[Shai's Mom]

My two year old will NOT let me brush his teeth. He will suck on his tooth-brush and make brushing movements, but will not let me take over.

I've tried everything I can think of, including letting him watch me brush his older brother's teeth (which I still do on a regular basis.

Any suggestions short of brute force?

[SchmennaLeigh]

Let him brush your teeth and then say, "My turn to brush yours!"

Also, Nick is all about the tooth brushing since his toothbrush is a fire truck with lights.

[HBV]

Originally Posted by SchmennaLeigh

Let him brush your teeth and then say, "My turn to brush yours!"

Also, Nick is all about the tooth brushing since his toothbrush is a fire truck with lights.

LOL. Last night I tried letting H brush mine. He stuck the toothbrush in my nose.

[Saya]

I'd love this advice! We have this problem now with our 17 month old. She loves to pretend to brush my teeth, she loves to pretend to brush her own teeth (she just sucks on the toothbrush or brushes her tongue) but as soon as I try to actually brush her teeth she screams and refuses to open her mouth. I've been thinking about getting an electric toothbrush - maybe that would be more fun. And I like the idea of a firetruck toothbrush that flashes!

[OnTheJourney]

Ds is just over a year now. He has been 'brushing' aka chewing on his toothbrush before bed since he was 6 months. He is bored of that so we got him an eletric kids brush with tigger on it. He sits on the counter 'brushing' his teeth while I brush mine with my electric tooth brush. He is getting the arm movement down from watching me. Then when I'm done he lets me brush them a bit to get them all. He digd the 'starter toothpaste' too. Maybe try that if you haven't.

[StorkWatcher]

We love tooth brushing time!

I started out letting him brush mine by holding my hand as I brush mine and then let him "brush" his (suck on the brush, and mimic the motions) while we sing the toothbrushing song (I think it was in my memory from the "Grease" slumber party scene, if you remember that.) Brusha , brusha, brusha, brusha brush your teeth.... And a couple more verses. Tune sounds like a high school anthem to me...

He stands on a small stepstool right at the sink. I only use a less-than-pea-sized dab on his brush of the toddler toothpaste (I think right now we have Oral B). We don't have a special toothbrush, but Mamaw had one at her house that lit up.
Anyway, now he is quite happy to do it IF:

He gets a brush, and I have one

We keep the water running (we'll work on being green later - right now, I have to make sure he's brushing!) and he gets to put his brush under the water half the time. When he pauses to do that, it's my turn to go in an brush those molars....

I'll ask him to say "aaaahhhh" and show me his mouth, and he likes that.

The cutest thing now is he tries to spit! Just makes a noise like, "PAH PAH" - I think he thinks he's spitting like Daddy does!

[bajj]

I found a tooth brush that lights up for 60 seconds and my boys love to see the inside of their mouth glow while I brush teeth. I do let them (ages 6 and 3) brush their own teeth, but I also help the 6 yr old with his molars and the 3 yr old...well, he still needs a lot of help!

[redbonec]

I just came across this post--but so glad I read it--good ideas on fancy toothbrushes--I'll have to remember to do that one.

Stork--we do a song too that has helped. I sing that song--it is on a Raffi CD--"When you wake up in the morning at a quarter to one, and you want to have some fun, you brush your teeth...." and then she opens her mouth when I do the brushing sound with each verse. Works for now. Tonight she got an extra toothbrush to brush her dolly's teeth while I did hers.

Shai's mom, hope the battle of the toothbrush has gotten better!

[Emster]

Oh,we have troubles with toothbrushing, too. Terrible terrible troubles. I could have written the original post. The funny part is, I squat down so Reid can see me brushing my teeth, but he thinks thats part of the process, and always squats to brush his...do you think he'll still be doing that when he's 20??

[McNally720]

We had great luck in the beginning with giving M something to do while I brushed her teeth--we bribed her with stickers (you know, the 5000 free address labels lying around) and we got into a good routine.

About a month ago, *TWO* reared it's ugly, ugly, stubborn head and we've had to reinvent the game.

So I bought Thomas the Tank Engine trainer toothpaste, and suddenly all issues disappeared.

I think it's really about the gimmicks! sad, but true! Good luck!

[Barksum]

Ok, ok...just read on another post that we're supposed to wean our kids and now you're posting about how we're supposed to brush their teeth, too?!

Seriously, we have struggles with the "I DO IT!!!" monster, too. We battle all day; who gets to serve the oatmeal at breakfast, cutting the sandwiches at lunch, getting the books out for doing school, emptying the dishwasher.... I let them do as much as is safe, and I also put my hand over theirs to do things like cut the sandwiches into quarters, brush teeth, etc. Then I let them use my tooth powder (I don't use paste, or fluoride) and they like that novelty so they'll let me do some brushing, too. So, sadly, I'd have to agree that the gimmicks work.

It also helps to do other things cooperatively. Dressing, brushing hair, putting on lotion, etc. Patterning the you-do-a-little and mommy-does-a-little process seems to help.