my 2 yr old son hates having his teeth brushed!

becoming a battle ground!

have tried everything from musical toothbrushes to showing him endlessly myself, not much seems to be working!

never used to have this problem with him when he was small any ideas???

We let cole do his own teeth - which i know isn't ideal but its not easy pinning him down to clean his teeth and we don't want to put him off all together. Some times he scrubs well, sometimes not, and more often than not we end up cleaningour teeth at the same time as him, making funny nosies and trying to get him to copy us.

Lately though - he's loving the bath crayons we bought him so we tell him no teeth cleaning, no crayons. it sort of works!

Just a thought - have you tried a different flavour toothpaste?

This seems to be a phase they do go through for some reason. Reiss is starting all ready at 15months old agh.

With my 5 year old, I literally had to pin him down and do them. I had to wrap him in a bath towel and hold him really tight if he wouldn't let me, Eventually he got to the point where he realised that he oould have his teeth cleaned sitting nicely or he could have them done being pinned down, but he WAS getting them cleaned lol. After that little phase he was absolutely fine and moved on to the next battle ground lol.

Probably didn't help in that I'm a bit harsh, but it's the only advice I've got personally if all else fails!xx

Bath towel wrapping. Awesome idea!! I don't know why I never thought about it cause thats what I have done with the cat before now for medicine.

how old was your 5yo when you did that? I'm wondering if it could help when we have to give cole his inhaler - he hates it and fights it.

thanks!

have tried different toothpaste think i may have to persevere!

i do let him do it himself but its in and out of his mouth in two seconds and then he tells me its 'gone' and tries to hide it

i also do the bath towel thing with my cat! ha ha

i have pinned him down and made him before after a few days of flat out refusal, maybe i just need to do that till he realises he lets me or nothing!

either that or his teeth rot!

tell me does anyone no the age im supposed to start taking him to the dentist? ive been told 3 yrs and only before that if theres a problem?

Hi Kia!

Jules was about 18months-2years when he started kicking up about it. It did last a good couple of months but when he got nearer to 2 and understood a bit more, he realised it was going to get done, either upside down and under my armpit or by his own volition lol.

pmsl at the cats being wrapped in a towel!

Be prepared btw for the teeth clenching together - they will learn that even after being pinned down they can clamp their teeth so you can't get in lol. Wait for a bit til they start screaming to be free and then attack lol! How heartless do I sound?!xx

xemx - my dentist said that they wouldn't want to see cole till he was ummm I think he said over 2, but he said I was to bring him to appointments so he'd get usedt o it. Took him when he was 9 months and he just sat and watched, took him again at 18 months and the new dentist had him sit on my knee after watching me and she (miraculously!) got him to open his mouth and she had a quick peek in and said his teeth were fine and he should come back with me in 6 months. He got a sticker so he was happy lol

Check with your dentist - they should be able to tell you.

Karen I'm hoping as cole gets older he'll understand the inhaler more. Another fight tonight so I'm wondering about wrapping him - he wiggles so much its a 2 person job to hold him down and hold the mask over him. I hate hate hate having ot do it.

But..the cat thing - its better than getting clawed to death!! Although my cat is pretty good about tablets - one person to hold her, the other throws it down her throat and she's fine. She was however unimpressed at the thermometer up the bum at the vets on saturday... she did try and claw her way over my shoulder poor thing

And no..you don't sound heartless - its important to take care of their teeth - cole actually does an ok job with his teeth half the time so we leave it as that so as not to have fights as the dentist said his teeth were fine, plus id on't want an inhaler and toothbrushing fight..that would suck

Or just do the inhaler and teeth fight at the same time lol!

I think I replied to you somewhere actually about the inhaler as Jules used to have one regularly (I sound like a right know it all don't I?!) Is it a neb or spacer he has? We used to let Jules push the salbutamol himself (with help obv cos it's too hard) and give it to teddy first all by himself and used to make a whole big scenario about teddy being naughty and not having it etc etc. It used to make him laugh and would make him sit still for that fraction of a nano second longer to get a bit more down him. It is tough though and I think it's a bit scary for them too cos it's over their little faces. Poor you, I sympathise.xx

Its the spacer one. I have no idea what a nebuliser is. He can manage to push the actual inhaler so the stuff comes out - in fact we can't let him play with it any more cause he jsut squirts it. He likes that bit, he'll hold it over his face, he'll hold it over our faces, the cats face, his toys face etc etc. We've tried distractions,b ribary, nothing really works..he hates it and i don't blame him tbh - he doesnt knwo why we are doing it. I'm just hoping that as he gets older it'll get easier.

Charlotte started to be like this at about 16 months (is 20 now). She likes to brush her own teeth and does a good job really but we always finish off as she hardly ever does her back teeth.

Charlotte has been to the dentist twice! Was told by our dentist he would want to see her from 6 months, and she had 2 teeth then. It's more to get her used to going there. He has looked in her mouth (just about) and recommends various things to us. All dentist are different though, but I'm really glad she's been seen early.

funny how different areas say different things. I registered lo at dentist at 6months but they won't see him until he's at least 3??!!! FTF??
Now this really concerns me as I had to have all my milk teeth removed at 4 as they turned bad and went black, and the same has happened to all my sisters kids too, its some sort of hereditary disease. the adult teeth came through a few years later with no issues but I got really picked on at first school cause I had no teeth!!
I've explained this to dentist but they still won't see him!!!

as for teeth brushing, Shea has been like this since about 12months and he's two in a fortnight. I have a lot more success if I let him brush them himself and I stand in front of him and brush mine at the same time. then he'll copy what i'm doing
not ideal but its better than nothing and I don't want to force a brush in his mouth and make him freak out