Cant brush my daughters teeth properly!!!!!!

[Holliexxx]

hi, I have a 1 year old daughter...I am a first time parent, anyways...I was wondering does any1 have any tips on how to get her to allow me to brush her teeth properly...she fights me when I try!!!!! And Im worried they are not bein brushed thoroughly enough x P.s I have been cleaning her teeth since she had her first one through, not getting any easier though :(

[lady_p_gold]

You could try either buying a musical brush or making something that goes with the brushing i.e. a special magic lamp or something that will create a connection with something fun and exciting. 

[louadams6]

You could try having two toothbrushes, one for your daughter and one for you. Let her play around and clean her own teeth, then tell her firmly that mommy has to do them to make sure theyre properly cleaned.

It worked with my daughter until she became too cute and now, at nearly 3, she's become Miss Independent and assures me shes cleaning them properly and refuses to let me anywhere near! So if anyone does have any great tips on this id be really grateful!

Good Luck Hollie x. I'll be watching closely for answers too!

[beerbelly]

agree with louadams6 ...make it a game or something ..
who can clean their teeth the longest ......you stop after 30 secs
or so ..as long as you dont WIN you should be O.K

[cazza0310]

def agree to make it fun. if little one knows shes winding you up she'll get worse.

louadams6 - had this same problem-made a compromise-she brushes in a morning and i brush at night.  if cant get her to agree to that (sometimes she plays stubborn) i let her brush them and then ask if i can give them a brush to make sure shes done them all (make up a story about missing one at the back the first time and you'll be ok to 'check' from then onwards)

[louadams6]

thank you cazza0310, have tried asking her if i can check but she refuses to open her mouth! Am trying not to make a big deal of it but it is frustrating! Will definately try making up a story for her though, good one, Thanks again x

[louadams6]

p.s. have already tried the compromise but Miss Independent woulldnt have it!

[Holliexxx]

Thank u all so much, will give some of those things a try....wish me luck lol, mwah xxx

[louadams6]

Good Luck Holliexxx, I actually had a breakthrough with my daughter this morning! Told her that i needed to see her teeth at the back as only mommy can clean those properly, little people cant! She fell for it and said ok mommy, and let me clean them! Im sure it wont last but at least ive managed to do them properly today!!!

[coggles]

Hello Hollie,

I had the same problem when my eldest daughter (now 5) was a toddler.

After trying lots of things, I found a fun way to get the brush in her mouth long enough to actually clean most of her teeth.

My daughter would choose what kind of animal the brush was going to be, so that if she said 'cow', the brush (mummy) would make mooing noises as it brushed her teeth. If she got bored with that one the toothbrush became a cat, dog, sheep etc., while mummy added the appropriate noises.

As your daughter is only one, you could say 'today, the toothbrush would like to be a cat/dog/cow etc and can it have a look and see if your daughter has the same teeth as the cat etc.

That probably doesn't make much sense but I hope you get the idea!

I just need to find a way to brush my daughter's hair without tantrums now...!

Good luck.

[CalamityK2]

Hi. I had the same problem with my smallest son. Making it fun didn't work at all - he is quite stubborn. I'm afraid I had to get tough. He would start to wail at the approach to the brush (I hasten to add I had NEVER been rough or hurt him) so I ignored the fuss and just brushed VERY briefly, just the teeth that were visible when he was wailing, then made a HUGE fuss of him and moved on swiftly to playing with bubblebath or whatever made him laugh most. After about a week, he realised that A) Toothbrushing didn't hurt and B) It had to be done, regardless of his fussing and he has never been a problem since.

Obviously, if you can solve the problem other ways it is better, but sometimes being a bit "matter of fact" about things stops them bothering to make a fuss!