Top Tips to encourage Toddler Toothbrushing
Getting a toddler to do anything at the best of times can be a challenge, especially brushing their teeth! By this point, the majority of their teeth will have come in so here are a few top tips on how to encourage brushing with them:
• Play the copycat: clean your teeth first and let them copy you. Show them how you brush with small circular movements, rather than side to side.
• Choose a time when they are calm, ie just before their bubble bath whilst the tub is filling up.
• Create an activity/habit out of it – e.g. have a small stool stool to keep near the sink – they have to sit on it every day and brush their teeth – that will take the focus away from solely brushing.
• Share books that involve teeth cleaning stories, such as “Peppa Pig’s dentist trip”
• Get into the habit of using ‘when’ and ‘then.’ For example, “when you have cleaned your teeth, then we can have a cuddle and a story in bed”.
• When starting, find nice toothpaste which tastes good. You can then mix the real toothpaste with the nice toothpaste as they get older
• Start early! The sooner they get used to it, the easier it will be. They will still go through periods where they don’t want to do it, but it’ll be easier to encourage them back to it if they are used to it.
We hope this helped, remember be consistent and persevere. Here are some useful products that may also help! Check them out.
