teeth brushing help

[arial]

LO started sort of brushing his teeth two months ago.  He does it twice a day.  He has never really done a good job at it and I do not expect him to since he is so young.  He usually chews on the brush, and tries to brush my teeth.  When he plays with my brush, I try to brush his teeth the best he allows me.  Lately, he does not want me to help him brush and today, he has started to lose interest in brushing his teeth.  Anyone has any suggestions?  Thanks

[em_here]

We tried a fun toothbrush and nice strawberry toothpaste.  We have been lucky as my DS loves having his teeth brushed, but am sure it is down to the taste of the toothpaste as he says "Yummy!"

[Erin M]

We give it a time limit of sorts -- we'll tell dd that we need to brush her teeth until Mommy/Daddy counts to 20 and then we're done (supposed to be 30 seconds, but we count slowly).  When that gets old, I'll tell her we have to brush her teeth while Mommy sings a song (usually we let her pick, but it can just be whatever song your LO likes).  Most recently, we've been "Dora counting" -- otherwise known as counting in Spanish.  Whatever works, right?

[nwmm]

My husband started making a funny high pitch noise when we brush our lo teeth.  When she is tired, we then brush her lovey's teeth.  They take turns.

For what it is worth, my dentist said to make sure we (the adults) bruth their teeth.  The kids can take their turn as well, but he really stressed we were the ones to brush the teeth.

[Ryan&HollysMom]

we've been brushing our lo's teeth since he got them. yes, we started with two, are now at 7 teeth. my dh is a dentist, so i left it up to him. at first we always let him watch us brush our teeth, now sometimes he'll grab my brush and brush my teeth (or try to ...). we now brush his teeth 2-3 times a day (i sometimes forget after lunch). he has a kiddy brush and we just do a quick brush top and bottom, nothing serious. it's mainly still the thought that counts...    . he likes to lap up the water from the brush...
one thing he always stresses is that the parents brush the teeth. once the child starts brushing himself/herself, still brush again to make sure it's done properly. and don't use toothpaste til 2, and then only pea size amount and tell 'em not to swallow. it depends on the child when the parent doesn't have to do anything to help anymore.