We have been letting our daughter hold the tooth brush while for tooth brushing for a couple of months. Now that she has more teeth and is on a similar diet to ours we really want to make sure that her gums and teeth are brushed at night. Whenever we try to take the brush to brush her teeth she holds her lips closed or cries and shakes her head around. I'm not sure of a game to use.
Does anyone have a suggestion for getting her to let us brush her teeth?
Thanks.
Thanks for all of the great advise! We took her to the store to pick out a tooth brush with a character. She chose 2 and uses them both. We used the brushing our teeth at the same time trick and singing songs. Now she does a pretty good job on her own of brushing. And, she opens her mouth for us to finish up. Most importantly - she's having a lot of fun and likes brushing her teeth again. Thanks again!
Maybe she is just not ready- will she let you use a washcloth with just water on it to go over the teeth-- better than nothing. Maybe she does not like the taste of the toothpaste. Let her help you pick something out
When I had braces the orthodontist gave me a mouth rinse that turned all gunk blue (I think you can find it at the store) that way I knew when all my teeth were clean. Try using that stuff so she can have a visual of the icky sticky food stuck on her teeth
A.;
I have a 2 year old (boy) who doesn't let me quite brush his teeth either. What I do, is buy a toothbrush with his favorite character (Elmo, Dora, trucks, Barbie, etc.) and say "there are 'Cookie Bugs' in your teeth, I need to brush them away!" or something like that. You could just pick out her favorite character and have her open her mouth up wide for "Big Bird" or whatever. Also, I bribe my 2 y.o. boy for something after he brushes his teeth if he doesn't cooperate for 'plan A' (brushing with his favorite character, etc.) Anyways, good luck with your daughter and I hope this works. If not, try this:
Step 1:
Purchase toddler toothpaste, preferably with no saccharin, and a toddler toothbrush.
Step 2:
Tell your toddler that all of her "friends" need to be brushed.
Step 3:
When her mouth is open, say "hello" to all of the "friends."
Step 4:
Make brushing fun - giggle and laugh while you're brushing the teeth.
Step 5:
Tell your toddler she's a big girl for brushing her teeth.
Step 6:
Show her how to spit in the sink.
Step 7:
Clap and encourage your toddler for a job well done.
Step 8:
Give her a sticker for each successful toothbrushing session - it works!
OH! And another way, is to allow it in the bathtub before the soap. Start this before they have teeth so that when they do have teeth it isn't such a control issue/or even feel like a battle. By then it is routine. When that toddler sees other family members doing it without throwing a fit, he/she decides to follow along.
HOPE THIS WORKS!!
One thing that has worked for my kids is singing a song while we do it. My kids love to sing. I always tell them that it is my turn first. Then I sing "AHH!" to get them to open up. While I brush their teeth, I sing, "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!" I normally sing it twice before I'm done. Then I let them have a turn while I sing it one more time. They know that when the song is done, it is time to be done brushing teeth. I started doing this a few years ago when my daughter was having trouble opening up, and we still do it every time we brush.
Try taking her to pick out a battery powered one, that way she can do it somewhat by herself and the brush moving helps in getting rid of food particles. Get a timer and set it for two minutes, let her do it those first minutes and then tell her it is your turn, sing while brushing helps too. It is a power struggle, just make it fun and she obviously has to brush. The power tooth brushes my kids loved and still do!
All of the advice you've gotten so far has been great.
My husband started a game with my daughter at a young age where he'll look into her mouth and say, "Let's get all of the _____ off of your teeth." He'll name something she ate that day. Then he'll ask her what else is on her teeth, making a few suggestions if she doesn't come up with anything at first - applesauce, yogurt, carrots. He gets really animated about it. Pretty soon she is laughing so much that her mouth is wide open and he can get in there and brush.
When I brush I do the same thing, as well as saying in a silly voice, "We have to get those "moley-moley-molars clean!" (Yes, a little influence from comedian Mike Meyers!) For some reason she laughs at that as well.
As far as getting the brush away from your daughter, maybe you could just get another brush and let her continue to hold that one. Just tell her you're going to take turns.
We usually let our daughter "finish up" - she likes to put a little extra water in her mouth with the brush as a "scoop", but instead of spitting it out she swallows it!
We use Burt's Bee's toothpaste for kids. No saccharin and no flouride.
We had the same issue with our son, we made a special trip to the store with him and let him pick from a few cute tooth brush that vibrated this put him in charge, the vertebration tooth brushes do a great job with little effort and we also got some new bubble gum flavored tooth paste. A good place for them to use the tooth brush is in the high chair give her a little cup of water and a hand held mirror and tell her to get pretty...
I used the same approach when it came time to potty train my girls, a special trip to pick out pretty silky panties was all it took they did not want to mess them up they had very few accidents. I always found it was helpful to let them think they where in charge of their hygiene.
By Boy is 13 now and still not one cavity...
Good luck!
You could try brushing your teeth at the same time, she'll most likely start to imitate you and although she won't get everything as well as you could, she'll probably do just fine and it'll get better as she gets older. I've been doing this with my son and he tries very hard to brush his teeth like I do, I just do it very pronounced and animated so that it's really obvious how I brush my teeth instead of doing it with my mouth mostly closed so that he can't really see what I'm doing.
I love the battery power ones! I know the character tooth brushes really help also. We have the Oral B ones that go off and on so my boys 5 & 8 brush till the brush goes off and on 3 times. They are so independent but they know mom still will check after they are done brushing. Good Luck!
Hi A., I did the same thing w/ my daughter. I put the baby toothpaste on her bush and let her brush her teeth while I brushed mine. I then put more baby toothpaste on her brush and said, "Ok my turn, let me see if you got all the 'germ bugs' out." I would look in her mouth and then say, "ooh there is one let me get it for you." I then do a quick rebrush. I also used fun expressions like open your mouth wide like a Hippo... Good luck and make it fun.
A.
I know that this may sound odd, but I got my son interested in it by using one of the spinning head toothbrushes.(It was an oral b) He loves it! Now if it is a toothbrush at all he wants it. Not sure if that will help any, but there you go.
