Brushing a 14 Month Old's Teeth!

my son's dentist told us at this age just to let them brush their teeth with water. so let her have a tooth brush and put her up to the sink and let her have fun. we went thru tons of tooth brushes because my son would chew on them. but now at the age of 6 he has no problems brushing his teeth!!!!

Hi,
We bought our son (20 months old) a little brush by Oral B. I believe it's for the 6-24 mo age level. In the aisle by the toothbrushes and toothpastes, they have several brands of toothpaste for little ones. My son LOVES Thomas the Train, so we bought the toothpaste with Thomas on it. I tried it, and it's very sweet, but he seems to like it! When I brush my teeth in the morning, he also brushes his. We have a step stool that he sits on and brushes along w/ me. At night, brushing is part of his bedtime routine. He doesn't do the best job, so I usually ask him to say "ahh" and then do a bit of brushing myself. He only tolerates this from me for about 30 secs though! Good luck!

We had to hold our youngest down. I would sit on the floor with my legs spread, lay him down with his head closest to me, and pin his arms down with my legs. It sounds cruel, but he was not being hurt and it was the ONLY way I could get the job done (we tried everything else we could think of). Toddlers are so squirmy and stronger than they look! We always let him have a turn when we were done.
He's 2 now and is much better about letting us brush, but he still likes to have his turn to do it himself.

I have been brushing my sons teeth since he was 6 months old 9now 10.5 months) around 9 months he decided he no longer like having them brushed. We put the finger brush over the end of an adult toothbrush and let him start to brush his own teeth. once he was calmed down we would help him a little at a time so he didn't get worked up, then let him finish out on his own. If she feels like she is the one controlling it maybe she will be more receptive to brushing her teeth.

Hi T.,

My son is 13 months old, and he uses a little kid toothbrush w/a handle, and not one of the finger brushes. We put him in front of the mirror so he can see what's going on, and we let him "brush" his own teeth first. This usually involves him just chewing on the brush and sort of haphazardly moving it around. After a minute or two, I gently the grab the toothbrush and finish the job.

We do use toothpaste that does not have fluoride in it. We use Nature's Gate Creme De Anise toothpaste. Anise is in black licorice, so it has a very, very mild black licorice taste. (No added sugars.) You could experiment with different toothpastes to see if that helps. Many of the brands geared towards little kids are disgusting; *any* toothpaste w/out fluoride will do at this age, and there are many on the market.

One thought I had was if your daughter might teething now?

I have had the same problem with my son since I started brushing his teeth, and when I asked our dentist for advice, believe it or not he said to just restrain him. He described how he did it with his own kids--sit them on your lap, put one leg over their legs, hold their head and body still with one arm, and brush away! I was concerned that this might be traumatic and turn him off tooth-brushing completely, but he assured me it would be fine. Now after months of doing this, my son is much better about it. And when he does fuss, it's easier to get at the teeth :-)

Try using a regular toothbrush with a handle. We switched to one and now my daughter loves to brush her teeth.

I have a 14 month old too and I stopped using the finger brush because she'd bite me and that hurts. I started using a soft bristle tooth brush. She doesn't like it but lets me brush her teeth if I give her somethign to play with. I sometimes have to wedge my way in but I don't give up when she won't let me in there as I know how important it is to brush their teeth to avoid problems later on. Therefore, try using a small toothbrush instead and distract her when you brush her teeth. Good luck - it is a challenge.

Something that has worked for us is to let our son know that we will start and he can finish. Also, we went out and bought him a toddler toothbrush.

Hi T.! I have a 17 month old daughter with 12 teeth, and we have been brushing her teeth with a very soft-bristled toothbrush and training gel ever since her first two came in. I just sit her on the bathroom counter and say "Aaahh", and she copies me. It's to the point that I don't even have to do it anymore - she knows to open up for the toothbrush. =) I know I'm probably one of the lucky ones, but I've heard that it helps if you buy a toothbrush that has their favorite character - Dora, Elmo, ect. That apparently gets them more interested in the brushing. If she seems ready, you could even let her give it a try on her own before you follow up to go over any spots she misses. Good luck!

T., my son is 21 months now, but we switched from the finger toothbrush a long time ago. He uses a small toddler toothbrush now and he's usually pretty good about brushing, but sometimes he's not interested so I just ask him if he wants to do it and he opens right up and starts chewing and moving the brush a little bit. Then I grab his hand and help so he actually hits some of the teeth and let him finish up on his own. He has no problem with it as long as he's in control.

My son is 16months and doing the same thing, try getting a real brush for her, and try to make it fun. But I have started laying him down in my lap to get them brushed. He crys but gets over it quick.

My kids both bit us, painfully, when we used that finger brush, and since our kids both had all their teeth (minus 2 yr molars) when they turned 1, so we switched them to a tiny baby brush that didn't involve sticking our fingers in their mouths. They also have liked it since it involves mom or dad brushing for a little, but then THEY could brush and gnaw on the toothbrush. There are worse teethers!