Toddler Won't Brush Teeth - New York,NY

Well it's not up to her if she brushes her teeth or not, it's up to you. It's non-negotiable and she has to do it. You should still be doing it for them at that age anyways.

If you are seeing problems in her teeth already, that's a huge red flag for me, and should be for you as well. Too bad if she doesn't like it, it has to get done.

Is she not letting YOU brush or not doing it herself? Maybe her sister can "help" her? Maybe it's a sensory thing...

My son is 6, and I brush his teeth. He's autistic, verbal and stuff, but has some sensory issues. I was feeling like a bad mom for being the primary brusher UNTIL we went to the dentist and he was extremely happy with the condition of son's teeth. Dentist's attitude was it's best for parents to brush. Kid will eventually take over, but parents should brush at least till kid is hitting first grade.

I buy Toms of Maine Kids Strawberry toothpaste. The "traditional" brands are just too strong flavor-wise.

If she won't brush them, you hold her little bottom jaw in your hand and brush them for her. Like taking a bath, that's not one they get to say no to.

Yes, You hold her head (which will make her mad), wait for her to cry or open her mouth, and then brush as fast as you can. lol Once she figures out that her teeth are going to be get brushed regardless, she'll start doing it herself. Trust me on that one.

Why does your two-year old get to decide? It sounds like you could be setting yourself up for years of battles with a strong-willed child. My advice is to be the parent and tell her you are brushing her teeth, end of discussion. She is too young to reason with and throwing things should never be tolerated.

Babies, toddlers and kids up to about 8 yrs old do not have the manual dexterity to brush their own teeth very well - they never do a good job of it.
You have to do it for them or do it again after they play at doing it.
Brushing teeth is not negotiable.
It has to be done once in the morning and once before bedtime.
Dealing with it now and getting it to be a habit will save her lots of time getting cavities filled at the dentists office later on.
You brush her teeth even if you have to hold her down to get it done.
You should be flossing their teeth too.

I am assuming that she is fighting you brushing her teeth? Kids do not have the dexterity at two to brush their own teeth. Most kids don't have the skills to do it on their own until about 8. So hopefully, you are the one doing the brushing for both kiddos. A minimum of two minutes for each kid.

This falls under the category of it not being up to the two year old. This is a non negotiable, because it puts her health at risk.

Both of my kids went through periods of fighting tooth brushing. Like you, we tried lots of pastes and brushes. Nothing really worked. Finally I bought a light up tooth brush. If we let my son hold it while it was lit, he would let us brush his teeth without fighting. If he began to wiggle, turn away or avoid the process, he lost the light up brush to hold. For him, that worked like a charm.

Unfortunately for our daughter, we really couldn't find anything that worked. We finally had to resort to holding her down to get it done. NOT fun, but I think we tried EVERYTHING else. Fortunately, we only had to do it a few times before she learned this was a non negotiable thing. She started "agreeing" to teeth brushing a little more. In the beginning she just chewed on the brush and we didn't push it. It was success for her. Then we started to brush more and more. She's 4 now. She still hate "spicy toothpaste" (i.e. anything mint), but fortunately there are many options out there and we no longer have a fight on our hands.

I have to literally wrestle my 2 year old to get it done. Some day he'll be at the point where he'll be cooperative, but he's not there yet.

Brush her teeth for her, until she is mature enough to do it herself.

At 20 months you should be brushing her teeth for her anyway. I always let my boys brush their own teeth, for practice, but then I would re-brush them after. She will eventually do it herself, but until she shows interest you will be doing it so her teeth will be fine.

Brush her teeth for her. Problem solved. If she doesn't like it, just tell her that you won't need to do it when she does it herself. My guess is that a 2 year old is not going to do the greatest job. My son is six and he will sort of rush his way through it in the morning, but my husband and I still do the evening toothbrushing to make sure he gets a thorough cleaning once a day.

You'll have to have a standoff. Shut the bathroom door, sit in front of it, and tell her she's not leaving the bathroom until she brushes her teeth. Ensure that there's nothing entertaining in there for her.

Bring a book. Look bored. And every once in a while, say something like, "after you've brushed your teeth, Daddy can read you a bedtime story." Or whatever you'd normally do next that she'd be looking forward to.

Don't back down and don't give in.

I don't get how she can refuse. Is she bigger than you?

Sit her down on your lap and hold her mouth in one hand and brush her teeth with the other. Eventually she'll do it on her own, but it seems like she's too young. This is more about a battle of wills than teeth brushing. Show her you're the boss, and that teeth-brushing isn't an option.

My 2 year old likes to brush her own teeth, but I know that she needs me to do it as well. We do " Jillian's Turn, Mommy's Turn"

Sometimes we roll play. She is into animal noises, so I will say, "Puppy! I need to brush your puppy teeth!" She will "woof" , then I brush. Then we might do a lion, or a kitty. Maybe if you do this "game": with her sister then she will want to get in on the fun, too?

Good luck!!!

We pay ours a nickel per brushing. Now he does it on his own and loves it - no payment required.

Try Spiffies teeth wipes.
http://www.spiffies.com/

I even use it myself at times. If you can't get home to brush your teeth.

I used this with my kids when they were younger.

I'm assuming she's not expected to brush her teeth by herself, she's much too young to do a decent job of it. My son is just over 2 as well, he doesn't always want to cooperate, but does much better when we have him "help" by putting our hands over his on the toothbrush. I've also gotten him in the habit of brushing his teeth right after meals while he's still in the high chair, he can't run away or be super mobile. Since he's probably almost old enough to learn to use real toothpaste we will probably be moving to the bathroom soon, but it works for us for now. Stand your ground, you don't want her to end up needing dental work at an early age! I've also seen people suggest using an electric toothbrush that vibrates, although I'm not sure if mine would like that or not.

Much too young. Our dentist says to brush their teeth for them through to the 8th birthday. If she has a sensory issue, you can carefully clean her teeth, gums, and tongue with a washcloth and baby toothpaste until you get that sorted out.

Stop making it a battle. Let her not brush for a few days. If she's not drinking soda, if her juice is watered down, if she isnt sucking on a bottle all day or half the night, her teeth should be ok. Before bed and in the AM give her some slices of apples to clean her teeth. Buy a sparkling new toothbrush for her sister and ignore her. Bring her in the bathroom while sister brushes, give sister all the attention (such a big girl!) and dont even suggest she is old enough to brush as well.

electric tooth brush. also children should have their teeth brushed for them at this age. take the kid to a store to pick out her own tooth brush and paste.

Let her chew on it. It's not the toothpaste that does anything, it's just for flavor so you don't taste the goo that is coming off their teeth. It's the action of the brush on the teeth. If the pediatric dentist says she has problems then you'll have to hold her down and do it for her, if he says she's doing fine then don't worry so much.

Give the other twin a LOT of attention for doing this then the other twin nothing for not doing it. No reminders, no guiding her to do it, nothing at all. Ignore her during that time and make a big deal out of the other one brushing their teeth.

Doing something after brushing teeth is also a good learning time for the twin that won't brush. For instance, a friend had a teen that would not brush his teeth. So she had cake for breakfast one morning. She didn't let them have any though. After everyone was finished she told him that only the people who brushed their teeth that morning got to have cake. She found other things like this when he didn't brush so that he would figure out he didn't get rewards if he didn't brush his teeth. By showing the other twin attention for brushing you are reinforcing her being compliant.

Your one that will not brush their teeth will want that same attention and rewards.