Our daughter is almost 15 months and got her first teeth at about 10 months. We used to just use a wet wash cloth and wipe her two teeth and gums with it and it was hardly ever a problem. But now that she has more theeth I would like for her to get used to the teeth cleaning routine before bed. Sometimes we use a cloth still but most of the time we'll use her tooth brush. She screams and pushes it away from her face and it's of concern to me, because I don't want to make this a traumatic situation for her, especially not before bed time! We've tried different tooth brushes, special tooth paste for her, singing a song with it, brushing with her, making her "brush" her teeth during the day, the list goes on and on. It all works for a day or so and then we're back to the screaming :( She even threw up tonight because she was so worked up over it! It just breaks my heart when she gets that way, and I'm at a loss of what else to do. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,
Befer70

Thanks mcr, it's good to hear that your kid's teeth are healthy without having brushed them every single day! And you both are right, it isn't worth the fight, so I will just relax a bit but keep trying little by little. I know she'll eventually let me do it, she's a pretty good listener already! She wants to chew on the tooth brush whenever she sees us brushing our teeth, and I make a point to let her watch us, so that she sees that we do it as well. I guess we'll keep doing that for awhile :)

Thanks again!

Befer70

There's a song I made up when my first daughter was a baby and have used it with my other 2 children as toddlers. Not saying it works all the time, but it has helped to get in there somedays. Like the others said, I wouldn't fight it. Do what you can. The song is to the tune "Ten Little Indians"

Brush, brush, brush your teeth
Brush, brush, brush your teeth
Brush, brush, brush, your teeth
Brush them all day long.

One little, two little, three little teeth
Four little, fine little, six little teeth
Seven little, eight little, nine little teeth
Ten little teeth go CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP

I'm no song writer, obviously, but it worked. The always loved the chomp, chomp, chomp part.

Haha, that's VERY cute! Thanks sem, I've tried a song before and it makes her laugh, but will definitely add that one to my repertoire!

Befer70