Brushing battle

My DS is one year old and has eight teeth. I know I'm supposed to be brushing them regularly but I'm having a hard time remembering to do it every day and when I do, he absolutely HATES it and I struggle to clean them properly. He clamps his mouth shut, shakes his head and pushes me away! :rolleyes: If I give the brush to him he is happy to suck on it and chew it but that doesn't really clean his teeth.

So, my questions are:
1. How do you remember to incorporate teeth cleaning into your daily routine? and
2. How do you successfully brush your little one's teeth at this age?

Any advice will be appreciated :)

Oh I hear ya! DD1 was getting good at brushing her teeth but now we are in the NO NO NO stage :rolleyes:

We remember brushing with her going to bed routine. When we first started, we did it while she was in the bath. DH has been really good with her brushing as she rarely lets me do it but we get her to stand on her chair and she turns the water on and puts the brush under and then 'brushes' her teeth and then she gives the brush to us to help out. We give her lots of praise when she brushes. She is almost a year older than your little one but we got advice such as giving them a brush and you have a brush too and give the teeth a brush when you can get in there. A midwife suggested to have them on your lap and brush their teeth that way. This has been semi successful with us. It gives the teeth a good clean because you are at the right angle but it's hard when they are making a fuss. We used to sing the 'brush your teeth' song.

When DD1 clamps shut and gets cranky at us, I usually get a wash cloth and clean her teeth that way which she doesn't mind at all. This was a lot of the time in the beginning. It's a struggle. Hang in there!

Well I had one of those too lol - awful isn't it. I kept her toothbrush (well several of them) with mine. SO that when I cleaned my teeth, I would remember too.
She got to pick which one she had and I used another one.'I would sing, let her brush my teeth, prop her up against the mirror and let her have a go at copying me....one never worked two days in a row, so whatever it took that day.

DS teeth I also have issues remebering to do and also getting done as he also cracks the sads and clamps mouth shut!!!

Have tryed giving it to him but he chews for a few mins and chucks on floor!!!

When I do mine and give him his brush makes no difference at all he prefers to crawl into shower of play with toilet or toilet paper!!

Maybe I'll just keep trying. I'm just worried that I'll be doing his teeth damage if I'm not doing it properly?

We do a song lol..this way I know she opens her mouth reguarly :redface:
Our song is
"This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth,
this is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth,
on a *insert day here* morning/evening"
Also I use bribery :redface:

We also brought a "Dora toothbrush and toothpaste which REALLY helps ;)