How Does Your Toddler Brush Their Teeth?

Question

I don’t know about you, but we try to brush our toddlers teeth every morning and every night. It is a fight every dang time. If we let him do it himself, he chews on the brush just on his right side so his other teeth don’t even get touched with the bristles. We’ve showed him how, we’ve shown him kid videos encouraging teeth brushing to make it fun, we’ve tried letting him brush his stuffed animals teeth (which he had no interest in), we even let him pick out the dang toothbrush! My mom says that right now we should just be trying to make a habit out of brushing his teeth and showing him how it’s done, not necessarily truly brushing his teeth each time. I don’t think I agree with that. Any tips that has worked for your little ones?

Answer

Your Mum is right, Whitney. I’m a UK dentist & it can be hit & miss with our babe; we always let her have a go herself first (chewing & sucking) & then we have a go if she lets us twice a day. If she makes a fuss, we just leave it. No point making it a battle now, it’s just about habit-forming for now. When our lo’s reach 2/3 years old & are perhaps having more sugar in their diets, then the big guns come in! But for now, don’t stress xxx

Answer

We do it in the morning and at night during the diaper changes. Right now they just chew on it and suck the toothpaste but I'm not too worried. Before I put the tooth brushes up I do a couple fast brushes, they usually don't mind. They love brushing their teeth so I don't want to make it scary. When they can actually get the concept of brushing top and bottom I'll probably try enforcing proper brushing a bit more depending on their age. But for now its more for creating a healthy habit for us.

Answer

I let her do it and she just sucks on the brush. One trick that sometimes work for me is putting her in my lap and tilt her a little upside down. She loves going upside down and I can see her teeth better.

Answer

My daughter loves when her daddy brushes her teeth...me not so much.  I don’t know why

Answer

My son lobes brushing his teeth. If he sees one of us doing it, he HAS to do it too. I let him suck on it and "brush" them while I do mine and throw my hair up, then I brush them. Sometimes it's a struggle to do it, but not as much if I make him laugh while I'm doing it

Answer

I think you’re doing a good job! My daughter loves to brush her teeth but like your son she just kind of chews/sucks on it. Then when I try and brush them she literally just yells “ahhhh” as loud as she can the whole time. She only has 5 teeth, but I think it’s important to let her know from now on this is going to happen every morning and every night for the rest of your life

Answer

I do it for him. It I let him do it himself, he'd just chew on the toothbrush and accomplish nothing. It used to be difficult, but I've discovered that if I sit him in front of the mirror, he enjoys brushing his teeth. We brush twice a day and he tends to chomp down on the toothbrush a lot. I've heard of mothers flossing their baby's teeth at this age, but there's no way I could do it with my son. He just wouldn't understand to keep his mouth open wide enough for a long enough time for me to floss him. I've heard of electric toothbrushes with lights being a good way to get toddlers to accept toothbrushes. My sister has to use one for my niece.

Answer

He has 2 toothbrushes. He does it once with one, I go over it again properly then he does it again. Anywhere from 1-6 times a day (this kid is weird). My older two 5 and 6 are the same. They brush and I go over it again to make sure no soots were missed.

Answer

my daughter used to fight us to brush it so I used to let her do it and if just show her how I brushed my teeth. Now she lets me do it, I don't use anything right now just water. It's just getting in the habit really and oh I also floss her teeth once a day. I don't really get much done but you know just want her to have good dental hygiene.

How Does Your Toddler Brush Their Teeth?

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