How are you brushing your toddlers teeth?

With the tooth brushing song from Hey Duggee and letting her do it herself (obviously not perfect but it’s either she does it kind of or doesn’t let me at all 😂)

@Leanne omg that’s what I needed up doing today but with the Gracie’s Corner one. I literally sat there for about 20minutes until I was even a little bit satisfied with how she was brushing 😂

With difficulty 😂 it’s getting a little easier. She was refusing it altogether, so once she started letting me put the brush in, I’d keep going for as long as I could (even if it was only 10 seconds) and took it out when she started fighting it, and the time before she pushes it out is increasing. Probably not a dentist approved method but worked for us 😂 something is better than nothing. Also, if she sits on top of the laundry basket this also seems to help. No idea why!

I found with mine he liked to hold it and ‘brush’ himself, so I’d let him hold it for a minute himself then I would go in and help him. Worked wonders 😂 don’t ask about how he acts when I take it off him though 😂😂x

@Hannah Got you! Once you see the time increasing you know you’re doing something right. Sometimes I give up after a short time which is probably why we’re not getting anywhere, I need to hang in there!! 😭

@Chloe Yes! Izara is the same, she’d rather do it herself so I try my best to talk her through it then intervene. At the moment she can’t wait for me to put that toothbrush away LOL! But I imagine with time she’ll probably act just like your LO, they get so carried away 😂😂.

We get into his play pen and he sits between my legs and legs me do it. It's weird when he sees toothbrush and toothpaste he runs to the playpen and sits down waiting for me haha

Hey duggee toothbrushing song, allowing her to play with water from the tap or she likes to hold my toothbrush and brush mine at the same time, it’s taken a lot of screaming and tears but I feel we’ve turned a corner. Every single time I say “we brush our teeth twice a day, every single day” 🫠

I taught my little girl to open her mouth and say “ahhhh”. Now she does that every time she sees us coming with the toothbrush. Any time she closes her mouth with her toothbrush in there, I just say “ahhh” with my mouth open which she copies so I can brush a few more of her teeth before she closes it again… and repeat 😂. I also did things like “shall mummy brush her teeth” and then pretended and pretended with her baby doll too. She’s not perfect at having them cleaned but much better than before - it used to be a scream fest in our household too! X

Things we've done that may have helped - sing songs, have a few different types of toothbrush that we rotate when he seems to be getting bored/frustrated with one, do it at the same time as us so he copies, let him clean ours, brush his teddies/Ms Rachel doll's teeth. If he's in a resistant mood we just leave it on the side somewhere he can reach and he picks it up and does it himself when he's ready to. He likes to be in control 😂

This is the only way to do it! My little one now lies down, ready to get her teeth brushed when she realises it's time, she enjoys it! Before we were using this method, teeth time was dreadful! https://youtu.be/fPp5-6Z3gfM?si=20d7jhtM-BqI3RvW

@Tilly We've been trying this recently, it's a bit hit and miss, sometimes she protests too much but it is getting better. Also is really good for if you ever need to do eye drops too!

@Clare mine used to protest a lot too but after a couple months, she realised this was part of the routine and it wasnt going anywhere aha ... now she actively engages with it. We always sing nursery rhymes to make it fun and engaging for her, too!