So my dentist has said that he put his children in a headlock to brush their teeth, and that he had to do it three times...and now they let him brush their teeth, no problem. My daughter, who is 26 months, wants to do everything herself. My husband is all for trying the dentist's method. I'm more along the lines of just not brushing her teeth. Help? What's worked for you?
thanks everyone for your advice. I'm going to try to spinbrush, before I would ever consider the headlock! Incentives/rewards are more my style!
Hi J.,
My son hated brushing his teeth at 22 months until we found out they make spinbrushes for little mouths. I don't recall the brand, but they have Sesame Street characters on them. He LOVES the feeling of the spinbrush in his mouth and asks to brush his teeth every time we're in the bathroom. Having Thomas the Tank Engine toothpaste helps too. :)
Best of luck!!!
M.
Try the spinbrush. It worked great. Our dentist said even if our daughters weren't doing the best job in the world the spin brush would still get their teeth clean. Either she or we start and the other "finishes". I agree it's a control issue, but I'd have a hard time with the head lock too...we take something away..in our house it's nightime stories, if you don't brush you don't get one.
I try and make up a song about brushing teeth and it seems to go over well. I also let her hold the toothpaste and the toothbrush holder/cap (I have one of those caps that just closes over the brush to keep the germs out). She's so busy trying to snap the cap back on and figure out the germ cover cap that I can be done in no time. Also, Raffi has a catchy toothbrush song as well that you could probably sample and then download off of iTunes. Once she's familiar with the song you can just sing it together while you're brushing. Hope this helps.
I gave up battling with my now 4-yr-old on tooth brushing. I decided to make that "Daddy time". For some reason she just brushes better for him - she isn't as prone to arguing with him - plus he makes it fun and they brush their teeth together. He opens his mouth real wide and shows her and then has her copy - and they laugh a lot while they're doing it. At age 2 I guess he did brush for her, but not by force = he made a game out of it from the beginning. Sometimes he would tell her (firmly) no, try it this way.... and then they end up laughing because after she does it right he makes a goofy face or spits toothpaste or something (who knows!).
She would not let me anywhere near her mouth with a toothbrush for some reason and just wanted to play in the sink at age 2 so I became frustrated with it.
She will now go ahead and brush on her own in the morning - but at night it's still 'daddy time' with the toothbrushing.
just my 2 cents. :-) good luck
go with the headlock. it works. it sounds horrifying, but your daughter will get used to it and her teeth will benefit. i did this with both sons, who are now 8 & 11 and we laugh about it now. but to date, neither has had a cavity. also, let her brush her own teeth first, then you follow up with the "headlock". good luck, don't worry about the guilt. you have plenty of years ahead to send her to therapy. :) just kidding, kind of.
i'd have to side with the headlock thing. we did it and now our son who's 3 will thoroughly brush his teeth on his own. you can't not brush her teeth! try different things...at first it was a two man job...my husband held him down, i brushed. we've given him his brush and we had another and while he brusehd one side we went in and did the other side. i also found electric toothbrushes worked like a charm with him and it will get teh job done faster.
I have had a similar problem with my now 2-1/2 year old. Here's what worked for us ... we take turns brushing. First my turn, and when I'm about 1/2 done, I sing the A-B-C's to her and let her know it will be her turn when I'm done singing. We're still not perfect ... we only brush once a day and some days we skip, but it's much better than when we started. Also, brushing in the bathtub seems to be much more fun and tolerated. I've never heard of using the headlock thing, but it sounds really traumatic and I wouldn't subject a child to that!
Have her do it herself for 2 minutes and then tell her you need to go over what she did.
My girl is almost 3 and she loves to have mom brush her teeth (most of the time) because I put her on my lap and then she lays in my arms. I chat with her and tell her things while she gets brushed.
For the last few months she brushes first, then mom gets a turn and she loves the extra cuddle time. and BTW, we started out standing & holding her head, but I found this was much more gentle on both of us. On her finicky nights I let here play for a while and say "let me know when you're ready" and it doesn't take more than a few minutes of playing for her to let me know she wants mom to brush.
We also initially started saying "we have to get the bugs (or dirt) out", and she doesn't want bugs in her teeth. That line compels her to make sure she gets her teeth brushed every night. You can take the bug story a lot of places to get the message to her. good luck!
Brush! It's a control issue. If you let him not brush you will end up fighting the battle eventually, and probably after lots of problems. All of my kids went through this. At first they LOVE brushing, then it's a battle, and then they get it that they have to brush. My 3 year old still whines about brushing his teeth, but he will let me do it. Luckily his big sister filled him in on a story about a crocodile with cavities(they both don't want to go there!):).
Good luck!
