How to get your toddler to brush his teeth

Is brushing your toddler's teeth a daily battle in your house? Do tantrums ensue every time you mention the word "toothbrush?" Do you even skip tooth-brushing because you can't stand the inevitable fight you have with your toddler? Here are some creative ways to encourage your child to like brushing teeth.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Let me first tell you my experience with my now two-and-a-half year old son. Teeth brushing was a daily struggle even when he was a baby and we'd use a wet washcloth to clean his teeth. He HATES having people poke around in his mouth! Needless to say, it got worse as his independence grew stronger. It got to the point where we were only brushing his teeth every other day just so we could avoid the battle. I consulted with my mom (I can't take all the credit for these ideas!) and together we came up with several creative ways to get my son to brush his teeth. Now I can happily say that after only a week or less of using these new techniques, he enjoyed brushing his teeth and now, over six months later, we almost never fight over brushing teeth!

2. I would first suggest that you take a break from brushing teeth. If you are at your wit's end with your child and he completely loses it at the first sight of the toothbrush, it's probably best to just stop. I'm not suggesting a long break (you don't want you toddler's teeth to get too neglected!) but a couple of days isn't going to hurt. This will give you both a chance to cool off.

3. During this break, you can prepare a special toothbrushing kit. The kit can be a fun box filled with several ways to encourage your toddler to brush his teeth. The first thing I would suggest including is a puppet with a mouth that opens and closes. Start by asking your child to brush the puppet's teeth. We got "Allie" the Alligator and my son loved him right from the start. We practiced brushing the front teeth and back teeth, top and bottom, by brushing Allie's teeth. Eventually we started having Allie "brush" our son's teeth. He never realized it was really just Mommy or Daddy doing the teethbrushing!

4. Another item to include in your toothbrushing kit is several new toothbrushes. Thankfully toddler toothbrushes come with all sorts of characters and objects on them and they are pretty cheap, too! If you offer your child four or five toothbrushes to choose from, he will be excited with the choices and it may be motivation enough to get him to brush his teeth. You can also look for children's electic tooothbrushes...our son loved his!

5. Another fun thing to add to the toothbrushing kit is one or two books about brushing teeth. At first my son would want to read one of the books every time we brushed teeth so we would use this as a reward for his cooperation. Now he doesn't need them but they are still fun to read!

6. Like I said, we implemented the toothbrushing kit into our toddler's daily routine and it was a hit! His attitude turned around completely in less than a week and now it's no longer a fight!

Tips & Warnings

• Try choosing your battles. If your toddler insists on brushing his teeth himself (but doesn't do a very good job!), let him brush in the morning and you brush his teeth at night.
• Make toothbrushing a family affair. If he sees Mom and Dad or even an older sibling brushing their teeth, it might be all the motivation he needs.
• Don't worry about using toothpaste. Our son just wanted to eat it which just prolonged the toothbrushing fight. As long as you are brushing effectively, his teeth should be fine without toothpaste for now.

[iamageniuster]

on 10/21/2008 Great article. Thanks for the tips. 5 stars!

[Ballzy]

on 9/27/2008 Great Information! 5*