17 Month Old Refuses to Brush Teeth

Hi S.
How often do you change to a new tooth brush? Have you thought about switching her toothbrush to one of those battery operated toothbrushes where a lot of kids enjoy? It's highly recommended because it's not only got the best bristles, but that it's fun and helps distract children to enjoying the toothbrush on their teeth and not realizing that they are back to routine. Also, buy her the children's tooth paste with her favorite cartoon characters, in that way, she will always excitedly enjoying going to the bathroom to brush her teeth :)

Look for Spry tooth gel (with a baby on the front) by Spry. It is zylitol a natural plant enzyme that is antibacterial and prevents cavities. you just drip it on their teeth and no need to brush and they can ingest in no problem. Maybe just do that for a while and I'm sure she'll come around. Also we got our son an electric toothbrush that he really enjoyed for a while, even though the dentist said it was best to use a manual one, we would let him do it on his own first. try not to worry, good luck.

Make it fun! Tell her you need to remove the sugar bugs first then she can get the rest! Be gentle, sing songs (ABC's two times is great!), have her hum along. Let her play with her toothbrush but ALWAYS brush her teeth yourself first. You'll want to do this until she is 4/5 years old or so. They just can't get ALL the sugar bugs themselves! LOL! You'll want to floss only the teeth that touch right now. She may have a few in the back, or none, just depends on her teeth. Keep up with it!!

M.

Dear S.,
Take her to a dentist and have him show her what not brushing teeth can do to your mouth. My nephew refused to take care of his teeth and now needs his 4 back molars extracted...didn't go to the dentist soon enough to get root canals or caps. She is old enough to understand how it can cause decay. If she refuses, go to the dentist and see if he has some pictures you can have and leave them on her desk or bed with a note that you love her and are concerned for her health. In addition, poor teeth can end up being a big health problem because you can end up with the blood carrying diseases to other parts of the body too.

Hope you can get her to understand why it is important.
H.

Buy yourself a fun new toothbrush and open it in front of her. Make a big deal about how cool your new brush is. Ignore her and announce that you are going to go bruch your teeth. Let her see all this and then go into the bathroom and close the door. Don't let her participate in the fun stuff. When you are done reward yourself with something like a sticker on a calendar and have hubby make a big deal out of you. Don't ay attention to her while this is going on. Let her ask to be in on the fun!!

It's a phase. These phases comes and goes.

A GREAT product is "Spiffies."
http://www.spiffies.com/

It's great to clean the teeth, protects against cavities etc.
I use it with my son, after brushing, because he too HATES brushing sometimes.
It's a tooth wipe.

Good luck,
Susan

We have a tooth brush that lights up when you brush your teeth. YOu can also try playing a song when she's brushing, twinkle twinkle little star is good. I also have a chore chart for my kids and they love to put a sticker on the chart for brushing their teeth. Its an easy chore.
S.

I've encountered the same resistance with my two children here and there as well. What has worked for me is making toothbrushing time as fun as possible. Sometimes we sing songs while brushing our teeth, sometimes I have to pretend that I'm the zoo dentist and have to brush their big crocodile teeth, and then other times I attach sound effects to their toothbrushing like "zap!" "splat!" and "zowie!" to make it seem like we are actively conquering the sugar bugs.

Hope this helps.

my 17 month old is not a big fan of the toothbrushing routine either. i was brushing my teeth one morning with him in the bathroom and he wanted my toothbrush so i gave it to him(with water only) and he loves to mimick me. now i have identical tooth brushes for the both of us and i start out with mine and then hand it over to him. trickery! don't worry though...i am sure it is a toddler phase. they seem to have many!

S.,

Our 2 1/2 year old son did the same thing a few months ago. We started having him brush our teeth first, then we brushed his teeth. He loved to use our toothbrushes (vibrating) and that loosened him up to let us do his. Sometimes we also let him start his own brushing, although he really can't do much "real brushing" on his own yet, then we take over to "finish it up".

Hope that helps!
A.

Hi S.. It must be the age, because I've been hearing this from a lot of moms lately. Here's what I do with my 18 month old. I try to make it like a game and say "i'm going to get your tounge" and he'll stick out his tounge or "i'm gonna get your teeth" and he'll open his mouth. surprisingly, what also works is when i simply say "say ahhh". i couldn't believe when he actually did and let me get in there. when he doesn't do it willingly, i just try to get in quickly and do one section at a time. he fusses a little, but i just tell him "just one more time...last time" and we can usually get through it pretty easily. good luck and hang in there. fussing through it is better than not brushing at all.
~S..

well get her another tooth brush change the tooth paste, if she likes your finger put it on that, make a rinsing spit game be creative

Same thing happened with my daughter. At first she had no problem with it, then all of a sudden she hated it. So, I bought a toothbrush that has a flashing light in it. You push the button and it makes the toothbrush flash for one minute. I tell my daughter (in an excited voice) "look! it's flashing! that means you have to brush - and you can't stop until the light stops!" and she actually bought it! We've had the toothbrush for about 2 months now and she still knows that when the light is flashing it means we have to brush! I will be buying many more toothbrushes like this I think! hehe