Desperate for brushing teeth advice?

[lylabellablueyes]

My 2 and half year old hates brushing her teeth. I have tried everything to make it fun. It's got to the point where I now have to force her or do it myself. Any tips please ad i don't want her to have black teeth.

I have bought flashing toothbrushes, nice toothpaste, asked her to copy mummy and even let her do it herself, but she doesn't really do it properly. I still praise her for it obviously and then try and take over, but I have no chance.

[sara3]

how about she does yours while you do hers?

[lylabellablueyes]

She just pretends to do it. But won't actually put the brush in her mouth. It's as though she hates the sensation.

[sara3]

there must be good toothbrushing books aimed at her age groups..

[lylabellablueyes]

I'll have a look. Thanks :-)

[cazzz1975]

my son was the same, he still hates brushing his teeth, I told him that not brushing his teeth will only cause germs to build up and for his teeth to hurt and fall out, he brushes them regularly, he still isnt happy about it...but he gets it done

[cathfromsaron]

remember not all cultures clean with a brush & paste and they get on ok.

but whilst that is all we have, what i would do is say she cannot have any biscuits or sweets unless she is willing to have her teeth cleaned properly. make sure its gentle and don't make too much of an issue ... it may be a phase just to plague you!!

[MissCommando]

I never had this problem when my daughter was small, thankfully but I know people who have bought their kids the little electric toothbrushes you can get. They seem to work! Good luck!

[sherrardk]

My three and a half year olds are a nightmare - one will brush her teeth at the slightest opportunity and the other hates brushing his teeth. I pretty sure that they will get the hang of it when they understand the reasons for brushing their teeth.

[JonnyBoy12]

Wow, this is a question to get your teeth into. I think I would show her some pictures of bad teeth or give her a big reward if she can make it to 21 without getting any fillings. That is the only thing I can think of.

[joko]

there was a supernanny episode of this today...it seemed to work for them

seems the mother had been pinning them doiwn on their backs an scrubbing away...which of course they hated

one tip was buying them each their own special mirror, all nicely decorated with their name etc, their own ace brush and having them sit at the table...not sure what else she did though as wasnt reallly watching properly...im sure there was more to it...might be worth searching online for the episode

[saxy_jag]

I once gave a colleague's 3-year-old grandson a lollipop (with his gran's permission), and I said if he ate it then he would need to make sure he cleaned his teeth afterwards or they'd fall out just like mine did. I then showed him the gaps in my own far-from-good teeth.

Apparently when he got home he went straight upstairs and spent twenty minutes brushing his teeth!