2 year teeth brushing

[Anonymous]

What does brushing your 2 yr old's teeth look like in your house? Mine will not sit still, attempts to grab the toothbrush out of my hands constantly, closes his mouth so I feel like I'm only really brushing his teeth for like 2-3 seconds max! Any tips welcomed please

[Anonymous]

What worked for me was telling her that I had to check for animals in her teeth. Then looking and excitedly exclaiming that I saw a hippo! *brushbrush* and a giraffe! *brushbrush* and a monkey in the back! *brushbrush*. Worked like a charm.

[Anonymous]

Mine threw up every time I brushed her teeth more than 15 seconds until about 2.

We let her “win” but settled for just the toothbrush in the mouth w toothpaste everyday. Our current dentist said getting toothpaste on the teeth was almost as important as getting food off, so sometimes we just put toothpaste on her back molars (the gaggiest spot) w our fingers.

She’s just turned three and we do the ABCs twice through so prob 30-45 secs. Our first dentist said if we weren’t getting 2 full minutes in twice a day we had to change what we did. I was not dealing with kid vomit everyday, no way.

Knock on wood no cavities, but the song she recognizes (and knowing it’s short etc) plus finding a toothpaste she likes (hello strawb w fluoride) helped. And skipping the back molars if she’s sniffly/gags, but luckily we outgrew that.

[Anonymous]

At that age I had him lay down and I sat by his head basically securing his face so I could brush. It was a trick I saw on Instagram.

[Anonymous]

I also had my daughter lay down with her head between my legs. I used my legs to pin down her arms if needed. She didn’t like it but usually didn’t fight too hard, and over fast.