Tips for brushing teeth?

You can see how old my boys are per my ticker. Going by their adjusted age which is what I do for most everything, how did you manage brushing teeth at this age? Right now, it's a battle. I have the finger brushes and neither DS wants to let me in his mouth and when they do, it's only if they're holding my hand with both of their hands and allowing me to brush the bottom a little. I don't know what it is with the top teeth, but they don't let me near them! I end up having to have DH help me hold their hands so I can get in there. They dislike this, of course, so I'm afraid they are going to start becoming even more difficult about it. Oh, and they bite me.
Any tricks for making this easier? And, how often did you brush at this age (both boys have 4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth)?
Thanks!

 

Around that age I bought toddler toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was a big novelty for them so they let me do it. We've had ups and downs with it since then, but they usually like to get their teeth brushed... and bonus, I don't get bit!

 

We also got the toothbrushes and toddler paste at that age and they let us do it for the most part. I'm actually a dental hygienist and something we tell parents to use if they still won't let you is the head in lap technique. Sit facing DH (or whoever can help), knee to knee. Put the baby in your lap facing you, and lay baby's head in DH's lap. You hold his arms and DH should be able to get in there and brush, at least some. Or of course you can brush and DH can hold arms, whatever is easiest. Just do the best you can. I hope that makes sense! It's hard to put into words without a visual lol.

 

Okay, that's what I'll do. I'll get the toddler brushes/paste and I'll use your technique, dreamer. Sounds easier already! Thanks for the tips.

 

We use the toddler brush and paste as well. I had the exact same problem, now I let them brush their teeth first and then "help" them b/f I take the brush away. I stand them up in their cribs and they think it's hilarious to watch each other brush their teeth. I think once they realized it could be fun and not traumatic they warmed up to the idea

 

When we switched to the toddler toothbrushes around 12 months, we got 2 extra. We found that if we let them hold one and brush with the other, they don't fight it. I sit on the toilet and have a baby in my lap and then switch. They also really like to drink water out of a regular cup so that is the treat at the end. We brush once a day. Our dentist told us we should be doing it twice a day but we keep forgetting to do it in the AM.

 

We also started out with letting them hold a toothbrush, while we brushed their teeth. We also sing songs to them while we brush their teeth and as they got a little older, we let them do it themselves and then say, now it's Mommy or Daddy's turn.