21 Month Old Daughter Refuses to Brush Her Teeth

Good suggestions thus far....other ideas are roaring like a lion, or pretending tooth brush is a choo choo train, and teeth the tracks.Making EEEEE with teeth clenched for front teeth, ahhh,or the roar for inside..We have Baby Einstein where puppet goes Bleh, so we do that and brush tongue.
My older son gets sensitive to touch. I found that he was resistant mainly because I brushed too fast.I find I need to be good example and be doing it together with the kids. If they don't see me doing it when I do it alone, they do not know and do not emulate the behavior.

My now 2 year old liked being held on my lap and hung upside down...

Hope you find something that works.
L.

Try the book "Brush Your Teeth Please." I could not get my 2 year old to let me brush her teeth. I read about this book, and figured it was worth a try. We read it as we brush. It has different animals that brush their front teeth, back teeth, all teeth, etc... I also read in a magazine something about saying good-bye to all the food they ate during the day. We do that too sometimes. We say "good-bye juice" and then brush a bit, "good-bye cheese" and brush, etc... Again, I was skeptical at first, but both of these ideas have really helped us.

I have the most success when I lay my son's head across my lap and hold his arms down with one hand and brush with the other. Then I let him have a turn doing it. He also always wanted my electric toothbrush, so I finally bought him one. Whatever gets him to brush. My doctor told me I need to make sure he brushes at least 30 seconds morning and night, so that's why I started making sure it happens.

Hmmm...Thats a tough one...My daughter loves to brush her teeth, although she also likes to eat the toothpaste. I would suggest trying to make it fun for her. I always brush my teeth at that same time. I pull a stool up to the counter for her, so she can do it just like me. Normally I go in there really quickly with her toothbrush and make sure to get them decently brushed (I would brush quickly with good pressure, because they only allow you a small window of time to be in there mouth before they want the brush). and then I let her take over. sometimes she will just suck on it a bit, but once she sees me brush, she normally trys to repeat the action. When I spit the toothpaste into the sink I tend to Exaggerate it a bit, so that she understands what I am doing and she also thinks it's funny and trys to repeat it. It was a little bit difficult at first because all she wanted to do was eat, but this seemed to work well for me.

I hope this was helpful advice.

-A.

There are definitely some great ideas here from other moms. I will have to try a couple of them myself. But just a thought, since she is close to 2 maybe she is getting her 2nd set of molars and her teeth hurt and that might be why she doesn't want to brush her teeth. With my son, he would say gentle when teething, and if I promised to be gentle, he would let me brush his teeth. Hope this helps.

My daughter went through a similar stage at about that age. I thought it might be that her gums were sore from teething...
When I talked to my dentist, he offered a couple of suggestions: 1. Let her drink water (and hopefully swish it around a bit) in the evenings; 2. try brushing your teeth at the same time and make it fun; 3. have her lay on the floor and brush them for her...

1 & 2 worked for us; #3 didn't work until she was about 3-1/2. She eventually grew out of it - and I was glad we didn't push too hard and make brushing teeth a real negative during that stage. I also took my daughter to the dentist with me starting at about 2-1/2 and let her watch me getting my teeth cleaned, etc. It has helped her transition to going to the dentist and paying attention to potential "cavity bugs"...

Good luck!
L.

This is probably just the begining of the "terrible twos." Your daughter is showing her desire to be independant. I have gone through this with my son (now 3) who still throws a huge screaming tantrum nearly every time we go to brush his teeth. I tried everything also, but finally decided to "hand the reigns" over to him so to speak, by letting him "brush" his own teeth first and then mommy does it second. This seems to be helping, he feels like he has some independence in the matter and I still get to make sure the job is done right. I don't know if this would work with your 21 month old but it may.

I think an electric toothbrush would completely solve your problem. My daughter loves brushing her teeth and considers that an exercise in dependence. You might have to use psychology, incentives that include brushing without whining. Although she's a bit young, the Love & Logic folks would say give her a choice - you can either brush your teeth like a big girl and go play or miss out on playing and stay home.

My seven year old used to hate having her teeth brushed and now my two year old is the same. It takes two of us. My husband holds her on his lap, I hold her hands and head and we go for it.

Don't give up. Cavities are a bummer and they are expensive. And don't forget to floss. My seven year old had nine cavities when she was around three years old because we didn't floss...an expensive lesson.

And kudos for staying clear of fluoride. That stuff scares me and kids don't know not to swallow it until they are older.

I know what you are going through. I have a 3 1/2 year old son and we went through the same thing. I either do one of two things when we brush his teeth. We either sing a song or pretend we are brushing out the "bugs" "cartoon characters" letters of the alphabet, etc. from his teeth. What ever works or is of interest to your child. Also, at night before bed I will brush his teeth while he lays on my bed or on the floor while watching TV. That way I can really get in there b/c he is preoccupied and doesn't seem to even care. Night time is when I really want to be able to give his teeth a good cleaning. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Try taking her to pick out a new toothbrush, something fun like Dora, Barbie or Princess. Make a big deal about brushing with her new special tooth brush. Don't give up, we didn't push brushing with our daughter who is now 4 years old and she had a cavity between her front two teeth and it was hundreds of dollars to repair. Good luck, be consistent and don't give up! ~L.