Saturday, July 28, 2007

I'll brush your teeth if you'll brush mine


Blogger moms, I need parenting help. HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU BRUSH A TODDLER'S TEETH? Sometimes, it's a breeze. Tonight was a major battle of the wills. I finally told M that I would let her brush my teeth if she let me brush hers. Other than some major gagging on my part, that worked well tonight. Do you have any suggestions at all? I overheard a pediatric dental hygienist once say, "How hard can it be? You're the mother!" She's never seen my kid clamp her jaws shut so tight that I can't pry them open.

PS: I'm not choking my kid. She's so lightweight that she sways when I brush back and forth. I keep my hand on her shoulder to keep her steady. I never realized I put my thumb across her neck!

PS AGAIN: PLEASE go visit Slurping Life. Midnight tonight is the end of Love for Parker. You can check out Praying for Parker (http://www.prayingforparker.com/) to see all his medical needs. He's got a pretty major medical-team conference coming up, as well as a hospital stay. Tammy needs some serious mom support right now.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't remember how I did it. Sorry. I do still have to help Wil (due to CP) with brushing his teeth. He just doesn't do it well. But he's big and tough and giggles through the headlock. :)

I'm coming back when my house is quiet (maybe when you know what freezes, huh?) and read your poems.

And thank you for your ongoing support of little Parker.

Colleen @AMadisonMom said...

We try different things. Some days Zoe is really easy with the toothbrushing... other days it's a battle. We just keep trying new things. We've done the "you brush mine, I'll brush yours". We've had her brush her teeth in the bathtub. We've had her take turns brushing her teeth and then "brushing" her baby dolls teeth. Our latest success is because we bought a Dora spinning tooth brush. It seems to be magic for Zoe, and we're hoping it'll continue to work!

Good Luck!!!

Tammy and Parker said...

Thank you so much for your beautiful prayers for Parker.

Kyla said...

KayTar loves it. So I'm not much help. She especially loves the vibrating toothbrushes. Our problem is she likes to clamp down on them and ends up breaking the turning mechanisms.

Anonymous said...

You'd think after I have had 7 children, I'd know the answer to that question.. but alas.. nope. I still struggle trying to get the toddlers' teeth brushed.

Stacy said...

What I do is let them put their toothpaste on their brush and then they get to "brush" their teeth. Which is pretty much just them chewing on their brush. Then it is mommy's turn to brush their teeth and I get them good. AND then, they get their gummie vitamin when they are done brushing their teeth. It's all about INCENTIVE, hun. :)

Laura McIntyre said...

Helping each other looks like a good idea. We just make it a game , i always do mine to and we normally dance around singing the tooth brushing song (silly song we made up) . She loves doing her teething and copying mummy