Getting our one year old to brush her teeth is an awful experience - what are we doing..

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noseyparker4

New member
...wrong here? When we brush our toddler's teeth, she does not like it. She shuts her mouth tight. At first we tried just giving her the brush and letting her brush her teeth herself but she was of course not doing it properly, just gnawing at the bristles with her molar area and not getting at the only teeth she has in the front.

At this point, she screams, and the only way to brush her teeth is to put two fingers in through the side to wedge her mouth open so that I can quickly brush her seven little teeth. It is terrible and I hate it and so does she but I feel like I have to brush her teeth so she doesn't have cavities.

Is this what everyone does? This just seems crazy and I feel like she is going to hate brushing her teeth forever if things continue this way.
 
What are you doing wrong? You are forcing her to do it and making her hate it!

With my children, we gave them one of the teething toothbrushes when they started to get their first tooth. In the evening, before bedtime, we would go to the bathroom and rub in around in their mouths. As teeth started to pop through, we moved to the real tooth brush and a tiny amount of kids paste. First we would brush the teeth for a minute the right way and after that, we let them "brush". Like you said, its not like they do it the right way, but after you brush them even for a few seconds, then let them do it, they eventually get the point. Your daughter is only one. Unless you are feeding her sugar, she would be fine without brushing at all. It is good to start healthy dental habits early but it sounds to me like you have given her a fear of teeth brushing. My suggestion would be to leave it alone for a few weeks. (At bedtime just make her take a drink of water to rinse her mouth out) Then, slowly introduce the toothbrush again. Let her watch you brush yours, let her brush a baby dolls teeth, show her how fun it is, let her do it on her own and then you finish so you know they are clean. Dont force her though.
 
when i was young i had great tasting toothpaste and the cap sung a song telling me how long to brush for.. it just made teeth brushing more fun.
 
Um....forcing your way into her mouth is only going to make her hate it more. She's only a year old remember. Now next time just but some toothpaste on the brush and let her go at it even if she doesn't do it right you have to know that just like everything else she has to LEARN. SO! Do your own toothbrushing with her and she'll watch you and learn from it. It will take some time.
Even if she doesn't do it right, the paste is still getting in her mouth and cleaning her teeth. It's not like she's gonna get a cavity the moment she misses a tooth. Give it time and patients.
 
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