How do I get my one year old to let me brush his teeth? I am just doing it with water right now, no paste, so I don't think it is the taste. Sometimes he lets me do a good job and I can get his back gums and tongue, other times just his teeth. He likes his toothbrush and he tries to help and he knows to open his mouth when I pick up the brush. I even have a song! I guess it is really just practice for later, so I am not too worried. He also doesn;t let me use a cloth or gauze and he is teething bad again. Any tips will help! Thanks!
You can buy training toothpaste. It doesn't usually have much floride, if any. I let my 2 year-old brush first, then I follow. I tell her that Mommy has to help because the dentist said so. We took her when she turned two for her first exam. It's working so far.
I know this is bad, but if they fought it, I made it really short and just did the teeth part. I figured the main thing is for them to know this is something that needs to happen every day.
At this age they do not usually have many teeth and their gums can get really sore when teething. It is one of those 'pick your battles' kind of thing.
Good luck,
you can try taking turns with him. let him brush his teeth for 30 seconds then say "it's mommy's turn now!" and take the brush and do it yourself for as long as he'll let you, then let him have the brush again. also he might like it MORE with toothpaste. orajel has a toothpaste with no flouride for kids who don't know how to spit it out yet.
you might also try having him make animal sounds (lion, dog, elephant) and say that you need to brush that animal's teeth.
any amount of brushing is going to be ok. the most important time is before bed. if he isn't eating many sweets (candy, ice cream, etc.) then his teeth won't be too bad anyway
The previous advices are good, I will add to get two toothbrushes, one for you and one for him. Let him play with the water of the sink and his toothbrush, while you are brushing his teeth. This helped me with my 22 months old.
About the tooth paste it really doesn't matter if the tooth paste has fluoride, even if the child doesn't spit it yet. What it is important is that you keep it out of his reach, so he can not eat it any other time of the day. But just swallowing pea-size tooth paste twice a day it won't harm him, just find one that he like the taste.
