Toddlers' and Brushing Teeth

Just keep making her do it! It's probably the age, and not that she isn't OK with brushing her teeth. She's trying to assert her independence, and "I don't want to" is a big part of their thinking right now ;) She'll get over it!!! If she knows "No" isn't an option, she'll eventually accept it.

What does she like? ie: at that age, I told my son that the robot had to brush his teeth. I pretended to click a robot button on the toothbrush and all of a sudden the 'toothbrush was talking!' In a robot voice: "Brush top teeth. Ding! Done. Spit. Brush bottom teeth. Ding! Spit. Must brush teeth once more. Ding! Spit. Done. Teeth cleaning complete."

Maybe her My Little Pony needs to have a soft voice that says something like "Oh dear Sarah. Let me take a look inside your mouth! Oh dear. There are itty bitty pony germs that I must clean out! Let me use my beautiful mane to clean them...." I bet you'll get a giggle. :)

Good luck.

I have read, and heard confirmed by my friend who's an orthodontist, that you should brush your children's teeth for them until they are five. I think by the later years it may be more monitoring, but if your daughter is anything like mine, her idea of brushing is putting on the toothpaste herself (or trying) and chewing on the brush. I brush mine with her. After she has her turn, I get another toothbrush (that hasn't been destroyed by her methods!), a character one that lights up for the recommended minute, and sit on the floor with her in front of a mirror, and as I brush I sing the 'Brusha-brusha' song. (I made it up; basically improv about brushing to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). Most of the time she sits well for it, especially if I've let her brush first, but even when she fusses it's not too bad. Heck, when she yells it makes it easier to reach the teeth! It's just too important an issue to let this one go, in my opinion.
Good luck!

Get her a new toothbrush and toothpaste. They get bored of it very quickly. Its a job. So I change it every month or so, they are happy with that. ;)

Make it a GROUP event, if there are any siblings have the child watch them BRUSH as well as the Adults. Try having the child eye level to you, such as placing them on the toilet seat cover or the bathroom cabinet. Ask your DENTIST if the have a different sample toothpaste to try, or buy different flavor toothpaste. Let them brush their own teeth FIRST, then follow up by your own BRUSHING. Call pedodontists in your area and ask them this question, many of them have an initial NO cost or LOW cost FIRST time visit FEE!

Ah yes, little Ms. Independence. If it's not her idea than it doesn't exist :-O. My 18-month-old is going through the same thing. I try not to make an issue of it but simply leave the toothbrush within her reach and then proceed with brushing mine. That will usually get her to perk up and want to imitate. Even on the difficult nights, I don't push but instead go for consistency. The toothbrush will appear nightly and mommy will brush her teeth at the same time.

Good luck.

Isn't independence wonderful? We pray for our children to develop it, but never consider how they'll use it against us, lol!!

My guy (2.5 in a few weeks) is all into "I do it!" about everything these days, so how we handle the tooth brushing is I do mine at the same time and he follows with his brush on his own teeth. He does need to learn to do it himself and is doing a great job so I'm happy, if not needed ; )

I use to brush my teeth with my son when he was that age. He loved watching me do it and so he would do it too. After a while he would tell me mommy it's time to brush my teeth and no mommy I can do it. Give it some time. Brush together. Make it a little game to see how clean she can get her teeth. Good luck.

We bought my daughter an electric character toothbrush and that made brushing fun for awhile. Also it helps if we all brush together. If she see's me & my husband brushing she will happily join in. Good luck.

Tell her that if she doesn't brush she'll get holes in her teeth and getting cavities/fillings is no fun. Put the fear into her. Maybe even show her your or your husbands cavities to show her the reality of it all. Good luck.

Let her brush your teeth. Brush as a family. Make it a game.

There were still times I had to lay DD on the floor and kneel over her to get it done, but hey, a screaming mouth is an open mouth.

DD now loves to brush her own teeth and we "double check". We say "AAAHHH" for the back teeth and "EEEE" for the front ones. Sometimes she picks a song for us to sing to her (Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle).

We praised her any time she let us do it for her. She's also seen the Yo Gabba Gabba episode where they had to brush off the yucky germs and other kiddie shows where they talked about teeth.