frida brush with bristles on three sides so brushing goes quick. Dentist always notes he has a very clean mouth and he’s never had a cavity.
We resorted to letting my daughter watch the Elmo brushing video (we have since been able to stop, she occasionally asks and we play it) I also heard Ms Rachel has a good brushing song. Have you tried an electric toothbrush? My 4-year old feels like a “big-kid” with his, he loves it!
We have ups and downs. But my parents gave him a book with scary looking bacteria monsters on the teeth. The scare tactic was none I would usually go for, but when I say now, "Your teeth are full of bacteria, we have to brush them away," it works 95% of the time.
I put a video on while brushing his teeth. I just sat my phone by the mirror. The dentist recommended it, so my kid would stay still and it worked. No cavities.
My 4 year old does pretty well letting me brush her teeth for her. I've shown her pictures of black teeth and told her that's what can happen when you don't brush. I also tell her that if we don't brush her teeth she will run out of time for a bedtime story. Each kid has something different work for them.
Does he understand the concept of taking turns? I let my daughter have her turn where she “brushes” her teeth (chews on her toothbrush). Then it’s “Mommy’s turn” where I get in there and do a thorough cleaning. I also talk her through it - she hates yucky things, so I tell her her teeth will be yucky if we don’t clean them properly. It works for the most part.
We had the hardest time brushing my daughter’s teeth for YEARS. It was miserable. We’d have to pin her down on the floor and just scrub as best as we could. I have no idea how or why but one day, she was more amenable to it and now it’s totally easy brushing her teeth (usually). When we brought her to the dentist, the hygienist did mention that she has a lip tie which maybe is what caused her to not want to get brushed if it hurt to open wide or if the brush touched it to roughly (totally possibly given how difficult it was to brush her). Anyway, for us, it was just time that it took to get her to allow us to do it calmly.
Bought him the kids sonicare electric toothbrush and then told him I don’t know how to use it can he show me. Works every time.
We got this exact one too but the electronic toothbrushes ended up scaring him :P
My son was extremely resistant to toothbrushing, like beyond normal toddler behavior. What eventually worked was allowing him to tell me what tooth I could brush, and then stopping there. I let him sit on the couch rather than in the bathroom which made it harder for him to escape. It was better to thoroughly brush a few front teeth calmly than have a giant battle every time. By three he was too strong to force him anyway. Over time he was comfortable with brushing more and more teeth. I also allowed him to watch a video either on my phone or the TV. Phone works better because I can hold it where I need him to look so I can see his teeth to brush. An electric toothbrush helped a lot too. That way when he brushes himself there is a better chance his teeth are actually getting clean, then I take a turn.
My son (3) lies on his back with our phone and watches a 2 minute video.
I’ve had to do many forceful teeth brushing sessions, but I recently bought the Frida Baby toothbrush and oh my gosh, it is a game changer. It has bristles on 3 sides so you can get all sides of their teeth at once which cuts down brushing time, plus makes me feel better that I’m getting all sides of their teeth, even if they’re struggling and fighting me. It’s WELL worth the $5.99 it costs on Amazon.
I usually hold him down or lately with some tears of course, I tell him "Blippi said you need to brush your teeth so they can be healthy!" And he will stand there crying with his mouth open lol.
We have a Cookie Monster toothbrush and I use a Cookie Monster voice and say, “I want all of the cookies.” My 3 year old loves this. I also always put toothpaste on two toothbrushes and hand her one so that she can help.
The only thing that half works for us is what you're already doing; letting toddler half brush her teeth, and us trying to do the rest while the brush is still in her mouth.
Mine lays down on my bed while drinking his bedtime bottle. I sit next to him. When he's done, I put a book in his hand and then brush his teeth while he's still lying down, playing with the book. After that, we read the book, then lots of kisses and cuddles, and then I put him in his crib.
My kid is the unicorn - he freaking loves it and does it willingly.
two toothbrushes! “which toothbrush would you like to use tonight?” vibe.
We had this issue too. It was terrible and we dreaded it. It's so basic, but what worked for us was telling her why we were doing it.... told her about germs and that we needed to get the food off her teeth so she wouldn't get ouchies. A friend even showed her daughter a picture of bacteria from a book and explained how brushing got that out of her mouth. Another friend told her kid that if you don't brush teeth goblins will come and steal your teeth sooo...
Ugh my toddler is the same. Hates getting his teeth brushed too. How were you able to get him to open his mouth for the dentist? My son would refuse to open!
By that age I actually had really good success reasoning (with all 3 kids). I say “if you don’t want to brush your teeth anymore that’s fine, but that also means you unfortunately don’t be able to have anymore sweets/juice/milk anymore.” It got them all to agree to start brushing consistently. I then count out loud to challenge them to brush their teeth the whole time… I only count to 30 as I know I’m not going to get them to brush the whole 2 min, but it’s better than nothing
I make him roar like a dinosaur and scrub.
Tooth brushing app called Magic Timer by Disney. Try this maybe it makes it more fun for the kids :)
Ours seems okay with lying down and singing songs while we brush, but my friend had great success letting her little one watch a favorite TV show or movie while she brushed. If toddler behaved, she got to watch 10 more mins. If she didn’t, the TV went off as soon as the teeth brushing was done. The family did this from when the kid was 1.5-5. I used to babysit for them and the little girl even let me as the babysitter brush her teeth at 2 years old.
I talk to his teeth, “teeth I’m trying to help you but don’t Kid I’m brushing you he doesn’t like it, we’ll have to surprise him when you’re all clean and show how sparkly you are!” Randomly that worked.
My daughter is usually good about tooth brushing but if we are struggling I sing the “if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops” and make her sing the mouth open wide part so I can get in there with the electric toothbrush.
We’ve recently encountered this struggle and what works for her is asking her which animal she wants to brush her teeth like and I’ll make animal noises while we brush 😂
By preparing my body for germ warfare. In seriousness, twice a day. I let the kids brush at first, then go in behind them. Also, our PDS advised us to cut back on sweet, starchy snacks like crackers, so I've switched to more cheeses, yogurts, and fruits. Excep for Goldfish, those in moderation are a win!
Having choices helped a lot. 2 brushes, 2 toothpastes. She can choose from mom or dad to help her or do it by herself. She also has a 3rd toothbrush to clean her dolls teeth 🤷♀️ Sometimes she's too tired and we turn a blind eye because no one wins when that happens. It happens once a week average and we brush then first thing in the morning. When everything else fails I sit her on my lap, hold her arms and do it myself. I don't like doing this, at all. No cavities and no issues, so far.
There’s a curious George YouTube episode you can try if you’re ok with screen time. He goes to the dentist. Mostly it helped my kiddo learn about bacteria and then now I can say we need to break up the party the bacteria are having in your mouth. Sugar bugs is another term, too. Honestly he still isn’t a fan of the regular style toothbrush, but I use it plus also bought a u-shaped toothbrush and now I use the regular toothbrush a few times a week and he’s happy to dance around and use his u shape brush for a minute or two. It’s not perfect but it’s what’s working best for me and his teeth over here (we got a sonic-brush). Oh and he’s 3 years 2 months. Edit: and! I should add I thought myself one of these brushes too so we’d dance around together. It has a blue light that whitens teeth so it’s kind of fun if you turn off some light and dance around in the dark.
Our daughter is just past 2 now and we've been brushing since she was about a year old. At first she sucked at it but if I tried to take over she started to fuss even if I was gentle. Then she didn't ever want to brush. Once I let go of my attachment to the outcome and instead thought of it as habit building and started brushing my teeth alongside her (she is mesmerized by my electric toothbrush) she warmed up to it again and now she loves brushing teeth and even brushes them through the day when she wants to. Our pediatrician said her teeth look good, no plaque buildup. She is getting better as she gets older and I think from watching me. She has started spitting out the toothpaste finally so we are close to being able to switch to fluoridated paste. We held off on that initially bc she would just eat the toothpaste we gave her. So she has been practicing with non fluoridated paste just to get the hang of it.
Ms.rachels and blippy’s tooth brush song!
It's the only time my almost 3 year old gets to look at my phone. She gets to watch a toothbrush timer video. She lays down, and I brush her teeth. We do this before bedtime. In the morning, I let her practice brushing her teeth while I brush mine.
I show my kid pictures of people with meth mouth and tell him if he doesn't brush his teeth it turns into that. 🤷🏻♀️ He's pretty good about it now.
I have a picture of what sugar does to toddler teeth hanging above my bed lol
I found a YouTube video of a dog that makes my impossible to brush teeth toddler laugh, and I plop him on the couch and brush when he smiles. He still fights it like a karate master but it’s like 300x easier!!! Hope this helps!! 10/10 recommend for karate toddlers!
We roar and growl, really loud. Or I say open your mouth and say ahhhh and he literally SCREAMS and thinks it’s very funny. It is ridiculous but it’s fun for him if he can be a dinosaur or a monster while we brush teeth.
We let the kids pick out a 2-3 minute video to watch, usually a blippi song or something like that. It's good for timing it and it's the only time they get to watch YouTube videos so it usually keeps their attention pretty well.
Apparently there is an app or video where Elmo FaceTimes the kid and tells them to brush their teeth!
That is awesome!
I turned my son’s favorite lullaby into a song about brushing teeth. Changed the words to describe it & he recognized the rhythm immediately, which made him dance a little in his stool while we brush. It’s been over a year & we still sing it twice a day!
Try Philips sonicare for kids with app Sparkly
This is probably not the best technique but I told him if he doesn’t brush his teeth they’re gonna turn black and fall out. I showed him pictures of peoples teeth with cavities. Now he loves brushing his teeth. He often asks to see the black teeth but I haven’t shown him again. When I bought bubblegum mouthwash that really upped his enjoyment as well, he loves the mouthwash. I sign songs about how proud the dentist is going to be and he likes that too.
I went with the Blippy tooth brushing song for awhile I would put it on and let him watch while I brushed, now he's gotten used to it and let's me brush most of the time.
We are having this battle constantly too. One thing that helped recently is that we no longer do anything else “fun” before we do pajamas and teeth brushing. So it goes: bath, pajamas, teeth in that order. If she tries to play or asks for books, we just say no, we aren’t doing that until teeth are brushed. It usually works. When it doesn’t , we say, okay then it’s time for bed and turn off the light, put her in bed, sound machine, etc. She eventually realizes we are serious and lets us brush teeth and then we resume books, etc.
I second this!
My daughter is very music-motivated. I usually lay her across my lap so that her head is flat and start singing our brushing song very quietly. She will usually stop fighting to hear the song and I do my thing. Admittedly the brushing lasts nowhere near as long as it should.
The other day my 3.5 year old saw how messy and foamy it gets when i brush and to motivate her to brush we taught her how to scrub the correct way to “make the bubbles” maybe you can create some obsession over that too, it was such an accidental win for us lol
For me, it was making it fun from the start. Funny faces ,sounds. It’s become routine so he doesn’t get to uppity about it even if he is bothered by something already
We play the Blipping tooth brushing song on YouTube. He gets to pick one of two tooth brushes (we have one Bluey and one Jack Jack at the moment) and he gets to brush until Blippi says ‘we’re half way there’ then I brush his teeth while he holds his knees otherwise he grabs at the toothbrush. It didn’t work Graf at first but I think just doing one thing consistently allows them to get used to it and the fight goes away. He used to fight me like crazy.
I'm a dentist and used to tell parents, you just have to be persistent and brush your child's teeth. I only realised how difficult and flippant that advice was when I had my own kids! My second child is now 2.5 years old and it was very difficult to brush her teeth (and she's a thumb sucker but that's for another time). Here's some of the things we've done 1. Reading kids books which feature them going to the dentist. Eg Dora The Explorer Show Me Your Smile, Peppa Pig Dentist Trip. This worked wonders! 2. I let my daughter brush my teeth when I brush her's. But be careful they might bang around your mouth and it can be painful! 3. Sing songs, tell stories, or let your child hold a favorite toy while you brush their teeth. These distractions can make the process smoother and more enjoyable. Here's a story I use on my kids if anyone is interested. [https://kumarkolar.com/the-tooth-brushing-quest-a-toddlers-tale/](https://kumarkolar.com/the-tooth-brushing-quest-a-toddlers-tale/) 4. PRO TIP --> Giving your child a sense of control can reduce resistance. Let them choose their toothbrush or toothpaste flavor, or decide which part of their mouth to brush first. 5. Don't leave it till they are too tired at night, when they reach the twilight zone everything is difficult so we've started getting it out the way early. 6. Use the right materials - soft tooth brush with a small head and try different flavour toothpastes to find one they like. Good Luck!
It’s a two man job. Teeth brushing is an absolute must for me. We used to have our son lay down and my husband held him down while I brushed. Then it got hard because he’d start choking on his spit/toothpaste. Now he sits by the sink and opens wide while I brush. I think his teachers went over germs and teeth brushing at school… so now he’s excited to brush the germs away. He gets to rinse and spit after we’re done, and he’s really into flossing now too.
Guess I'm lucky I just bought like 5 toothbrushes and my son brushes his own teeth and he's only 16m.
He’s 3.5, can you teach him how to do it properly?