Getting My 17 Month Old to Let Me Brush Her Teeth:-(

My son is 19 months old and I finally got him to let me brush his teeth! We had to go out and buy an electric one for me to use and a manual one that he wanted so he could "brush" too. Now I'm running into the problem of black spots on teeth ... I'm hoping he doesn't get my teeth (at least 1 cavity in every tooth) but I'm worried it's too late. I know he'll lose them eventually, and it's about the process but still. We brush at night, although not every night. I'm a slacker and I think we need to make it a priority to brush before bed and right away in the morning now.

I've never had any difficulty with any of the kids in my house. They are usually just dying to do it themselves. I tell the little ones that I'll do it first and then they can do it. But they can't do it until I have done it. I get them the toothbrushes they pick out and the good tasting toothpaste. They also get to stand on the stool in front of the vanity and watch themselves.
I guess if it was me and I was having problems I would just tell them that if they didn't brush their teeth then they can't have any more snacks, juice, etc.
Good luck,
J.

My daughter is 15 months and we started letting her explore a toothbrush at a very young age--when she was teething. She enjoyed the sensation and now that it's time to brush her teeth she is accustom to the toothbrush. We found a toothpaste that she really likes its Tom's of Maine natural toothpaste for children. My daughter likes the silly strawberry flavor. Regular grocery stores don't usually carry it but some walgreens do. Otherwise check your local independent pharmacy or health food store. Hope this helps!

We have the same trouble with our 19 mo old son. I let him use 2 Elmo toothbrushes at the same time now and for some reason he has more interest now that he has 2.

My son is also 17 months, and we started brushing around 1 year... it has become increasingly difficult, and seems that we just have to keep switching up the process to keep him interested. This week "upside down" brushing works, as he thinks it is funny to see himself in the mirror upside down, and it allows me to reach the back teeth better.

Also - I tell him I need to get the "cookie bugs" or "cracker bugs" out which makes him laugh, which also makes access easier.

Allowing him to do it himself hasn't worked, as I think he mostly just chews on the brush then, and doesn't seem to get any of the teeth really brushed.

Best of luck!!
Jess (=

I got my daughter some lip gloss for toddlers. Now she rushes to brush her teeth so she can put on "lipstick" when she is done. We also have several toothbrushes for her to pick from - that seems to help too.

Try Tom's of Maine "goofy grape" toothpaste--it's a great flavor and o.k. if she swallows it. A special toothbrush is a good idea too.

OH I feel your pain! I ended up getting my daughter a "pretty" toothbrush and "special" toothpaste and letting her do it 1st and then say I just wanted to count her teeth. Don't stress too much...it'll come with time.

I'm in the same boat as you. My kid is too young to be interested in cartoon characters, so cartoon toothbrushes are out. What's kind of been working for me is I brush my teeth at the same time as my son. I hand him his toothbrush, and we do the same things at the same time (rinse our mouths out, brush our back teeth, etc). When I'm done with my teeth, he usually lets me take his toothbrush and brush his for a bit. I haven't yet worked my way up to using toothpaste (my pediatrician says it's ok for now - my son is 1.5). The one time I tried to use paste he refused to brush his teeth at all. So right now I'm in the market for a mild-flavored mint toothpaste. Good luck!

My husband and daughter use an electric character toothbrush. My son became facinated watching them use it. He was a little afraid of using it at first and sometimes would just walk around with it but eventually tried it himself. The key has been to let him do it himself and doing it at the same time we are. He also thought it was neat to spit. Good luck.

I had a hard time getting our oldest to brush her teeth at that age too. Eventually, it will get better. Here are two different things that worked. One morphed into the other:
We talked about how we needed to brush upstairs and downstairs, the front room, the kitchen and the bedroom, name different parts of your house and use that in her mouth. "Oh whoops! We forgot the brush the bathroom!" She seemed to take to that. Now we are onto cartoon characters. This reminds me of the "buggy" comment further down. Instead of bugs, we use characters. "Oh! I see Dora! Let's get her outta there!" "There's Winnie the Pooh!" 17 months maybe too young for that yet, but try the rooms. It might work. Good luck, keep trying!

Hi J.-

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old, what worked for us was... We got her a stool for the bathroom so she could feel like a big girl, we would ask her to get her stool out to brush her teeth, she would pull it over to the sink and hop on. Then I found these great toothbrushes at Target that light up for one minute, the recommended time to brush for little ones. They are $1 so I stocked up. She loves it, she has her own stool and a cool blinking toothbrush. Then we made up a song... kind of like "the Wheels on the Bus"... "This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth, this is the way we brush our teeth, before we go to bed!" Hope this helps...

A Little about me: Married to my wonderful husband, we live in Chanhassen and have a great little havanese puppy. We have a beautifull 2 1/2 year old (Haley),three in December and we are due in March with another bundle of joy.

You're right...torture now will not make her a lifelong brusher! And these teeth WILL come out soon. We had a similar problem, but not so bad. A few things worked for us, but he still doesn't LOVE it. We got a cheap electric toothbrush. I get a turn first, THEN he gets a turn. Or we sing, "this is the way we brush our teeth..." to the tune of the popular children's song. I also talk about brushing the upstairs, then the downstairs, then all around the house. If he does a good job, he gets a "tooth pill" (flouride - we have well water). If not, no pill. You could do a sticker chart. My goal started with about 5 seconds of brushing, and now we're up to about 30 seconds. You might even want to give it up for a while, then try again a little more positively. It's not the end of the world if you don't get to brush her teeth really well every day.

My daughter has done the same thing to me. Now she's on making her mouth so tight I can't get in there.
This is what's worked for a short duration of time
1. Sing...if your happy and you know it brush your teeth. If you happy and you know it brush your teeth. If your happy and you know it and you really want to show it if your happy and you know let mama brush.
2. Ask...do you want to do it the easy way or hard way? The easy way means you open your mouth so I can brush and the hard way is where I have to force the brush in there and sometimes that can hurt and I don't want to hurt you
3. I've had her watch me brush and ask her to brush with me
4. I've had her brush and then tell her to give me the brush when she's done so I can finish. Sometimes she likes to watch herself brush
5. Now we are on where I say Ahhhh and open my mouth and she opens hers and to do the front I tell her to say cheeese.

Good luck. It can be frustrating. You might want to try letting her pick out a cute character tooth brush or maybe there's a video for kids on the subject.

It's hard! My son likes to "roar like a lion" so that I can brush his teeth, then he brushes them too. We also try to get the things he ate out - we say "let's get the fishy crackers, etc out"
Good luck!

I had the same problem with my daughter when she was little. I am a dental hygienist and it is really important to get in there...in my opion...whether they are screaming or not. Your child isn't old enough to do it herself completely. There are a number of brushes to choose from. Try a fun spin brush, with the smallest head possible, sometimes that is fun. With my daughter, I would sit indian style with her head in my lap if she threw a fit I would wrap one leg around her body to hold her arms down and the crying assured she had her mouth open. It's not fun and you feel bad, but I have seen children with severe decay...it's better to get in there. The upside..my daughter is almost six and she still has the habit of resting her head in my lap while I brush and floss, and the angle is easier for you to see and reach where you need to.Good luck!

My daughter is 2 1/2 and we struggle at times, but for the most part, we can brush them, or she does it, twice a day without too much trouble. We have a couple of toothbrushes to choose from, even our own...I don't care if she uses mine, as long as she is brushing. (We do however toss them all in the dishwasher everyonce in a while) We then give her a choice between white toothpaste or blue, or both if she so chooses. Then, we use the "Buggies" idea. We say, "I see a buggie on your teeth, you better get him." That gets her excited and she chases him around in her mouth with the toothbrush. Sometimes they're easy to catch, and sometimes they're fast, and sometimes, they are hiding behind a tooth, or they jump from tooth to tooth, those ones we call hoppers. Then, she finally catches him on the toothbrush and rinses him down the sink. We say she is a good bug catcher. She loves it and then, we smell her breath. This sounds really gross, but we have found that it works. We tell her that her breath smells beautiful and it doesn't smell like buggie poopoo anymore. I think she knows there isn't a bug or poopoo in her mouth, because she'll go along with the game and even point to her toothbrush and say, "There he is!" and nothing is there, so we know she knows it's a pretend game by now, but it's a little game we can do to start and end our day. She goes along with it without too much fuss. If you want to use this technique, I'd suggest a little chat about germs and bugs and how they make us sick and are on our shoes, hands, butts, mouth, etc. Then, that same night,...surprise her with..."Oh my gosh! I see a buggie in your teeth...you better fish him out with your toothbrush. YUK!" That'll get her attention and she'll maybe start fishing around with her brush. Then, enourage her like she's winning a race. "Get him...he's fast, Get him." She'll be hooked. At least my daughter was. Good luck!

Hi I'm R., We had a rough time getting our son to allow us to brush his teeth around the same age. What we did was let him choose one of those cheap character spin brushes the ones that run on batteries. Our pediatric dentist made the suggestion. He loved using his new brush by himself and after a little bit let me help "finish up". Now that he is two and a half he prefers useing the regular tooth brushes by himself but insists on still letting me finish up with his Dora spin brush.

Have you asked your dentist? He might have some good recommendations, too.

Hi J.:

I too have difficulty with my kids brushing their teeth. My 5 year old is just starting to do it on her own with my guidance. She has a Bratz battery operated toothbrush....and a fun toothpaste and she does pretty good on her own. But, I still go over her gum area and floss for her.
My 3 year old allows me to brush her teeth, but, it does take a little time and encouragement to open her mouth wide enough and to keep it open.

Just keep at it and try to make it fun......I pinned my youngest down until she was 2 1/2 so you are doing the right things. I know how frustrating this can be....Just keep at it.

~K.

I'd say you've gotten some good advice so far. The one thing that seemed to make my daughter realize how important brushing is was to show her my cavities and tell her about how much cavities hurt and if we don't brush our teeth we will get them. It also helped to have her pick out a pretty tooth brush-we use the character electric toothbrushes & it seems to work pretty well. Also, we don't put much toothpaste on (although my youngest absolutely LOVES the toothpaste, we actually have to take it away from her so she can't get at it-she'll also try to "eat" our adult toothpaste!). Hope this helps!