Brushing Teeth

I was going to put this post in the teething forum but it's not really about "teething" per se... that's why it's here.

Annnyway, we are really struggling atm with getting Gabby's toothy-pegs brushed.
She has a special, little, blue Hi5 toothbrush and I use the milk teeth toothpaste.
We do teeth brushing when she's in the bath at night. When we first started, she really seemed to enjoy it. She'd giggle when I brushed her teeth and she'd sit so nicely! After I gave them a good brush, I'd give it to her to suck on and play with.
After a while, she wouldn't let me brush them anymore and just wanted the brush for herself. So, I sat and brushed my teeth while she brushed hers. I didn't feel like she did a good enough job so, once she had finished with the toothbrush, I'd have a go at getting a bit of a brush in maybe every second night??
Well... now it's a WHOLE other story. She starts saying; "No! No! No!" when I so much as get the toothbrush out. She smacks it away when I try to hand it to her and screams like a banchy (sp??) when I try to brush her teeth. At first I thought it may have been due to teething (may have hurt her gums) but it's been going on for a while now (and I'm pretty sure she's not teething atm).
I've modelled it for her heaps... but it just makes her want MY toothbrush. I give it to her but I am keenly aware that she's not supposed to have adult toothpaste (I rinse it first) plus, I am sure there's heaps of germs on my brush.

Do you think I should buy her a new toothbrush?? Maybe the novelty will help?
How thorough do you have to be to keep toddler's teeth clean? Should I be doing it regardless of her screaming??

Tonight I didn't even bother arguing with her... I just put a little toothpaste on the brush and left it on the edge of the bath. I have no idea what she did with it but it was in the bath water at the end of her bath so I know she did something with it, LOL.

Debbie, there's a thread here with some tips that might help.
I don't use toothpaste for Yasin because if they swallow it the flouride can cause discoloured teeth. We have a bit of a battle here at times but I try not to get too tense about it - they do get a second set after all. I think the most important thing is setting up good habits not getting thier teeth squeaky clean IYKWIM.
Also in the few seconds I'm allowed of teeth cleaning time I try to get to the molars because they are more likely to get decay.

Thanks, Dach. I'll check out that other thread. I did have a look for another thread but obviously not thoroughly enough, LOL
Just to clarify, I use the "Milk Teeth" toothpaste that's ok for kids over 12 months :)

Debbie ... OMG, you have described exactly what i go thru here .... my boy Jesse would open wide for the toothbrush every bath time ... now he shuts up shop as soon as he sees it coming !!! ..... DH & I have done the same thing with brushing our teeth for him to copy which works maybe once.
I will definately check out that thread as well .... hope it will help me too :)

Maddy bhates doing her teeth now & she's getting Adult teeth, I used to just let her chew or whatever on her baby brush but at age 2ish I started making sure she actually brushed it..
I know the Milk Teeth paste, I think I only started using tooth paste opnce she was 2-3yrs?? I cant rememnber it was SO long ago!!!

Maybe put her toothbrush in the bath already when you fill it up, so it's already in there when she hops in & just leave it there for her... to do whatever she does with it...??

GL

There are some toothpastes for babies that have no flouride in them. I found one at the shops & that is what I use with Matilda.

Matilda still has bouts of it, but we brush our teeth now at the same time in her bathroom & let her have a go, if she doesn't brush them we take our "special" brush out and do it ourselves (she has 4 toothbrushes but one is a Pooh one we keep for our special brushes).

Since the beginning we have always sung a toothbrushing song with Aidyn.
DP also pretends that Aidyns brush is an electric one and makes a funny buzzing noise, and vibrates it in Aidyns mouth, and he thinks its just hilarious!
In the past I used to get DP to brush his teeth at the same time as I brushed Aidyns... that always worked well.
A new toothbrush might work too... Aidyn was reeally happy when he got his new one (a blue Hi 5 one which is probably the same as Gabbys now! LOL)

I also use a natural no-fluoride toothpaste for Aidyn... as I am not convinced that fluoride is safe. I will upgrade him onto the Milk teeth one when he can spit & rinse properly LOL ;)

Jenna has toothbrushes in every room of the house, and if she wants ours, we give it to herafter rinsing it. My god - she puts far worse things than that in her mouth!
We try to brush morning and night, but I'm not too fussed about how good a job she does. She only has 8 teeth after all ;) But I will usually let her have a play, and then I have a quick go.
She doens't mind it, but does bite on the brush so I can't move it. Normally I have to rinse it under more water to get it back in her mouth again.
My SIL is a dental technician, so I actually had a lecture frommy older brother last night on the importance of brushing properly.
I think whileits important, genes also play a big part, so hopefully for the next few months what we are doing will be OK for her little mouth.

Oh Fi, I agree on the genes thing, both Mum & I have what they have called brittle teeth, my teeth can break so easily & Mum was the same til she had all her top ones removed! I have a few back top ones missing, due to them chipping, breaking etc... Even though I often am told myt teeth are beautiful (I dont think so)...

Oooh Miss Gabby you are following in Jacob's footsteps aren't you! LOL ;)

I tell you one thing that we have learnt - the bigger the fuss you make about it, the worse the situation becomes.....so try not to let it show that it's bothering you (far easier said than done I know!). I'm a worry wart so I always panic about his teeth not getting clean, but I figure if he's going to scream about it, it's only going to create 'bad' memories about it IYKWIM? So sometimes it's better just to let it go for a day or two and then come back to it.

We are still having trying times with teeth, but I can say that when he was cutting teeth was definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, the very worst time and he didn't want that brush near him right or wrong! He has all his teeth now, so it's been better, but there are still difficult times........

As you probably saw in the other thread, using his little baby doll did help (although it wasn't long after that he decided he didn't want to brush again). So perhaps it's worth a try?

I just read the other day that it's not necessary to use toothpaste until they're over 2. Maybe if you took that away and let her play with her toothbrush. I wouldn't worry too much, but I know I went through a stage of holding Tilly down while I did her teeth!!! Good luck xo

Yeah... I might ditch the toothpaste.
I'm a little annoyed. The MCHN told me that milk teeth was ok to use at 12 months?? And it says so on the packet.

Ooo I just thought... we don't have flouride in our water here in Geelong at all so maybe that's why the MCHN suggested using it? So it's not like bubs here are going to OD on it??

Annnyway, thanks for all the advice guys. I'll try not to stress about it too much and just give her the brush to play with. I'll buy her a new one next time I do the groceries and see if that helps. It can't hurt!

I actually have the Macleans Milk Teeth tooth paste & it doesn't have flouride in it, that is why it says it is safe for 1-6 yr olds. We don't have flouride in the water here in Brissy either :)

Oh well there ya go! It doesn't have flouride anyway, LOL. I'll keep using it then ;) Thanks, Christy :)

We use the milk teeth toothpaste Deb, and have done since Jacob was 1.