How I Finally Got Yuri to Brush his Teeth (Without Manhandling Him)

While many advice mothers to start brushing their children's teeth as early as 6 months old, I didn't start shopping for a toothbrush and a toothpaste until Yuri turned 1.

Well, because he got his first tooth a week before that.

He refused the finger-brush flatly and wouldn't open his mouth at all. It was a good thing I discovered this chew-brush from Tiny Buds because Yuri took a liking to it. It became a teether-slash-brush of some sort. I didn't care. It did the job.

Yuri was just 18 months old here

Until he finally outgrew the chew-brush.

It wasn't as if he didn't like it anymore. It also wasn't as if the chew-brush wasn't usable anymore. In fact, since it was entirely made up of silicon, it didn't "dull out" like a regular toothbrush does and I didn't see the need for a replacement.

It's just Yuri was getting his teeth too fast. From being a toothless baby for so long, he was now a toddler with an almost complete set of chompers. I think he was around 20 months then.

And so began the search for a "toddler-brush." I first got something like this:

Photo: www.coroflot.com

I made the mistake of sterilizing it (because I did the same with the chew-brush). The result? Its bristles became very brittle.

I didn't realize it at first, though, and tried to get Yuri to use it. He obediently did until he spat out what I think were three bristles. Poor kid!

I think that sparked his passionate hatred of tooth-brushing. After that, he began resisting the toothbrush.

Because of the fear of his teeth becoming prematurely damaged, I had to use the chew-brush again. Expecting it to work its magic, I was surprised when I gave it to Yuri. He threw a fit.

I bought him another toddler toothbrush. He wouldn't go near it. He threw a fit. And he threw the brush away.

For fear of Yuri becoming toothless again, every night, we had wrestling matches. I had to hold Yuri's face and force him to open his mouth. Oh yes, I wasn't kidding when I wrote "manhandle." It's a good thing he doesn't remember it now... or I hope so.

(And, yes, just every night. Imagine the buckets of tears that would be shed if I even attempted to brush his teeth twice every day.)

I did all the tricks I could think of (actually, got from Google). I sang songs. I let him see me brush my teeth. We try to brush teeth together (never worked). I tried to play games and spot invisible chocolate men in his teeth.

They never worked for us and so I always had to result to plain old manhandling. Santong paspasan kung baga.

Until his last toddler brush had to be replaced and, to be practical, I decided to just buy a kiddie brush worth less than P50.

I swear, you got to wear sunglasses because I'm so brilliant.

It turns out that after all those nights of me sitting him on the sink to watch me brush my teeth, all he wanted was his own toothbrush that looked like ours!

Just this? Yup!

No flashing lights, no timers, no cartoon characters or fancy holders. No, all this kid of mine wanted was his own (albeit smaller) version of a Colgate or an Oral-B. That's right. A drugstore toothbrush. Who knew?

So who's complicated now, huh?

After that epiphany, I barely have any trouble with toothbrush time anymore. Sure there are days when he just doesn't like doing anything except play, but those are very rare. He knows the routine and loves it. I smear a very little amount of fluoride-free* toothpaste on his brush and give it to him. He now knows how to brush his molars in the sides! And he would get upset whenever toothbrush time ends.

He's brushing using his old toothbrush here which he had to use after the unfortunate incident below... (Excuse the mess; the siblings were crashing)

We don't have that heaven-sent Colgate toothbrush anymore because my sister accidentally touched it - with her foot. Erm. For a week, I had to use one of his old brushes and, as expected, the rebellion returned. He kept looking for his "dinosaur toothbrush."

I finally replaced it after a week. I wasn't able to buy an exactly the same brush, but Yuri didn't care. Coincidentally, the grandparents also bought one. So now, he has two brushes that he uses at the same time. Go figure!

Two toothbrushes and two kinds of toothpaste. Go figure!

How I wish I had thought of thus very simple solution before! I could've saved my energy wrestling for something more productive like, let's say, resting! Hee hee

If you're having trouble with toddler toothbrush-time, I knooow how it feels. I sincerely hope this tip will help you!

*Yuri is now 2 but still uses this fluoride-free toothpaste. I bought him one with minimal fluoride last month and we used it for weeks until I finally gave up on the hope that he's ever going to spit it out. Asking him to spit the paste out is akin to asking him to spit chocolate he has just eaten. So we're back to the baby-paste so that I wouldn't get stressed each time he eats toothpaste from the tube...