Brushing teeth

[Angel]

Does anyone have any tips on how to make this fun for bub? Mostly teeth brushing times go fine for us but as soon as I try to brush the front of his teeth (ie get between his teeth & lip) Kynan cracks it! The only time I can get in there is when he's got his mouth wide open screaming! I always tell him what I'm going to do before I brush his teeth and try to make it sound fun and exciting... I even have a tooth brushing song that I sing to him LOL. I've tried using just a thin face washer to gently wipe his teeth, a little baby brush, and one of those brushes that go over your finger but it's always the same result. I've also let him hold the brush and munch on it but it doesn't seem to help. Any ideas on how to make it less stressful for both of us?

[BellyBelly]

It's really, really hard isn't it! Marisa was terrible at it, I am sure you read about my trip to the dentist then hospital to have a small cavie removed but Elijah is different - I think the less stressful it is the easier it is? We always started Elijah off with a facecloth, its a great way to help get them cleaning their teeth in some way, that they enjoy doing. Make sure you brush your teeth with him, even if he's not joining in at that time, and make it fun for you without making him feel like you are making a big deal of it. Elijah loves Marisa's electric toothbrush, so that might be something you could try.

Like Marisa's dentist said - 'I don't blame them for not wanting to have their teeth brushed - I wouldn't like something shoved in my mouth at that age either!!' but of course we have to do it. So try from scratch, slowly slowly and don't make it stressful for you, hence him too.

I brush my teeth in the shower and Elijah loves doing it with me too - they like copying us so let him get interested in what you are doing and he'll do it too Even in the bath with the toys - he'll pick it up for a chew I am sure

[Angel]

Thanks, Kelly!! Come to think of it, I don't think Kynan's ever seen me brush my teeth so he must think it's pretty weird & freaky for me to be trying to brush his! Will start brushing my in front of him & hopefully he will copy

[christy]

Matilda's almost the opposite, she's addicted to brushing her teeth! We always brush out teeth with her and let her "play" with a toothbrush first while we brush ours and then we use another toothbrush to try and properly brush her teeth. She loves the role play and stands on a chair so she can see in the mirror too. When ever we brush our teeth without her she runs into her bathroom & wants to brush hers too. Sometimes its a battle to get the toothbrush off her. Goodluck Angel! I think once we gave her her own toothbrush she took off with it...

[Snowgirl]

Wolf doesn't like me brushing his teeth but will allow it because I give him the toothbrush to play with afterwards. So after a quick brush on top and on the bottom, he gets to suck and chew on the toothbrush. He loves holding it and will also try to brush all his stuffed animals teeth.

We brush his teeth every evening after his bath and in the mornings he gets to play with his toothbrush, when he sees us brush our teeth after breakfast. He really wants to have his toothbrush when he see us brushing our teeth.

[Melinda]

We've been having a lot of trouble with this too. DH has found something that works though. Every evening when they have a bath together, DH will take his toothbrush and Jacob's into the bath. Whilst DH attempts to clean Jacob's teeth, he gives Jacob his toothbrush and Jacob then tries to clean DH's teeth!! I guess he enjoys that or is more responsive to it because he can see the effects of what he is doing to DH's teeth, therefore having the brush in his mouth doesn't seem quite so daunting IYKWIM???

[Fi]

Yeah - we brush our teeth with Jenna, and she is also pretty familiar with the toothbrush as she quite often walks around the house with it!
She has one in each bathroom, but we are pretty laid back about it. If she wants to chew on our toothbrush, we let her do that too.
I sometimes brush her teeth (she still only has 2!) and she will let me do it for a few seconds.
When I am brushing my teeth, she will put her brush in her mouth and swing her wrist around like shes copying.
I agree with the whole fun thing making it easier.

[Hayley]

I always brush my teeth with bubba, he sees me brushing then opens his mouth for me to brush his, then I let him brush while I finish my teeth.........

[Angel]

Great suggestions, thanks everyone!

[Ambah]

I also find it trickiest to brush the front of Aidyns top teeth... so hard to manourvre the brush in there!
I too sing a toothbrushing song to Aidyn whenever we brush his teeth.
And also when I brush my teeth in the morning I let him hold his own toothbrush and he will brush his own (or try to!) and he often wont give up the brush for another half an hour!
I bought him a new Hi-Five toothbrush the other day, and the funny boy liked it so much that he wanted to take it with him everywhere for half the day, LOL

[Angel]

LOL Ambah. What's your tooth brushing song? I sing 'brush, brush, brush your teeth gently round and round, rub-a dub-a scrub-a scrub-a, brush goes up and down,' to the tune of 'row row row your boat' LOL.

[christy]

I used to sing the "brusha brusha brusha" song off grease

[Ambah]

LOL those are both cool songs... maybe I should give Aidyn a change

we sing
'this is the way you brush your teeth,
brush your teeth, brush your teeth,
this is the way you brush your teeth
so early in the morning/evening'

(to the tune of here we go round the mulberry bush)

[Hayley]

"you brush your teeth,
choo choo choo choo-choo
cha choo choo-choo choo
(clap twice, then repeat choo-choos)"
A little lively, but fun!

[Tanya]

A great tip, but only works when they are a little older and understand. It worked with Alecia and Emily.

Tell them they have bugs on their teeth thay they have to brush off. I say... eeewww Yuck! Look at those big bigs... QUICK! Lets brush our teeth!!

Doesn't work for Violet yet, she's too young... she opens her mouth for the tooth brush, but she HATES it!

Tanya

[Elfin]

You can actually buy a silcon thing (not sure of its correct name) which goes over your finger for brushing babies teeth from the chemist. It has soft nodules on it and some babies will put up with this more readily than a toothbrush.

For older toddlers from age 2 (bad mummy moment here I used one a bit earlier ), those coldgate character battery operated toothbrushes are fantastic it is was the only way I could get my stubborn dd to open her mouth. She loves the electric toothbrush and it just has to run over the teeth and I think it does a fantastic job.