18 month old in hysterics when brushing teeth

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

Morning and night, it's the same thing, I start by being really cheery and positive and asking if dd wants to brush her teeth etc to make it fun, but as soon as she sees the toothbrush she goes into fits of hysterics and I end up brushing her teeth for her while she thrashes about and cries.

Dh sups to "just leave it" but I don't wang her to not have brushed teeth just because she's kicked up a,fuss. Dh has terrible teeth and I make sure I brush mine twice a day and floss but still have 7-8 fillings myself.

Am trying to encourage good oral hygiene.

Any tips of how to get dd to not be so hysterical during these times? Up until 13 months or so she used to love having her teeth brushed.

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

Sorry should read "dh says" and "want"

[stargirl1701]

Does she have her own brush to hold? Does she play at brushing teeth with her toys? Could you get a set of giant play teeth for her to brush with a giant play brush? Could she brush your teeth? Could you all brush together as a family? Does the library have any stories about teeth brushing?

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

She has her own toothbrush and plays at brushing the cats teeth (with pretend toothbrush) as well as teddy.

She used to love it but like I sad since about 13 months suddenly becomes hysterical at the notion of getting he teeth brushed.

I will see if library has any books that might help.

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

Also, she does brush my teeth in the mornings (for fun). Feel like I'm doin everything to make it a positive experience.

[stargirl1701]

Reward chart? A sticker for each brushing? A certain number of stickers = something nice like a trip to the pool?

[Alanna1]

You sure she's not teething?

[rumbelina]

We use disposable barbie/spiderman electric toothbrushes. It was the only way to get him interested, also found normal toothbrushes could be a bit harsh especially when teething.

[PinkFondantFancy]

We found that using the oral b fruit flavour toothpaste rather than mint helped a bit. Also getting her a little step to rinse the brush afterwards. But we still sometimes have a battle over it.....

[Bearandcub]

Ooos, ahhs, eees, face changes whilst brushing.
Smiling competition.
Brushing together looking in the mirror.
Singing
In the Night Garden has a toombilboos episode which is about brushing your teeth, as does Peppa Pig.
Let her choose a toothbrush of her own too.

These all helped with DS1.

[ExcuseTypos]

I would stop doing it for a few days.

If she's hysterical, you're just making the situation worse.

I'd carry on letting her brush your teeth and playing with the brush, and I say things like "oh this is so nice, it makes my teeth feel nice" or " it's such a lovely taste, yummy" etc.

I'd then ask her if she wants to do hers. If she says no, just leave it.
The other thing I've seen is putting toothpaste on your finger- she might have hurt herself with the toothbrush, so thinks its going to hurt again.

It might be also worth phoning your dentist and asking them for advice.

[Nicolaeus]

DS is 20 months and on average I brush his teeth reasonably well once a day. The rest of the time it's impossible.

A couple of other mums I've spoken to just let their children brush their own teeth at this age (i.e. the child chews the toothbrush every so often!)

I find brushing DS' teeth in the bath in the evening works well.

As does not insisting his teeth are brushed when he's teething. This means that when he really refuses to brush them I let it go and a day or two later he's happy to have his teeth done.

Also, one of us brushes our teeth (in an exagerated open-mouthed way) and the other person brushes DS teeth to mimic it. He finds that quite funny.

[rainbowfeet]

My ds doesn't get hysterical but he doesn't like it & thrashes around making it quite difficult but by chance I was holding him once in front of a mirror & he was fine !! Loved watching himself having his teeth brushed!! I make silly brushy noises or choo choo noises & he now finds the whole process hilarious!! He is 15 months!!

I know it's a long shot!!

[geewaf]

We had the same issue at the a similar age and this little clip really worked. After a couple of weeks we stop using the clip and now its easy to brush DD teeth if we tell her a story (well 95% of the time - still the odd toddler battle to content with!)

[helebear]

Have you tried one of those rubber chewy toothbrushes? I think they're meant for younger teething babies but on days when dd was refusing to use a toothbrush she'd usually happily chew on that for a while (possibly as it coincided with teething) which felt better than nothing.

We have gently persisted with teeth brushing despite the tears & tantrums about it using lots of the tactics suggested above and all of a sudden recently she's absolutely fine about it.

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

alanna I think she might be teething actually....could that be the reason? She wasn't like this when she was teething before, but maybe these molars are more painful?

[ItCameFromOuterSpace]

Thank you all for your advice btw, I will call my dentist and see what she says, and also try letting dd pick her own toothbrush and buying some different non mint flavoured toothpaste.

I really want her to have nice teeth and not suffer through horrible filings like I've had(!)

[mikkii]

DD1 is now 6 and still not keen on mint toothpaste.

DD2 wants to use DS or DD1's toothbrush. Not ideal, but they all kiss each other! I just try to replace them more often.

I agree with choosing own toothbrush, pound land have a good selection of kids ones, including a triple pack of my little pony ones.

[Khaleese]

None mint paste.

Pin and brush, they do grow out of it slowly. They work out it hurts to fight.

[DuttyWine]

Ooh I'm reading this and now thinking I need to be firmer on my ds who is 18 months! I generally just give him it to play with while he is in the bath and when he puts it in his mouth I give it a wriggle around but he usually protests. Iv been trying not to make it a battle sometimes I try again while he is sat watching in the night garden after his bath but he squirms away and is very strong.

I thought pinning them down to do it would give them a bad association and make them fear it more??

I'm going to buy some non mint toothpaste and see if he prefers it.

[HollyMadison]

The only thing that worked for me was to get him to watch a clip on my phone whilst I lay him on the bed and straddled him. I make him hold the phone so his arms are not thrashing around. Oh and I found a flavor of toothpaste he liked. It's probably an age thing as DS has recently stopped being resistant to the whole thing and he's recently turned 2.

[Smartiepants79]

Agree with the mirror thing. We bought this and it went down well.
www.mothercare.com/ELC-Frog-Bath-Mirror/132566,default,pd.html
Do not agree with giving up. Tooth brushing is non-negotiable in my opinion.
I may be mean but I don't agree with giving in to screaming tantrums!
Do everything you can to make it fun, not painful etc. but at the end of the day rotten teeth are a damn sight more painful!

[EspressoMonkey]

We had a similar situation. DH resolved it. He gave up mentioning teeth or brushing at all and simply brushed his own teeth when DD was getting dried after bath time. He would set up her brush and leave it on the counter then clean his own teeth for about 5 minutes. He wouldn't say anything to DD. After about a week of not brushing her teeth she picked uo her brush and volunterily started to brush her own teeth. Now she brushes until the timer goes off.