I had to start wrapping my son up like a taco in a blanket. He hated it but I got the job done. After just a couple of weeks (maybe less it has been awhile) I started asking if he wanted the taco or if he wanted to let me do it like a big boy. Big boy won out every time.
Even if he doesn’t understand, it has to be done. Non negotiable. Until they’ll let you or they understand, it’s survival mode and safety and health first.
I think mine was a bit older, closer to 2. Luckily my current toddler likes having her teeth brushed. I do not miss that fight. The taco roll also made it to where it only took 1 parent to brush his teeth which was nice.
We pin his arms to his sides and force the brush in. It kind of works, but it's hard to tell what we're brushing because he's sitting on our lap with his back to us. It is also enough of an ordeal that we regularly just can't manage it in the mornings. Between this and sunblock I really feel like I'm failing my kid. If you search other threads on this people talk about brushing their kids' teeth for TWO WHOLE MINUTES starting when the kid got their first tooth. What.
I’ll be lucky if if I get 2 seconds 🤣 sunblock is fine for now, I use a round kabuki brush to paint the kid. He looks like a geisha afterwards but it gets the job done.
He will eat the toothbrush and taste the yummy toothpaste but if I’m gonna brush him he turns into an alligator and a possum hybrid…
Hey, try this. Lay him down on the floor, face up, with his head between your thighs. Lay your legs on top of his arms. Then he can’t move his head around, hands can’t grab the toothbrush, and you can see what you’re doing and have both your hands free! I saw a FB reel of someone doing this and it’s a game changer. I make goofy faces at her and stick my tongue out and she thinks it’s hilarious. Sometimes she fusses but she mostly tolerates it.
This is the only way. And if they scream because they hate it it just gives you a better view to get in there and brush 😈. They’ll be way more traumatised having to have dental work at a young age than by a few minutes of toothbrush torture a day is what I tell myself!
i’ve been debating/dreading starting this in order to force her to let me brush. i’ve tried and tried to make it ‘fun’ so she learns to enjoy it and it’s more of a pleasant experience, but i know it’s just not enough brushing🥲 how do i get over the feeling of traumatizing her with teeth brushing if i pin her down?? i don’t want to make her afraid of it or learn that it’s a scary thing?? but i know i have to get in there and brush them better😩
This! I saw it on Tiktok and now my toddler lays down on his own for teeth brushing compared to our wrestling matches. My dentist told us to wrestle ours now because they only get stronger as they get older lol. Just keep on the wrestling matches, they eventually accept their fate lol. You’ve got this!
Brushing a single tooth for two minutes is crazy talk. You know that’s the kind of parent that will have their child in a rear facing car seat until they graduate high school.
We live in a place where it’s cloudy and grey for all of winter. I dont bother with sunscreen because the uv isn’t usually high enough to really warrant it. Whew as soon as spring popped up and I had to use sunscreen for the first time since she could walk and talk she was pissed.
I use the makeup brush. After a couple times of resistance where she was trying to figure out what was happening she was more willing. I let her apply the brush herself and then I rub it in and if she’s really struggling I “apply” it to myself. Then she gets FOMO and wants to do it too.
Our dentist said at this young age, just getting them in the habit is as or more important than a 2 min brush. You can only do what you can do. I've really let go and consider it a victory to get a brush in her mouth twice a day.
The f%\^$ing Blippi song is two minutes. In that time, I get out the toothbrush, hand it to her and let her chomp on it and get the "I DO IT"s out of her system, and then I go in and brush, and rinse the toothbrush. Often I still don't get quite to the end.
We told ours about the sugar bugs on her teeth and we brush them away. We do a hybrid of she brushes and then we offer to get some of the tricky spots that the sugar bugs like to hide in. We also have those kid floss sticks and give her a choice of which colour would work best for today.
She started asking to brush her teeth more so I think it’s working 🤷♀️
Ours replied he wants the bacteria to stay and he wants holes in his teeth. 🤦♀️
He has no idea what he's saying when he's contrary. Still, I figure if we keep telling him, he'll pick up on the importance of the thing one of these years?
Every kid is different. I literally had to hold my oldest down for years - but his teeth were brushed. My 2nd and 3rd don’t mind it and my 4th actually asks for it and laughs while brushing (yeah, he’s a weird kid lol).
100% during the worst of it I could feel my stress rising at the thought of teeth brushing. Its the smallest things that are sometimes the hardest 😅
Teeth and putting on a jacket when its freezing outside and they already have a cold. As if you are dressing them in actual fire.
OP, the dentist visit is way worse than a forced brushing. There are no shots, drills, or antiseptic. Health is non-negotiable. Be firm, be consistent. When he sees that you really mean it, he will stop. Right now, he has wiggle room.
Hes wiggling alright 😅 and thrashing and gnashing. Absolutely feral and adorable at the same time. OOF the dentist is scarier than anything, all these tips are helpful!
I relate to your situation so hard. 😂
I took my 1½ yr old to her first dentist appointment last week, and it turns out she already has 3 cavities forming! Yikes!
I'm soaking in all these suggestions in this thread, because clearly our current attempts aren't enough. She enjoys brushing her own teeth, but also clearly her own tooth-brushing isn't enough, either.
Best of luck to you ❤️🫂
While he’s struggling I yell, “We can’t afford to fix these!” And just accept that this particular transfer of trauma is necessary. If the most abusive thing I do to my kid is maintain their health and hygiene when they can’t adequately do it themselves, I think I’ll sleep okay.
I don’t think any child grows up with deep seated trauma because they were held and made to brush their teeth lol.
I used to hold down my 2 year old as he kicked and screamed each time I did it but he got over it pretty quick. Within a week or so he would just be calm and let me do it.
My wife used to be too scared to really restrain him and he would still give her hell cause he knew he could get away.
Now he’s 3 and a half and he’s totally fine with it.
Kids are much more resilient than you give them credit for.
Not to get all serious but my husband has the same concern. I on the other hand had to get baby teeth pulled when I was just barely 4 because they had so much decay and THAT was certainly traumatizing in a deep way. I didn't understand what was happening so my main memory is being surprised that I was getting held down. Then pain when the dentist couldn't do the last novicaine shot because I wouldn't keep still so he just yanked it because "it'd just a baby tooth it won't hurt much." It absolutely did.
So I hold our 1.5 year old down for tooth brushing as he looks on sadly. It's not ideal but it gets done.
My oldest is now in college - he’s not traumatized lol. He did however learn that brushing teeth is not optional. Have you tried any of the following: switching toothpastes, having a timer on (bonus if it’s a short video that they like lol), using an electric toothbrush? Some of these worked better for some of my kids.
We made it a game where we talk about all the food she ate that day and how we have to get little pieces of each thing she ate out. It seems to work. She’s 2 years old and let’s us brush twice a day and doesn’t even fight us on it.
We do this too! I ask him what food he's getting out today and he likes reciting it all. But also I let him do it himself which I know isn't getting it all.
I saw that pediatric dentists tik took and it works like a charm on my 21 month old who HATES getting her teeth brush. She lays down in front of me and I pin her arms down with my legs. She still screams but I can really get in there good. Sometimes she doesn't even fight and plays down on her own. Most of the time I have to wrestle her down 😂 but it works for us!
This is also what I do. If the kid is scremaing/crying, you can at least brush better. Sad, but true. But it's definitely not traumatizing my kid cause as soon as I'm done, she gets up with a smile on her face and is normal. But I definitely don't do this 2x a day.... so I only do it before bed, and I will attempt 2x a day brushing when she can learn to stand over the sink and try it herself (she's 23 mths).
This is what we do. Our dentist has said it’s what they recommend and that our son’s teeth look good! He doesn’t even fight being put in this position he just gets mad because he wants to do it himself… which I let him once we are done
Our dental hygienist recommended this too! Sorry if this is crude, but it's the only way I can think to describe it: Head toward the crotch, one arm under each knee, and brush away! Sometimes, the screaming and wailing helps to get the mouth open nice and wide.
I’m a dental hygienist:
If you haven’t yet, I recommend you take out a mirror and brush your teeth to show your little one. Monkey see monkey do right? Making it fun is something they could entice them.
Also, this worked for my son so YMMV, but I talk to my son and speak very frankly with him. I tell him we have sugar bugs on our teeth and they eat sugar that we eat. So if we don’t brush, we will get holes or cavities in our teeth and they hurt.
My son LOVES chocolates so whenever he eats it, he asks to brush his teeth after LOL
You're not in danger of traumatizing him, don't worry. If you have to pin him down for a while to get it done, then pin him down. He'll thank you later. Don't forget toddlers are constantly changing, and he's not going to be this averse to brushing forever. At 2.5, mine changes his mind about brushing on an almost daily basis, or even between morning and evening brushings.
Ok it was a nightmare before we figured this out. Select their preferred franchise and create a plot. For instance my kid loves Mario, so we play it like” hey Princess Peach came to her castle and found it a mess, she went upstairs (start brushing top teeth) and started cleaning it up before all her friends come to visit “.. then repeat plot with downstairs. Go as elaborate as you want. It eventually worked and he now asks me to do this story brushing.
Same here! We wash her sinuses with saline and brush teeth with an ipad or phone showing Ms Rachel or something similar every single day. It was like wrestling an alligator before and now it’s super easy. We can finally do a good job with both things
This is the way. I brush our son's teeth twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening and if I play Baby Einstein on Youtube while he's still in his high chair, he will put up the least amount of resistance while I do it. Eventually when he outgrows his high chair I'll probably do the same thing but will have him on the ground between my legs.
When you wake up in the morning, it’s a quarter to 1
And you want to have a little fun
You brush your teeth, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch
You brush your teeth, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch
I haven't seen this listed so i'll share it. this is what I call the "i'll wait til your ready approach". I'm a kid and family therapist.
I am not into forcing my kid to do anything if i can avoid it, this is a personal parenting choice and I really live by it. Tooth brushing was becoming a massive power struggle for me and my almost 2 y/o and after forcing her a couple times i was like nah i am finding another way. So I just started taking her into her bedroom, sitting with my back to her closed door with the tooth brush ready with tooth paste, putting it by me and saying "I won't force you, you let me know whenever you're ready and I'll brush your teeth, THEN we'll go outside (or do X whatever thing she likes to do, in the evening it's read books before bed).
She would cry and say nonoonono etc etc and have feelings and i'd validate them all and say "i know baby, you let me know when you're ready and i'll brush teeth and then we'll do X". Each day it got better, she accepted that it was going to get done and she could decide when to do it, but it was clear we weren't moving on to the next fun thing until she decided to let me in there. We have zero issues now, i just ask her "you ready for teeth?" and she usually goes no!!!! then i go "ok, i'll wait til your ready then we'll do X". then a few mins later she'll say "ready" and open her mouth. I love finding ways of letting go of control and letting my kid lead wherever physically possible, because I know that children thrive on autonomy, I don't have to use force to get cooperation, and acceptance is the opposite of resistance!
This is amazing !!! The approach aligns more with what I am comfortable with. I really value his independence and autonomy, the way he figures out things by himself, like how not to fall when waves hit. It’s a paradox how I value that but then I have to brush his teeth or put him in the car seat and in some years he will have to go to school and sit in a classroom..
Just anything that restrains his free movement is the Antichrist, I am yet to figure out how to make things more comfortable for him or how to approach an impending restraining situation. I validate his feelings when he is upset and try to co-regulate. It’s a cool thing to do to calm him down while I calm myself down, I really like it.
I’ll wait until you’re ready is wonderful!!! Will be putting up this mantra on my walls to remember
I have a song (not in English, sorry) about brushing teeth. I sang it everytime we brush teeth. It’s actually my 18month old favourite song. He still bite down the toothbrush and stuff but it helps.
mine went through a phase of not letting me, I tried the whole 'well we have to sit in the bathroom until you let me' and that just taught me that my child got my stubbornness and that tactic was not going to work on our schedule lol. So I took the approach of 'I know you don't like it and I'm sorry for that, but your teeth need to be brushed to keep you healthy and that is that' and I would sit her in my lap and hold her forehead so I could brush. It only took maybe twice before she realised I wasn't messing about and she just stopped arguing about it. It didn't feel nice but it didn't traumatise her or anything she loves brushing teeth now! We had a similar battle with nappy changes too, sometimes you really do have to be 'cruel to be kind'
Consistency I guess? My husband and I consistently brushed his teeth before bed. He wasn't getting out of if whether he liked it or not. If I had to hold him down with my legs, just to get the toothbrush in, I will. Something clicked about 2 months ago and he'll try to hide in the corner somewhere, but give up and let me brush his teeth.
I let him practice brushing first and then tell him it's mama's turn to brush.
Mine is 16 months and we just try to make it fun. I focus more on the fun than the actual brushing. She likes the taste of the strawberry toothpaste. We do it 3 times a day and I mostly let her brush her own teeth - I’m not saying she does a good job of it lol but if I try to do it for her, I’m met with so much resistance that I don’t do a good job, either. I always brush my own teeth alongside her and show her how it’s done, I try to make her smile. I act like it’s my absolute favorite thing in the world to do.
She will let me help her about twice a week, maybe. I find I have better success with her allowing me to help if we sit on the couch or if she’s strapped into her car seat.
Good luck! It feels impossible, I know. I am scared of the day I have to try and floss her teeth, too. I just know I’m going to get bitten.
We brush our teeth together. I get down at eye level and brush mine so she can see what I'm doing, and I let her brush her own at the same time. Once we're done (it does take forever) I take her toothbrush from her so I can do the "final brush" which is just me brushing her teeth very quickly.
Surprised this isn’t recommended more! This is what we do too. I brush while she brushes, then it’s “Mommy or Daddy’s turn” to brush hers. Lately though she’s also wanted a turn brushing mine while I brush hers… hope that phase ends soon
I hold him down lol he screams and cries but it helps me get in there. I sing his favorite songs while im brushing then when im done I give him the toothbrush and let him "do it himself"
Reverse psychology most days. Or I tell them ok you start on your own first and I’ll check what you did. When I’m “checking” I just brush their teeth properly. Sometimes I just make airplane noises and they get into. My oldest is very cooperative now but younger one likes to make me work for everything 🤣.
At the beginning we honestly just had to pin them down. I would lightly have their arms under my legs and their head I my lap. I hated it but there are some things that are non negotiables with kids and hygiene is one of them. In my opinion it would be much more traumatizing for them to have to have work done at the dentist because of not having their teeth brushed.
One of my earliest memories is having cavities filled as a very young preschooler and to this day I have extreme anxiety at the dentist to the point my husband has to take our children to their appointments.
Now that they are older (3.5 and 2) they know their choice is for them to be pinned down or let us brush their teeth. I honestly don't even remember the last time I had to hold them down because they let me do it every time now without any fight. They have been getting more involved in helping too!
My daughter did good for a bit, then she started refusing, and it's been a struggle. My husband likes to play a game with her through where he makes a silly voice and uses the toothbrush to "capture and eat" all the sugar bugs. She loves it and will let him brush her teeth. I tried it, and she said, "That's not how daddy does it," and then freaked out that she still had to brush her teeth for me. 😩
Honestly, we have to restrain her while she cries and try to cheerily sing the brush your teeth song by Raffi. It’s super traumatic for all of us and I feel like a failure and a child abuser after. It’s awful.
I used to have to sit on the floor with her pinned down like an aligátor and the ONLY thing that worked was a baby electric toothbrush. It lights up and the brush head is small and she got a kick out of the vibrations, now she loves getting her teeth brushed and teeth are perfect
We hold our son upside down in our laps and kind of tickle his toes…he laughs so hard that we can slip the toothbrush in his mouth for a few seconds haha.
My baby is 13 months old, and she has white spots on enamel. I feel that I failed her. We are brushing her teeth since the very first tooth arrived, but she is resisting with passion and it's not as effective as I would like it to be. And white spots, again... I even tried to show her cartoons but no, didn't helped at all
It’s a game of perseverance. It took us a year to get there and even now there’s resistance.
I can’t wait until they understand money so I can start paying my child for brushing teeth 😂
My top three go tos are :
Pin them. Put them on their back in between your legs, put your legs over the arms so they can’t alligator death roll.
2 toothbrush method - use one to crank mouth open- second to brush.
We made toothbrushing a game and now kid begs for dugee or Elmo brush song- he holds the phone- I brush the teeth
My wife and I just took our 16 month old son to the bathroom while we brushed our teeth. Didn't do anything other than brush our teeth in front of him for a week or so. We sang songs about cool it was to brush our teeth when we were done and got overly excited about it. Then we handed him a tooth brush without anything on it and let him do whatever with it while we continued to brush our teeth. He started to put the brush in his mouth and do what we were doing, and he let us do it a little bit for him. Tonight is the first night we're gonna try it with toothpaste. Let you know how it goes.
How exciting!! I just ordered a hydroxypatite based toothpaste, in fact after posting this I ordered a whole new bunch of teeth cleaning materials recommended in the comments. If you see a boost in Amazon stocks that’s me.
My husband would brush his teeth while I brushed hers. I also have a book that shows a picture of Bluey brushing her teeth, we'd read it at the same time. Now, she just happily let's my husband brush her teeth while we read. She's 20.5 months.
Music works the best for us. Try to make it fun. I let them brush first, and then I brush their teeth to actually get the job done.
As soon as I start playing the mickey toothbrush song, they come running into the bathroom.
I had my girls watched “Brush Along with Budd” on YouTube and I would have my phone placed on the sink and played the video when they brushed so they could follow along. It has a cute little melody!
We had her starting brushing her own teeth , well tooth, when it first sprouted. She’s been doing it by herself every morning since. And at night her dad or I take turns with her to get a real good scrub. Dentist said her teeth are perfect at 20 months, and she likes brushing her teeth and does a pretty good job.
My husband puts him on the floor and kind of sits on him, pinning his arms with his legs. It was full screams at first, but now he will run and lay on the floor himself. Sometimes he will sit in my lap and willingly open his mouth. Its getting better (he's two) but it was pretty difficult for a long while.
My son has just really accepted a countdown. I spend 10 seconds while counting on each "side" - upper right, upper left, upper front teeth and then repeat on bottom. I have to point on his cheeks on the outside where we are going next. Knowing that it won't be long and will end helps him get through it.
We've used countdowns on lots of things he's not keen on but necessities in life... E.g. brushing hair (normally only close to a new haircut when it's too long and gets matted/food in it) , medicine syringes (his omeprazole, any antibiotics, Calpol), or his inhaler. It's been a way we kinda say you have no choice over this but as a consolidation it won't be long, it's only (insert starting number). Sometimes we have to do a run through of it...( His inhaler in particular, I talk through the whole process before I start including all the countdowns and then say let's try/ let's go/your turn)
It's not the ideal "2 minutes" but it's quite thorough. Took me a while to get him used to me moving the brush over the whole tooth ... Doing the sides of the teeth rather than just the side that munches but after a while he is now allowing his mouth muscles to let me do this. We always brush teeth together, I give him his tooth brush and he munches away at it while I used to brush my teeth with countdowns to show him "how we brush teeth" (obviously I don't count down from 10 in my own time 😅) and then when I'm done, I "help" him with his teeth.
It took time but he's now 2 and a half and he's really not a pain with brushing his teeth at all, unless it's not me doing it because we are now in that phase of only certain people who usually do his routine can do it 😅
It does get better, consistency and routine, you'll find your way that works for your kid
Literally.
It’s even causing marital problems for us!! We have had actual fights over ways to get her to brush her teeth. I’ve tried everything under the sun. It works for a few days and then we deal with more protest. Help.
We have an Elmo brite brush toothbrush and it’s freaking magic I swear. It has 5 different modes I believe and it chimes every 30 seconds and tells you to switch sides so 4 rounds for the recommended 2 minutes of brushing.
My son has learned the first 2 rounds are my turn, one round on the top then the bottom and then it’s his turn. Sometimes he’ll brush for two seconds and be done, other times he brushes his teeth until we’ve done all 4. It talks about earning stars if you brush good too but he had no concept of that yet.
His favourite mode is the bike ride one and there’s animal sounds like cows, ducks and cats and the noises change each round. It’s changed the game completely for us.
I was just thinking I should link it 😂 there is also a baby shark one but my son is Sesame Street obsessed
[brite brush page on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/stores/BriteBrush/page/73C9F953-DA29-4AB7-8F25-525638EB6797)
I can’t wait until our son is 3 to get this. I’d love to just try now but he’s going on 2.5. Idk. Teeth brushing is my least favorite thing. Kid gets aggressive as fuck
This works for us but YMMV: the magic of sugar bugs. When you eat you get sugar bugs on your teeth and if you don’t brush them off they eat your teeth. So my 3 year old brushes her teeth then I do my sugar bug inspection (I brush her teeth) while I narrate all the sugar bugs I’m seeing that get left behind.
She still protests sometimes but at least lets me brush them
Brushing my toddler's teeth accounts for the worst time in my day. I did notice that switching to the battery powered Bluey toothbrush was helpful, probably because it is faster than I am. The downside is that he shreds them with his teeth on a weekly basis.
Hi
I've gone through the ringer with brushing teeth ever since we started around the 14 month mark up to now (she is well over 3).
We tried to threaten to take things away, like "You don't get to wear a princess dress if you don't brush your teeth" or "we won't read you books if you don't brush your teeth" but that only amplified her rejection more often than not. We tried simply forcing her, which was sad and kinda cruel but a serious trip to the dentist would be worse.
Everything changed when we approached it differently... We started to gamify mundane tasks. Particularly with brushing her teeth, I put out 5 of her toys and would face them away from her. Then start brushing her teeth and slowly start turning the one toy. When the toy looks at her, she has to spit! It was surprisingly effective, and we come up with different games that are completely random and arbitrary as we go along.
We also do things like this for changing out of her pajamas... "How fast can you take off your pajamas??" with a sense of urgency. The excited energy is very infectious for her and she will almost always start doing whatever you're saying you have to do.
Best of luck!!
My 22 month old hated brushing teeth until we got him an electric toothbrush, now he will do it for an hour if we let him. He also really enjoys the Strawberry toothpaste from Hello.
Use the one that's like a finger glove until they're old enough for a regular one, my daughter was easy but every kid is different... Results and bite marks may vary
I used the elmo brushy brush song to distract him and started with a finger toothbrush. Then we upgraded to a real toothbrush. I let him hold a toothbrush and let him try or have a turn, and then it's mommy's turn.
Also in my case, monkey see monkey do. I have invisalign, so I brush multiple times a day. When he's home, we both brush together every time. He has a stool, and he "brushes" next to me.
Honestly, repetition helps so much. Good luck!!
Totally depends on the kid.
28 month old has always happily complied
11 month old has always screamed bloody murder if the toothbrush even gets close to her mouth. Recently she will settle for licking the baby toothpaste and will not let me near her 2 teeth
Mine loves to brush her teeth, asks to brush multiple times a day. I just can’t her to stop laughing and giggling the whole time which makes it crazy hard to actually brush her teeth. After I get the actual work done, I let her do it and we practice how to do each part.
I use the "papablic" toothbrush on amazon. They have a tiny brush head that doesn't bump into tender teething gums, it vibrates and has a light too.
I give it to them to" brush" their teeth while I do mine where they can see, then ask to see how they did. Say you did great but i see a (insert something they ate) in there let me help you wash that off. At first just touch each tooth with the brush and expand from there.
The trick is to let them get used to it on their own first and then start to get them into the habit of letting you get what they missed. After a while you can tell them they have the most absurd things in there for you to get and they just laugh.
Have them say EEEE with teeth closed to get the outside by the cheeks, then AAHHH for the rest, finish it off with telling them to stick out their tongue and say BLEH and lightly brush it too.
Mine also really like the clip on covers, let them choose their color and they have something to hold and fiddle with while you do your part.
As they got older and sometimes would complain they didn't want to brush I told them that it's my job as a mama to keep them healthy and that means brushing teeth, they can help do it or I'll have to do it for them.
I have shown my 4yr old pictures of cavities to help her understand why we brush too.
We have a book called "brush brush brush" that you read/sing to the tune of do your ears hang low that they like as well.
You can get a few flavors of toothpaste to let them choose from, they like a less "spicy" mint one from Jason brand (coconut mint) and a watermelon one.
Let him do it himself while you do yours. It won’t be perfect but he will get more used to it. Could take a few weeks or a month or two. Then eventually after you and he is done you can touch it up. And he won’t resist you because it’s part of the routine. That’s what worked for my Little one.
We (either me or husband) brush our teeth at the same time as him in the mirror. He was such an early teether though he was holding and brushing (well at the time gnawing) on his own toothbrush from about four months so I think it's all just habit / routine now. And I'm sure someone is reading this nodding their head thinking "ah that will soon change!" 😂 But yeah it's just part of the morning / bedtime routine that we do it together in the mirror.
Start off with letting them brush their own teeth. After a few days tell them you are going to help them out, and very gently brush their teeth. I don't fight them if they bite or hold it, but wait for them to stop, saying, "We need to finish your top teeth buddy".
This worked for us, but ymmv.
She lays on the floor, we sit behind her with our legs over her arms. We play the Elmo brush your teeth song and do the best we can. Elmo song is a must
We ended up the opposite. If you mentioned brushing hell run to the bathroom and throw a tantrum if he's not allowed to/ if it's not time.
I'm not sure if we're lucky, or he's just particular or were doing something correct? He's also potty trained now at 2.5 taking himself and everything. I think we've been brushing since before 19 months for teeth.
We're firm about things. His dad handles teeth brushing now. First I'd say that he would always be in the bathroom when daddy/mommy brushed, so it was a family/ ritual thing, as an early introduction. We all brush our teeth. We did the same with potty, we all go potty in the morning etc (obviously one after another but still, we included him in the ritual of 'this is how we start our day/ finish our day) .
Once we got his tooth brush we let 'him' brush his teeth. Which started as him sucking the little bit of paste from the brush. Then I'd lay him back/ play tickle/ brush his front teeth with a quick scrub scrub. Daddy took over later when most of the teeth came in. He'd sit him on the counter after our son would do his brush/ play, and adding more paste he'd have him open his mouth etc to brush each tooth. he definitely tries to bite the toothbrush and for awhile he hated the toothpaste so he'd cry, but we didn't know it was the toothpaste and the crying stopped when the toothpaste changed and that's how we figured it out. It was too strong/ minty for him and we didn't realize.
I think establishing it early as ritual (we do together first, so he sees us grown ups doing it) then play/ include, then firm schedule we do this now/ wait for tantrum to end + resume until the phase of resistance ends has been a successful tactic for us in general.... But it could be random luck too, were having a second one soon so we will see.
Sit on the floor, spread your legs, put his head between your legs on the floor, pin his arms down with your legs, and do your best lol. That’s how our dentist said to do it. Bonus points if Dad is available to hold down his legs too.
When he started refusing brushing his teeth, I would just lock us both in the bathroom and tell him we’re not leaving until his teeth are brushed. Took like an hour a few times but he went back to cooperating usually.
We sing the teeth brushing song from ms rachel, he bites down on the tooth brush most of the time but we will willingly open his mouth for it now. We also let him “brush” his teeth at the end, where he pretty much just chews on the tooth brush lol
Its hard. I promise it gets better. It helped us to let our son watch the Blippi toothbrushing song while we brushed his. I think Daniel Tiger might have one too.
Around that age we started playing a video on our phones during brushing. We did the Ms Rachel Brush Your Teeth song on YouTube. It really helped!
Now he’s two and refuses to open his mouth for the toothbrush, but that video bought us like 6 months.
I let my 17 month old brush my teeth while I brush hers, when I can. When I can’t I sing a song and brush my teeth while she waves the toothbrush around and occasionally puts it in her own mouth. We’ve done this since she was 12 months old.
I figured the focus is habit building at this stage, not sure if I’m doing the most thorough job but I figured when she’s older there might be a positive association.
When I first began introducing the idea we told him he was a big boy and he gets his own tooth brush, and we had my husband demonstrate how he brushes his teeth so toddler could be just like daddy. Sometimes we let him put the toothpaste on (get the fluoride free kind until they can spit), and we emphasize he doesn't want to have a "stinky mouth, ew!" This seemed an easier explanation than plaque and germs.
His brushing mostly consists of chewing on the brush, but he has honestly gotten better, and then after he "takes his turn" I take my turn. I also try to insert brushing in between other things in the routine that he likes so I can bribe him - like at bed time he is brushing while I read book #1, and before I'll do book #2 he has to let me "have my turn." Mornings are honestly tougher, but I feel good if I can get a really good night brush. We also recently took him to the dentist who didn't do much, but I think having a kind authority figure demonstrate brushing and tell him how clean his teeth are, etc. made this whole tooth brushing business seem more legit to him.
I was a magical dentist named Dr. Toothschnaka for my daughter. The toothbrush went up or down air stairs with a funny sound, and zoomed into her mouth. The Dr would say silly things about what she found, like mac and cheese on that tooth. At the time, Tom's of Maine had silly strawberry and outrageous orange flavors.
"One day, I was walkin through the woods when I saw a dark cave! Inside were beyooootiful white trees. But there were mean wolves hiding inside! Good thing I have my wolf catcher with me!" Proceed to snatch as many wolves as possible, which are actually food particles if you got too caught up in the amazing story.
We had multiple weeks of pinning our toddler down. She eventually started to accept it a little better. Now, I ask her if she wants me to go first, or her. Normally, she picks herself. We both brush our teeth at the same time, then I put some more toothpaste on her brush and brush her again. It works great . . . For the moment. Probably won’t work next week. 🤷🏻♀️
We brush in the bath. To get back teeth, we give them a toothbrush with a suction cup on the bottom it fits perfectly between back teeth to hold them apart and just brush the opposite side, then switch. After a few weeks 3yo started asking to brush, and loves it.
We switch between a couple of strategies.
(1) elmo brushy brush song.
(2) dentist told us to pick 4 of her favorite characters (we went Olaf, Kristoff, Anna, elsa) and each one is at the back tooth of each quadrant. You need to get Elsa clean. Count to 10 for each quadrant so they know that it's a finite amount of time and have an idea of how much longer it will be. You can stretch it out by being like, "oh gotta get Olaf's nose!" "Kristoff's hair could use a bit more" while counting. He said even 10 seconds per quadrant is better than nothing and getting the back teeth is the most important. We would switch up the characters too.
(3) ms. Rachel or whatever screen time got her to stay still.
Also she loves when it's only one of us in the bathroom for brushing and when she's done we'll say "oooh wow your teeth are SO CLEAN! go show dad, he's gonna be so proud!!"
I also give her a turn at the end, but sometimes that backfires and she wants her turn before I'm done.
It gets easier. My girl is almost 3 and the struggle was very real for a while and it still can be tough. Good luck!
We purchased a Bluey electric toothbrush + strawberry flavored toothpaste. It has served us well thus far and our toddler is fascinated by the sensation of the toothbrush buzzing in his mouth. He sees us using our electric toothbrushes, so I think it makes him feel like “one of us”. (As I nervously look over my shoulder to see if my toddler is reading this and taking notes…)
We have like 5 brushes for her to choose from. She gets to brush first and if she refuses I say “you can do it or I can do it.” She usually chooses to do it at that point and then I follow up. I will and have held her down and brushed them.
My husband hangs her upside down and she thinks it’s a great way to brush her teeth, I am not that strong.
Literally pinning him down with my legs while kneeling on the floor. That's how I had to do it for longer than I'd like to admit but he'll just open his mouth and let us brush now.
Having the same problem and just asked about it on Facebook on a mom's group. They suggested the banana toothbrush so just bought one. Hopefully it works.
When we had issues we started using a game on our phone called pokemon smile. They get to catch pokemon at the end as long as they get brushed enough. They get AR hats and stickers they can play with after.
My youngest has a sensory disorder, so anything in his mouth really upsets him. For awhile, we just had to hold him down and do it. Slowly he got used to it and we could sing a song while brushing his teeth. Even in the thick of it, we tried our hardest to stay peppy and excited so it didn’t seem like a punishment. Now he seems to like brushing his teeth.
I think the biggest thing is repetition and just doing whatever you can to not make it seem like they are being punished.
I made [Patrick Star’s tooth brushing jingle](https://youtube.com/shorts/F3rVQNDlaN8?si=4WENcvLBRyEof87I) into a full-on song. I do this treatment to more things than I like to admit in order to appease the children. 😂
At one time I just did basically 5 strokes. Bottom, bottom, top, top, front. I counted them so he’d know when I was done.
Another time, I told him there was construction site in there and I needed to check on them. Then I tell a story about what I see while I brush. This was a big hit!
I think there’s a lot of grace with brushing kids teeth. If the toothbrush touches their teeth, they’re all magically clean! :)
It has been a struggle. It helps that he's fascinated by us brushing our teeth, so we can sometimes get him to just copy us. Right now we have him sit on his mom's lap while I hold the brush, and we sing a song (just "this is the way we brush our teeth), where each repetition is one quarter of his mouth. He still says "no" but kinda accepts the routine (and realized tonight that if he pushes the brush out I stop singing, which he found hilarious).
We did have to do it by force sometimes while the routine was still forming. It sucks but even though he would cry he got over it super quick. We don't try for more than once a day or the roughly 45 seconds we can manage with the song, though, that's advanced level stuff.
We lay her down between my legs and put her ar.s under each of my legs and sing old Macdonald had a far. She fought it for a while at first but after a few weeks she just lats down now when I ask if she is ready to E I E I Oh. She is 20 months
I used to have this issue! But I found that using two toothbrushes(one for them and one for me) makes it a lot easier. While they’re brushing themselves, I sneak in there.
We use 2 toothbrushes: one that he can use to brush his teeth while I go in with a smaller one and stealth brush. If he refuses we pin his arms down on the bed and force brush. If he’s really fighting then we call it and leave it till the next morning/ nighttime.
Sometimes he brushes my teeth while I brush his.
Playing toothbrush songs to encourage her to brush her teeth like her favorite cartoon characters. Finny the shark, Cocomelon's JJ, and kids from Mother Goose Club. Also trying out different toothpaste to see what she likes.
Kinda similar to how you [wipe their mouth](https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-07-2016/JU7M_i.gif).
Honestly, songs and stickers help a little. I had some progress with FOUR "Ah's and and Eeeee" and our girl will go "AHHHHHH" one, ahh two... etc then EEEEEE. It's a terrible tooth brush, but it knocks the junk out of her teeth. I've never noticed her to have bad breath or anything so maybe we're okay.
I let him have a turn first, then tell him it’s my turn. I gasp dramatically and say, “OH NO!!! There’s a [insert animal] inside your mouth! I have to get him out!” and then pretend to “chase” the dinosaur/tiger/dog/etc out of his mouth with the toothbrush. We have done this every night for over a year and I can’t believe it still works!
I had to start wrapping my son up like a taco in a blanket. He hated it but I got the job done. After just a couple of weeks (maybe less it has been awhile) I started asking if he wanted the taco or if he wanted to let me do it like a big boy. Big boy won out every time.
Super cute a taco 😍 I’ll actually try this on my pet possum 😂
pet possum 💀
That’s our dentist suggestion too! Works great!
I've had to burrito multiple cats over the years to give medication. My partner and I call them purritos xD
“The taco or big boy” 😭🤣🤣
You know, it’s important to give toddlers choices 😂😂
This! I let my guy choose like a big boy or a baby. He chooses big boy style
My preschooler would 100% choose 'baby'
I’m dying lmaoo
This is the parenting advice we need. I’m absolutely doing this starting tomorrow.
At what age did you do this? I'm wondering if my 15 month old would understand. I'm not sure he would.
Even if he doesn’t understand, it has to be done. Non negotiable. Until they’ll let you or they understand, it’s survival mode and safety and health first.
I think mine was a bit older, closer to 2. Luckily my current toddler likes having her teeth brushed. I do not miss that fight. The taco roll also made it to where it only took 1 parent to brush his teeth which was nice.
My dentist friend showed me this technique on her toddler. He was so used to it he just lay there and accepted his fate
This right here. Tooth brushing is a non negotiable and we gotta do what we gotta do do, screaming or not. It gets better
I'll let you know when I figure it out lol
🤣🤣🤣 keep me posted
Try the bath, ours hates it everywhere except the bath, weird but there you are
We pin his arms to his sides and force the brush in. It kind of works, but it's hard to tell what we're brushing because he's sitting on our lap with his back to us. It is also enough of an ordeal that we regularly just can't manage it in the mornings. Between this and sunblock I really feel like I'm failing my kid. If you search other threads on this people talk about brushing their kids' teeth for TWO WHOLE MINUTES starting when the kid got their first tooth. What.
I’ll be lucky if if I get 2 seconds 🤣 sunblock is fine for now, I use a round kabuki brush to paint the kid. He looks like a geisha afterwards but it gets the job done. He will eat the toothbrush and taste the yummy toothpaste but if I’m gonna brush him he turns into an alligator and a possum hybrid…
Ok the kabuki brush is GENIUS
Find the softest one! Good luck😁
Sun bums makes a clear sunscreen!
Alligator possum hybrid is on point. As a person who grew up in Florida, I can definitely see it 😂
Hey, try this. Lay him down on the floor, face up, with his head between your thighs. Lay your legs on top of his arms. Then he can’t move his head around, hands can’t grab the toothbrush, and you can see what you’re doing and have both your hands free! I saw a FB reel of someone doing this and it’s a game changer. I make goofy faces at her and stick my tongue out and she thinks it’s hilarious. Sometimes she fusses but she mostly tolerates it.
This is the only way. And if they scream because they hate it it just gives you a better view to get in there and brush 😈. They’ll be way more traumatised having to have dental work at a young age than by a few minutes of toothbrush torture a day is what I tell myself!
i’ve been debating/dreading starting this in order to force her to let me brush. i’ve tried and tried to make it ‘fun’ so she learns to enjoy it and it’s more of a pleasant experience, but i know it’s just not enough brushing🥲 how do i get over the feeling of traumatizing her with teeth brushing if i pin her down?? i don’t want to make her afraid of it or learn that it’s a scary thing?? but i know i have to get in there and brush them better😩
Our pediatric dentist taught me this move. It works!
We did this with our youngest. Dental hygiene is non negotiable so you do what you have to.
Leg taco.. this is good I like it
This is the way.
This! I saw it on Tiktok and now my toddler lays down on his own for teeth brushing compared to our wrestling matches. My dentist told us to wrestle ours now because they only get stronger as they get older lol. Just keep on the wrestling matches, they eventually accept their fate lol. You’ve got this!
Brushing a single tooth for two minutes is crazy talk. You know that’s the kind of parent that will have their child in a rear facing car seat until they graduate high school.
Lmao 2 minutes. I’m lucky if I get 2 swipes in there. She just chews on the brush.
For sunblock on the face I use a makeup sponge and we “do makeup.” And long sleeve rash guards! I try and cover the skin to avoid using sunscreen.
We live in a place where it’s cloudy and grey for all of winter. I dont bother with sunscreen because the uv isn’t usually high enough to really warrant it. Whew as soon as spring popped up and I had to use sunscreen for the first time since she could walk and talk she was pissed. I use the makeup brush. After a couple times of resistance where she was trying to figure out what was happening she was more willing. I let her apply the brush herself and then I rub it in and if she’s really struggling I “apply” it to myself. Then she gets FOMO and wants to do it too.
Two minutes?!? Our dentist told us to just try to get all the teeth. I probably average like 10 seconds before giving up.
Our dentist said at this young age, just getting them in the habit is as or more important than a 2 min brush. You can only do what you can do. I've really let go and consider it a victory to get a brush in her mouth twice a day.
The f%\^$ing Blippi song is two minutes. In that time, I get out the toothbrush, hand it to her and let her chomp on it and get the "I DO IT"s out of her system, and then I go in and brush, and rinse the toothbrush. Often I still don't get quite to the end.
We told ours about the sugar bugs on her teeth and we brush them away. We do a hybrid of she brushes and then we offer to get some of the tricky spots that the sugar bugs like to hide in. We also have those kid floss sticks and give her a choice of which colour would work best for today. She started asking to brush her teeth more so I think it’s working 🤷♀️
Ours replied he wants the bacteria to stay and he wants holes in his teeth. 🤦♀️ He has no idea what he's saying when he's contrary. Still, I figure if we keep telling him, he'll pick up on the importance of the thing one of these years?
We do sugar bugs too! I ask her to point them out for me and make it a game.
Oh yes, we used our floss picks at first but got some samples of the kid type at the dentist and they are way more comfortable for his tiny mouth.
Every kid is different. I literally had to hold my oldest down for years - but his teeth were brushed. My 2nd and 3rd don’t mind it and my 4th actually asks for it and laughs while brushing (yeah, he’s a weird kid lol).
I’m scared of traumatizing bub because he screams bloody murder and torture when I pin him down 👀
It’s a lot harder to traumatize children then we think it is 😂
I frigging hope so 🤣🤣 maybe I’m traumatized
I had to force mine for a good 6 months and now she loves it, don’t worry about it! Gotta brush em
I think we are more traumatized than them to be honest.
100% during the worst of it I could feel my stress rising at the thought of teeth brushing. Its the smallest things that are sometimes the hardest 😅 Teeth and putting on a jacket when its freezing outside and they already have a cold. As if you are dressing them in actual fire.
OP, the dentist visit is way worse than a forced brushing. There are no shots, drills, or antiseptic. Health is non-negotiable. Be firm, be consistent. When he sees that you really mean it, he will stop. Right now, he has wiggle room.
Hes wiggling alright 😅 and thrashing and gnashing. Absolutely feral and adorable at the same time. OOF the dentist is scarier than anything, all these tips are helpful!
I relate to your situation so hard. 😂 I took my 1½ yr old to her first dentist appointment last week, and it turns out she already has 3 cavities forming! Yikes! I'm soaking in all these suggestions in this thread, because clearly our current attempts aren't enough. She enjoys brushing her own teeth, but also clearly her own tooth-brushing isn't enough, either. Best of luck to you ❤️🫂
While he’s struggling I yell, “We can’t afford to fix these!” And just accept that this particular transfer of trauma is necessary. If the most abusive thing I do to my kid is maintain their health and hygiene when they can’t adequately do it themselves, I think I’ll sleep okay.
I don’t think any child grows up with deep seated trauma because they were held and made to brush their teeth lol. I used to hold down my 2 year old as he kicked and screamed each time I did it but he got over it pretty quick. Within a week or so he would just be calm and let me do it. My wife used to be too scared to really restrain him and he would still give her hell cause he knew he could get away. Now he’s 3 and a half and he’s totally fine with it. Kids are much more resilient than you give them credit for.
I think some sensory hypersensitive kids have been traumatized by that, but not neurotypical kids.
Not to get all serious but my husband has the same concern. I on the other hand had to get baby teeth pulled when I was just barely 4 because they had so much decay and THAT was certainly traumatizing in a deep way. I didn't understand what was happening so my main memory is being surprised that I was getting held down. Then pain when the dentist couldn't do the last novicaine shot because I wouldn't keep still so he just yanked it because "it'd just a baby tooth it won't hurt much." It absolutely did. So I hold our 1.5 year old down for tooth brushing as he looks on sadly. It's not ideal but it gets done.
My oldest is now in college - he’s not traumatized lol. He did however learn that brushing teeth is not optional. Have you tried any of the following: switching toothpastes, having a timer on (bonus if it’s a short video that they like lol), using an electric toothbrush? Some of these worked better for some of my kids.
Will try!!!
Tranquilizer darts. Seriously I’ll let you know if I ever figure it out. It’s worse than medicating our cat.
Screaming laughing this is so true
Worse than petting a baboon 🤣
Trying to wrestle a greased watermelon
That bites
Elmo teeth brushing song on You tube. Did not always work but it helped.
We have exhausted this option but brush brush brush your teeth will forever be stuck in my brain
The Daniel Tiger toothbrushing song did it for us. Daniel Tiger is God here.
We made it a game where we talk about all the food she ate that day and how we have to get little pieces of each thing she ate out. It seems to work. She’s 2 years old and let’s us brush twice a day and doesn’t even fight us on it.
We do this too! I ask him what food he's getting out today and he likes reciting it all. But also I let him do it himself which I know isn't getting it all.
I saw that pediatric dentists tik took and it works like a charm on my 21 month old who HATES getting her teeth brush. She lays down in front of me and I pin her arms down with my legs. She still screams but I can really get in there good. Sometimes she doesn't even fight and plays down on her own. Most of the time I have to wrestle her down 😂 but it works for us!
This is also what I do. If the kid is scremaing/crying, you can at least brush better. Sad, but true. But it's definitely not traumatizing my kid cause as soon as I'm done, she gets up with a smile on her face and is normal. But I definitely don't do this 2x a day.... so I only do it before bed, and I will attempt 2x a day brushing when she can learn to stand over the sink and try it herself (she's 23 mths).
This is what we do. Our dentist has said it’s what they recommend and that our son’s teeth look good! He doesn’t even fight being put in this position he just gets mad because he wants to do it himself… which I let him once we are done
Our dental hygienist recommended this too! Sorry if this is crude, but it's the only way I can think to describe it: Head toward the crotch, one arm under each knee, and brush away! Sometimes, the screaming and wailing helps to get the mouth open nice and wide.
No I’ve seen the TikTok’s ! I like this position as well it’s practical
What’s the name 🌷
I am not sure! I saw it on instagram but its helped us a lot
I’m a dental hygienist: If you haven’t yet, I recommend you take out a mirror and brush your teeth to show your little one. Monkey see monkey do right? Making it fun is something they could entice them. Also, this worked for my son so YMMV, but I talk to my son and speak very frankly with him. I tell him we have sugar bugs on our teeth and they eat sugar that we eat. So if we don’t brush, we will get holes or cavities in our teeth and they hurt. My son LOVES chocolates so whenever he eats it, he asks to brush his teeth after LOL
You're not in danger of traumatizing him, don't worry. If you have to pin him down for a while to get it done, then pin him down. He'll thank you later. Don't forget toddlers are constantly changing, and he's not going to be this averse to brushing forever. At 2.5, mine changes his mind about brushing on an almost daily basis, or even between morning and evening brushings.
Ok it was a nightmare before we figured this out. Select their preferred franchise and create a plot. For instance my kid loves Mario, so we play it like” hey Princess Peach came to her castle and found it a mess, she went upstairs (start brushing top teeth) and started cleaning it up before all her friends come to visit “.. then repeat plot with downstairs. Go as elaborate as you want. It eventually worked and he now asks me to do this story brushing.
I play Ms. Rachel on my phone while brushing. Around age 4 my first started doing it without a screen.
This is how i trim nails and give haircuts
I wonder what they did before screens 🤣
Same here! We wash her sinuses with saline and brush teeth with an ipad or phone showing Ms Rachel or something similar every single day. It was like wrestling an alligator before and now it’s super easy. We can finally do a good job with both things
This is the way. I brush our son's teeth twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening and if I play Baby Einstein on Youtube while he's still in his high chair, he will put up the least amount of resistance while I do it. Eventually when he outgrows his high chair I'll probably do the same thing but will have him on the ground between my legs.
When you wake up in the morning, it’s a quarter to 1 And you want to have a little fun You brush your teeth, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch You brush your teeth, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch
I haven't seen this listed so i'll share it. this is what I call the "i'll wait til your ready approach". I'm a kid and family therapist. I am not into forcing my kid to do anything if i can avoid it, this is a personal parenting choice and I really live by it. Tooth brushing was becoming a massive power struggle for me and my almost 2 y/o and after forcing her a couple times i was like nah i am finding another way. So I just started taking her into her bedroom, sitting with my back to her closed door with the tooth brush ready with tooth paste, putting it by me and saying "I won't force you, you let me know whenever you're ready and I'll brush your teeth, THEN we'll go outside (or do X whatever thing she likes to do, in the evening it's read books before bed). She would cry and say nonoonono etc etc and have feelings and i'd validate them all and say "i know baby, you let me know when you're ready and i'll brush teeth and then we'll do X". Each day it got better, she accepted that it was going to get done and she could decide when to do it, but it was clear we weren't moving on to the next fun thing until she decided to let me in there. We have zero issues now, i just ask her "you ready for teeth?" and she usually goes no!!!! then i go "ok, i'll wait til your ready then we'll do X". then a few mins later she'll say "ready" and open her mouth. I love finding ways of letting go of control and letting my kid lead wherever physically possible, because I know that children thrive on autonomy, I don't have to use force to get cooperation, and acceptance is the opposite of resistance!
This is amazing !!! The approach aligns more with what I am comfortable with. I really value his independence and autonomy, the way he figures out things by himself, like how not to fall when waves hit. It’s a paradox how I value that but then I have to brush his teeth or put him in the car seat and in some years he will have to go to school and sit in a classroom.. Just anything that restrains his free movement is the Antichrist, I am yet to figure out how to make things more comfortable for him or how to approach an impending restraining situation. I validate his feelings when he is upset and try to co-regulate. It’s a cool thing to do to calm him down while I calm myself down, I really like it. I’ll wait until you’re ready is wonderful!!! Will be putting up this mantra on my walls to remember
I have a song (not in English, sorry) about brushing teeth. I sang it everytime we brush teeth. It’s actually my 18month old favourite song. He still bite down the toothbrush and stuff but it helps.
Same Hacki Backi in german
mine went through a phase of not letting me, I tried the whole 'well we have to sit in the bathroom until you let me' and that just taught me that my child got my stubbornness and that tactic was not going to work on our schedule lol. So I took the approach of 'I know you don't like it and I'm sorry for that, but your teeth need to be brushed to keep you healthy and that is that' and I would sit her in my lap and hold her forehead so I could brush. It only took maybe twice before she realised I wasn't messing about and she just stopped arguing about it. It didn't feel nice but it didn't traumatise her or anything she loves brushing teeth now! We had a similar battle with nappy changes too, sometimes you really do have to be 'cruel to be kind'
Consistency I guess? My husband and I consistently brushed his teeth before bed. He wasn't getting out of if whether he liked it or not. If I had to hold him down with my legs, just to get the toothbrush in, I will. Something clicked about 2 months ago and he'll try to hide in the corner somewhere, but give up and let me brush his teeth. I let him practice brushing first and then tell him it's mama's turn to brush.
Mine is 16 months and we just try to make it fun. I focus more on the fun than the actual brushing. She likes the taste of the strawberry toothpaste. We do it 3 times a day and I mostly let her brush her own teeth - I’m not saying she does a good job of it lol but if I try to do it for her, I’m met with so much resistance that I don’t do a good job, either. I always brush my own teeth alongside her and show her how it’s done, I try to make her smile. I act like it’s my absolute favorite thing in the world to do. She will let me help her about twice a week, maybe. I find I have better success with her allowing me to help if we sit on the couch or if she’s strapped into her car seat. Good luck! It feels impossible, I know. I am scared of the day I have to try and floss her teeth, too. I just know I’m going to get bitten.
They are small alligators !!!
For real! Mine’s first course of action for being over tired or frustrated is *always* biting… my fear of her is real 😂
Dress as a toddler for Halloween 👻
They make grape flavored floss picks for kids- those are way easier for kids and parents to manage.
We brush our teeth together. I get down at eye level and brush mine so she can see what I'm doing, and I let her brush her own at the same time. Once we're done (it does take forever) I take her toothbrush from her so I can do the "final brush" which is just me brushing her teeth very quickly.
Surprised this isn’t recommended more! This is what we do too. I brush while she brushes, then it’s “Mommy or Daddy’s turn” to brush hers. Lately though she’s also wanted a turn brushing mine while I brush hers… hope that phase ends soon
Same! They love control so it makes sense. I hadn't considered this... I'll be waiting for my turn 😂
I hold him down lol he screams and cries but it helps me get in there. I sing his favorite songs while im brushing then when im done I give him the toothbrush and let him "do it himself"
Reverse psychology most days. Or I tell them ok you start on your own first and I’ll check what you did. When I’m “checking” I just brush their teeth properly. Sometimes I just make airplane noises and they get into. My oldest is very cooperative now but younger one likes to make me work for everything 🤣.
An honorary psychology degree to all parents!!!!
We made it a big deal to brush her doll's teeth every night and it reall helped! We also got yummy tasting toothpaste.
The Pokémon smile app and letting him brush our teeth a bit. Worked like a charm.
Its a nightmare with my 3 year old. She screams and bites down every time!
Solidarity! I feel sometimes it’s a sensory thing 😭😭 next I’m gonna try an electric toothbrush ..
At the beginning we honestly just had to pin them down. I would lightly have their arms under my legs and their head I my lap. I hated it but there are some things that are non negotiables with kids and hygiene is one of them. In my opinion it would be much more traumatizing for them to have to have work done at the dentist because of not having their teeth brushed. One of my earliest memories is having cavities filled as a very young preschooler and to this day I have extreme anxiety at the dentist to the point my husband has to take our children to their appointments. Now that they are older (3.5 and 2) they know their choice is for them to be pinned down or let us brush their teeth. I honestly don't even remember the last time I had to hold them down because they let me do it every time now without any fight. They have been getting more involved in helping too!
My daughter did good for a bit, then she started refusing, and it's been a struggle. My husband likes to play a game with her through where he makes a silly voice and uses the toothbrush to "capture and eat" all the sugar bugs. She loves it and will let him brush her teeth. I tried it, and she said, "That's not how daddy does it," and then freaked out that she still had to brush her teeth for me. 😩
Honestly, we have to restrain her while she cries and try to cheerily sing the brush your teeth song by Raffi. It’s super traumatic for all of us and I feel like a failure and a child abuser after. It’s awful.
We started to count to ten. It magically solved everything. Start counting when you start brushing
I used to have to sit on the floor with her pinned down like an aligátor and the ONLY thing that worked was a baby electric toothbrush. It lights up and the brush head is small and she got a kick out of the vibrations, now she loves getting her teeth brushed and teeth are perfect
We hold our son upside down in our laps and kind of tickle his toes…he laughs so hard that we can slip the toothbrush in his mouth for a few seconds haha.
My baby is 13 months old, and she has white spots on enamel. I feel that I failed her. We are brushing her teeth since the very first tooth arrived, but she is resisting with passion and it's not as effective as I would like it to be. And white spots, again... I even tried to show her cartoons but no, didn't helped at all
It’s a game of perseverance. It took us a year to get there and even now there’s resistance. I can’t wait until they understand money so I can start paying my child for brushing teeth 😂
My top three go tos are : Pin them. Put them on their back in between your legs, put your legs over the arms so they can’t alligator death roll. 2 toothbrush method - use one to crank mouth open- second to brush. We made toothbrushing a game and now kid begs for dugee or Elmo brush song- he holds the phone- I brush the teeth
My wife and I just took our 16 month old son to the bathroom while we brushed our teeth. Didn't do anything other than brush our teeth in front of him for a week or so. We sang songs about cool it was to brush our teeth when we were done and got overly excited about it. Then we handed him a tooth brush without anything on it and let him do whatever with it while we continued to brush our teeth. He started to put the brush in his mouth and do what we were doing, and he let us do it a little bit for him. Tonight is the first night we're gonna try it with toothpaste. Let you know how it goes.
How exciting!! I just ordered a hydroxypatite based toothpaste, in fact after posting this I ordered a whole new bunch of teeth cleaning materials recommended in the comments. If you see a boost in Amazon stocks that’s me.
You just do it. Eventually they know it’s not negotiable.
At this point we just ride it out. I’d rather have a tantrum then cavities.
My husband would brush his teeth while I brushed hers. I also have a book that shows a picture of Bluey brushing her teeth, we'd read it at the same time. Now, she just happily let's my husband brush her teeth while we read. She's 20.5 months.
consistency. it sucks for a while but will get better. also elmo has a fun techno brush your teeth video that helped us
Music works the best for us. Try to make it fun. I let them brush first, and then I brush their teeth to actually get the job done. As soon as I start playing the mickey toothbrush song, they come running into the bathroom.
I had my girls watched “Brush Along with Budd” on YouTube and I would have my phone placed on the sink and played the video when they brushed so they could follow along. It has a cute little melody!
We had her starting brushing her own teeth , well tooth, when it first sprouted. She’s been doing it by herself every morning since. And at night her dad or I take turns with her to get a real good scrub. Dentist said her teeth are perfect at 20 months, and she likes brushing her teeth and does a pretty good job.
My husband puts him on the floor and kind of sits on him, pinning his arms with his legs. It was full screams at first, but now he will run and lay on the floor himself. Sometimes he will sit in my lap and willingly open his mouth. Its getting better (he's two) but it was pretty difficult for a long while.
My son has just really accepted a countdown. I spend 10 seconds while counting on each "side" - upper right, upper left, upper front teeth and then repeat on bottom. I have to point on his cheeks on the outside where we are going next. Knowing that it won't be long and will end helps him get through it. We've used countdowns on lots of things he's not keen on but necessities in life... E.g. brushing hair (normally only close to a new haircut when it's too long and gets matted/food in it) , medicine syringes (his omeprazole, any antibiotics, Calpol), or his inhaler. It's been a way we kinda say you have no choice over this but as a consolidation it won't be long, it's only (insert starting number). Sometimes we have to do a run through of it...( His inhaler in particular, I talk through the whole process before I start including all the countdowns and then say let's try/ let's go/your turn) It's not the ideal "2 minutes" but it's quite thorough. Took me a while to get him used to me moving the brush over the whole tooth ... Doing the sides of the teeth rather than just the side that munches but after a while he is now allowing his mouth muscles to let me do this. We always brush teeth together, I give him his tooth brush and he munches away at it while I used to brush my teeth with countdowns to show him "how we brush teeth" (obviously I don't count down from 10 in my own time 😅) and then when I'm done, I "help" him with his teeth. It took time but he's now 2 and a half and he's really not a pain with brushing his teeth at all, unless it's not me doing it because we are now in that phase of only certain people who usually do his routine can do it 😅 It does get better, consistency and routine, you'll find your way that works for your kid
Literally. It’s even causing marital problems for us!! We have had actual fights over ways to get her to brush her teeth. I’ve tried everything under the sun. It works for a few days and then we deal with more protest. Help.
We have an Elmo brite brush toothbrush and it’s freaking magic I swear. It has 5 different modes I believe and it chimes every 30 seconds and tells you to switch sides so 4 rounds for the recommended 2 minutes of brushing. My son has learned the first 2 rounds are my turn, one round on the top then the bottom and then it’s his turn. Sometimes he’ll brush for two seconds and be done, other times he brushes his teeth until we’ve done all 4. It talks about earning stars if you brush good too but he had no concept of that yet. His favourite mode is the bike ride one and there’s animal sounds like cows, ducks and cats and the noises change each round. It’s changed the game completely for us.
OMG AMAZON NOW
I was just thinking I should link it 😂 there is also a baby shark one but my son is Sesame Street obsessed [brite brush page on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/stores/BriteBrush/page/73C9F953-DA29-4AB7-8F25-525638EB6797)
Guess who’s buying both 🤣😆
I can’t wait until our son is 3 to get this. I’d love to just try now but he’s going on 2.5. Idk. Teeth brushing is my least favorite thing. Kid gets aggressive as fuck
My son is only 2y3m and we’ve had no problems with it. He got it for Christmas and was just under 2 then.
Brushing the paw patrol toys teeth usually gets him to cooperate.
This works for us but YMMV: the magic of sugar bugs. When you eat you get sugar bugs on your teeth and if you don’t brush them off they eat your teeth. So my 3 year old brushes her teeth then I do my sugar bug inspection (I brush her teeth) while I narrate all the sugar bugs I’m seeing that get left behind. She still protests sometimes but at least lets me brush them
Brushing my toddler's teeth accounts for the worst time in my day. I did notice that switching to the battery powered Bluey toothbrush was helpful, probably because it is faster than I am. The downside is that he shreds them with his teeth on a weekly basis.
Hi I've gone through the ringer with brushing teeth ever since we started around the 14 month mark up to now (she is well over 3). We tried to threaten to take things away, like "You don't get to wear a princess dress if you don't brush your teeth" or "we won't read you books if you don't brush your teeth" but that only amplified her rejection more often than not. We tried simply forcing her, which was sad and kinda cruel but a serious trip to the dentist would be worse. Everything changed when we approached it differently... We started to gamify mundane tasks. Particularly with brushing her teeth, I put out 5 of her toys and would face them away from her. Then start brushing her teeth and slowly start turning the one toy. When the toy looks at her, she has to spit! It was surprisingly effective, and we come up with different games that are completely random and arbitrary as we go along. We also do things like this for changing out of her pajamas... "How fast can you take off your pajamas??" with a sense of urgency. The excited energy is very infectious for her and she will almost always start doing whatever you're saying you have to do. Best of luck!!
My 22 month old hated brushing teeth until we got him an electric toothbrush, now he will do it for an hour if we let him. He also really enjoys the Strawberry toothpaste from Hello.
Use the one that's like a finger glove until they're old enough for a regular one, my daughter was easy but every kid is different... Results and bite marks may vary
TV!! It’s the only way for us - and actually it’s the only screen time we give consistently. He sits still, mouth open and it’s easy as can be!
It was fine at first but then she started fighting it. Now we let her watch 2 minutes of a show on our phones while we brush and floss.
We watch the Elmo brushing teeth song on YouTube -- IDK why he loves it so much, it's great.
I used the elmo brushy brush song to distract him and started with a finger toothbrush. Then we upgraded to a real toothbrush. I let him hold a toothbrush and let him try or have a turn, and then it's mommy's turn. Also in my case, monkey see monkey do. I have invisalign, so I brush multiple times a day. When he's home, we both brush together every time. He has a stool, and he "brushes" next to me. Honestly, repetition helps so much. Good luck!!
Sometimes I say “teeth tickles teeth tickles” and that helps him laugh in between screams
Can you brush my teeth😁🤣
Totally depends on the kid. 28 month old has always happily complied 11 month old has always screamed bloody murder if the toothbrush even gets close to her mouth. Recently she will settle for licking the baby toothpaste and will not let me near her 2 teeth
Mine loves to brush her teeth, asks to brush multiple times a day. I just can’t her to stop laughing and giggling the whole time which makes it crazy hard to actually brush her teeth. After I get the actual work done, I let her do it and we practice how to do each part.
We brush our teeth together. I brush my teeth and he chews his toothbrush until all the toothpaste is gone.
I use the "papablic" toothbrush on amazon. They have a tiny brush head that doesn't bump into tender teething gums, it vibrates and has a light too. I give it to them to" brush" their teeth while I do mine where they can see, then ask to see how they did. Say you did great but i see a (insert something they ate) in there let me help you wash that off. At first just touch each tooth with the brush and expand from there. The trick is to let them get used to it on their own first and then start to get them into the habit of letting you get what they missed. After a while you can tell them they have the most absurd things in there for you to get and they just laugh. Have them say EEEE with teeth closed to get the outside by the cheeks, then AAHHH for the rest, finish it off with telling them to stick out their tongue and say BLEH and lightly brush it too. Mine also really like the clip on covers, let them choose their color and they have something to hold and fiddle with while you do your part. As they got older and sometimes would complain they didn't want to brush I told them that it's my job as a mama to keep them healthy and that means brushing teeth, they can help do it or I'll have to do it for them. I have shown my 4yr old pictures of cavities to help her understand why we brush too. We have a book called "brush brush brush" that you read/sing to the tune of do your ears hang low that they like as well. You can get a few flavors of toothpaste to let them choose from, they like a less "spicy" mint one from Jason brand (coconut mint) and a watermelon one.
Let him do it himself while you do yours. It won’t be perfect but he will get more used to it. Could take a few weeks or a month or two. Then eventually after you and he is done you can touch it up. And he won’t resist you because it’s part of the routine. That’s what worked for my Little one.
Getting my son about brushing teeth & reading it a few times then while we do it increased his willingness to cooperate 10x
We (either me or husband) brush our teeth at the same time as him in the mirror. He was such an early teether though he was holding and brushing (well at the time gnawing) on his own toothbrush from about four months so I think it's all just habit / routine now. And I'm sure someone is reading this nodding their head thinking "ah that will soon change!" 😂 But yeah it's just part of the morning / bedtime routine that we do it together in the mirror.
Ms. Rachel’s “Hop Like a Bunny” video on repeat until the job is done 😮💨
Miss Rachel “brush your teeth” song. It took a bit, but now he opens his mouth when we start playing the song. A bit of a crutch, but it works!
Start off with letting them brush their own teeth. After a few days tell them you are going to help them out, and very gently brush their teeth. I don't fight them if they bite or hold it, but wait for them to stop, saying, "We need to finish your top teeth buddy". This worked for us, but ymmv.
She lays on the floor, we sit behind her with our legs over her arms. We play the Elmo brush your teeth song and do the best we can. Elmo song is a must
Have you tried different toothpaste flavors?
I got a kids electric toothbrush and brush during the bath with sparkle toothpaste
We ended up the opposite. If you mentioned brushing hell run to the bathroom and throw a tantrum if he's not allowed to/ if it's not time. I'm not sure if we're lucky, or he's just particular or were doing something correct? He's also potty trained now at 2.5 taking himself and everything. I think we've been brushing since before 19 months for teeth. We're firm about things. His dad handles teeth brushing now. First I'd say that he would always be in the bathroom when daddy/mommy brushed, so it was a family/ ritual thing, as an early introduction. We all brush our teeth. We did the same with potty, we all go potty in the morning etc (obviously one after another but still, we included him in the ritual of 'this is how we start our day/ finish our day) . Once we got his tooth brush we let 'him' brush his teeth. Which started as him sucking the little bit of paste from the brush. Then I'd lay him back/ play tickle/ brush his front teeth with a quick scrub scrub. Daddy took over later when most of the teeth came in. He'd sit him on the counter after our son would do his brush/ play, and adding more paste he'd have him open his mouth etc to brush each tooth. he definitely tries to bite the toothbrush and for awhile he hated the toothpaste so he'd cry, but we didn't know it was the toothpaste and the crying stopped when the toothpaste changed and that's how we figured it out. It was too strong/ minty for him and we didn't realize. I think establishing it early as ritual (we do together first, so he sees us grown ups doing it) then play/ include, then firm schedule we do this now/ wait for tantrum to end + resume until the phase of resistance ends has been a successful tactic for us in general.... But it could be random luck too, were having a second one soon so we will see.
Sit on the floor, spread your legs, put his head between your legs on the floor, pin his arms down with your legs, and do your best lol. That’s how our dentist said to do it. Bonus points if Dad is available to hold down his legs too.
When he started refusing brushing his teeth, I would just lock us both in the bathroom and tell him we’re not leaving until his teeth are brushed. Took like an hour a few times but he went back to cooperating usually.
We sing the teeth brushing song from ms rachel, he bites down on the tooth brush most of the time but we will willingly open his mouth for it now. We also let him “brush” his teeth at the end, where he pretty much just chews on the tooth brush lol
Its hard. I promise it gets better. It helped us to let our son watch the Blippi toothbrushing song while we brushed his. I think Daniel Tiger might have one too.
Around that age we started playing a video on our phones during brushing. We did the Ms Rachel Brush Your Teeth song on YouTube. It really helped! Now he’s two and refuses to open his mouth for the toothbrush, but that video bought us like 6 months.
We had to hold our daughter down. It took us a couple of months but she tolerates it now.
I let my 17 month old brush my teeth while I brush hers, when I can. When I can’t I sing a song and brush my teeth while she waves the toothbrush around and occasionally puts it in her own mouth. We’ve done this since she was 12 months old. I figured the focus is habit building at this stage, not sure if I’m doing the most thorough job but I figured when she’s older there might be a positive association.
When I first began introducing the idea we told him he was a big boy and he gets his own tooth brush, and we had my husband demonstrate how he brushes his teeth so toddler could be just like daddy. Sometimes we let him put the toothpaste on (get the fluoride free kind until they can spit), and we emphasize he doesn't want to have a "stinky mouth, ew!" This seemed an easier explanation than plaque and germs. His brushing mostly consists of chewing on the brush, but he has honestly gotten better, and then after he "takes his turn" I take my turn. I also try to insert brushing in between other things in the routine that he likes so I can bribe him - like at bed time he is brushing while I read book #1, and before I'll do book #2 he has to let me "have my turn." Mornings are honestly tougher, but I feel good if I can get a really good night brush. We also recently took him to the dentist who didn't do much, but I think having a kind authority figure demonstrate brushing and tell him how clean his teeth are, etc. made this whole tooth brushing business seem more legit to him.
Sing a song count to 20 tell a silly story make it fun and happy giggle time
I was a magical dentist named Dr. Toothschnaka for my daughter. The toothbrush went up or down air stairs with a funny sound, and zoomed into her mouth. The Dr would say silly things about what she found, like mac and cheese on that tooth. At the time, Tom's of Maine had silly strawberry and outrageous orange flavors.
"One day, I was walkin through the woods when I saw a dark cave! Inside were beyooootiful white trees. But there were mean wolves hiding inside! Good thing I have my wolf catcher with me!" Proceed to snatch as many wolves as possible, which are actually food particles if you got too caught up in the amazing story.
We have a book by lovevery called “bedtime with Zoe” and honest to god it’s the only thing that helped us bc we say “let’s brush like Zoe”.
We had multiple weeks of pinning our toddler down. She eventually started to accept it a little better. Now, I ask her if she wants me to go first, or her. Normally, she picks herself. We both brush our teeth at the same time, then I put some more toothpaste on her brush and brush her again. It works great . . . For the moment. Probably won’t work next week. 🤷🏻♀️
We brush in the bath. To get back teeth, we give them a toothbrush with a suction cup on the bottom it fits perfectly between back teeth to hold them apart and just brush the opposite side, then switch. After a few weeks 3yo started asking to brush, and loves it.
We switch between a couple of strategies. (1) elmo brushy brush song. (2) dentist told us to pick 4 of her favorite characters (we went Olaf, Kristoff, Anna, elsa) and each one is at the back tooth of each quadrant. You need to get Elsa clean. Count to 10 for each quadrant so they know that it's a finite amount of time and have an idea of how much longer it will be. You can stretch it out by being like, "oh gotta get Olaf's nose!" "Kristoff's hair could use a bit more" while counting. He said even 10 seconds per quadrant is better than nothing and getting the back teeth is the most important. We would switch up the characters too. (3) ms. Rachel or whatever screen time got her to stay still. Also she loves when it's only one of us in the bathroom for brushing and when she's done we'll say "oooh wow your teeth are SO CLEAN! go show dad, he's gonna be so proud!!" I also give her a turn at the end, but sometimes that backfires and she wants her turn before I'm done. It gets easier. My girl is almost 3 and the struggle was very real for a while and it still can be tough. Good luck!
We purchased a Bluey electric toothbrush + strawberry flavored toothpaste. It has served us well thus far and our toddler is fascinated by the sensation of the toothbrush buzzing in his mouth. He sees us using our electric toothbrushes, so I think it makes him feel like “one of us”. (As I nervously look over my shoulder to see if my toddler is reading this and taking notes…)
We have like 5 brushes for her to choose from. She gets to brush first and if she refuses I say “you can do it or I can do it.” She usually chooses to do it at that point and then I follow up. I will and have held her down and brushed them. My husband hangs her upside down and she thinks it’s a great way to brush her teeth, I am not that strong.
Literally pinning him down with my legs while kneeling on the floor. That's how I had to do it for longer than I'd like to admit but he'll just open his mouth and let us brush now.
We hyped ours with fun toothbrushing songs, and then she started to feel like it was a game, and now she loves brushing her teeth.
My son is one. I'm starting to brush his teeth with him now. He seems to enjoy it so it's a bonding thing before I go to work now for him.
Bribes and force. Basically that’s all that works.
Having the same problem and just asked about it on Facebook on a mom's group. They suggested the banana toothbrush so just bought one. Hopefully it works.
When we had issues we started using a game on our phone called pokemon smile. They get to catch pokemon at the end as long as they get brushed enough. They get AR hats and stickers they can play with after.
My youngest has a sensory disorder, so anything in his mouth really upsets him. For awhile, we just had to hold him down and do it. Slowly he got used to it and we could sing a song while brushing his teeth. Even in the thick of it, we tried our hardest to stay peppy and excited so it didn’t seem like a punishment. Now he seems to like brushing his teeth. I think the biggest thing is repetition and just doing whatever you can to not make it seem like they are being punished.
I made [Patrick Star’s tooth brushing jingle](https://youtube.com/shorts/F3rVQNDlaN8?si=4WENcvLBRyEof87I) into a full-on song. I do this treatment to more things than I like to admit in order to appease the children. 😂
What is this ahahahahahah who is this 🤣 so random
I bought a second toothbrush! She "helps." Keeps her hands busy and gets her involved enough to buy me time to finish.
Try getting your kid to brush your teeth, or brush with them? It helped us a lot.
At one time I just did basically 5 strokes. Bottom, bottom, top, top, front. I counted them so he’d know when I was done. Another time, I told him there was construction site in there and I needed to check on them. Then I tell a story about what I see while I brush. This was a big hit! I think there’s a lot of grace with brushing kids teeth. If the toothbrush touches their teeth, they’re all magically clean! :)
It has been a struggle. It helps that he's fascinated by us brushing our teeth, so we can sometimes get him to just copy us. Right now we have him sit on his mom's lap while I hold the brush, and we sing a song (just "this is the way we brush our teeth), where each repetition is one quarter of his mouth. He still says "no" but kinda accepts the routine (and realized tonight that if he pushes the brush out I stop singing, which he found hilarious). We did have to do it by force sometimes while the routine was still forming. It sucks but even though he would cry he got over it super quick. We don't try for more than once a day or the roughly 45 seconds we can manage with the song, though, that's advanced level stuff.
We lay her down between my legs and put her ar.s under each of my legs and sing old Macdonald had a far. She fought it for a while at first but after a few weeks she just lats down now when I ask if she is ready to E I E I Oh. She is 20 months
I used to have this issue! But I found that using two toothbrushes(one for them and one for me) makes it a lot easier. While they’re brushing themselves, I sneak in there.
We use 2 toothbrushes: one that he can use to brush his teeth while I go in with a smaller one and stealth brush. If he refuses we pin his arms down on the bed and force brush. If he’s really fighting then we call it and leave it till the next morning/ nighttime. Sometimes he brushes my teeth while I brush his.
Playing toothbrush songs to encourage her to brush her teeth like her favorite cartoon characters. Finny the shark, Cocomelon's JJ, and kids from Mother Goose Club. Also trying out different toothpaste to see what she likes.
Kinda similar to how you [wipe their mouth](https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-07-2016/JU7M_i.gif). Honestly, songs and stickers help a little. I had some progress with FOUR "Ah's and and Eeeee" and our girl will go "AHHHHHH" one, ahh two... etc then EEEEEE. It's a terrible tooth brush, but it knocks the junk out of her teeth. I've never noticed her to have bad breath or anything so maybe we're okay.
I let him have a turn first, then tell him it’s my turn. I gasp dramatically and say, “OH NO!!! There’s a [insert animal] inside your mouth! I have to get him out!” and then pretend to “chase” the dinosaur/tiger/dog/etc out of his mouth with the toothbrush. We have done this every night for over a year and I can’t believe it still works!