DS is 18 months old and absolutely hates brushing his teeth. I try to use lots of positive encouragement and praise but the most he will do is one small brush stroke on his front teeth and then he sucks the toothpaste off the brush. Usually I have to hold him and quickly brush his teeth while he cries and tries to stop me. I really hate it.
He has 12 teeth at this stage and we live in a town that doesn't add fluoride to the water so I feel quite stressed that he doesn't like brushing his teeth. My town has one of the highest rates of childhood tooth decay in the country Of course brushing teeth is important for everyone but I feel like it's extra important because of where we live. I make sure he sees me brushing my teeth every day and he often witnesses DP brushing as well. We usually do it as a joint activity so he knows it's something we're doing regularly as well.
I'm looking for any tips or ideas on how to make brushing his teeth more fun/enjoyable and less horrible for both of us. I hate holding him down to do it and although he is always willing to come into the bathroom and take his toothbrush his motivation ends right there. Will he grow out of it? I'm worried that being coerced is going to make him avoid brushing but I can't let him not brush either.
I am in the same position as you but we already have marks on iains top front 4 teeth from the lack of fluoride ( we are on tank water)
I do the same as you atm. Pin him down & just get it done. Its been the same with all the kids but they get there. What brand of tooth paste do you use? My kids say Colgate is too hot, even the kids one. I get the macleans one with the wiggles on it. They don't mind that one. I am also told that you get ones with no flavour at all but I am yet to find one. The other thing I do is ditch the brush & just use a wet face washer with a dab of tooth paste on it over my finger. But I usually have to swap back & forth between techniques.
Thanks Efjay. We use Macleans as well because DP reacts badly to Colgate (makes him spew) but I never thought of getting DS a children's toothpaste Will give it a go. It's good to hear that they get there eventually.
This is a bit OT but we will be on tank water in the next year or so too. I was listening to an ABC podcast about kids teeth tonight and they were saying that in non-fluoride areas the best thing to do is get the fluoride tablets and crush them into drinking water to ingest it gradually rather than a full hit with a tablet but that they're hard to get because they're out of favour and not being made anymore. I might investigate, perhaps they are available locally because of the lack of fluoride.
hun id definatly look into getting some fluoride tablets, you can get thrm from the chemist, for yourself you can get a fluoride treatment if your worried
DD loves to brush her own teeth but wont really let us, so i leave it, as iknow one day she'll let me!
Are you breastfeeding, because that's supposed to be really good for cleaning the mouth too.
DS was the same and I didn't really stress about it till after he'd weaned. We are finally at the point now where he will let me brush his teeth (more or less).
If DS does his own he sucks the brush, swishes it around his mouth and makes brushing sound effects.
We use bribes lol. At that age we had major struggles too and had to pin him down but we're finally past that. I took him to the store with me and let him pick out a toothbrush (a spiderman one and a diego one) and then hyped him up about using it. We use colgate watermelon toothpaste so he likes the taste. DS is huge into books so we brush his teeth before his bedtime stories and tell him if he sits still and allows us to brush his teeth he will be allowed to come lie in our bed for some stories, but if he does not co-operate he will have to go straight to his own bed with no stories. He still complains a bit still, but he sits still for us.
You can buy kids toothpaste that come in bubblegum flavour and lots of other yummy flavours....come even have glitter in them
Jack loves to brush his teeth in the bath. He started off just chewing on it (which I figure is better than nothing at all) and now he will use a brushing motion. If you are using a children's toothpaste you don't need to stress too much if they don't know how to rinse and spit properly just yet.
Maybe make up a "tooth brushing" song to make it more fun.
Teeth brushing
Of course brushing teeth is important for everyone but I feel like it's extra important because of where we live. I make sure he sees me brushing my teeth every day and he often witnesses DP brushing as well. We usually do it as a joint activity so he knows it's something we're doing regularly as well.
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Will give it a go. It's good to hear that they get there eventually. 
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