u/Desperate_Yam88

My 23 month old will not brush his teeth himself. He just sucks the toothpaste off and says ‘all done’. I’ve tried everything - games, Ms Rachel, teddies, doing it with him. The only way to do it properly is to pin him down and do it myself. My husband and I do try make it ‘fun’ with a tickle game but now he knows it’s coming and now just cries/screams the entire time. My husband is saying that we shouldn’t be using force to brush his teeth as it could reinforcing negative behaviour of violence and really upsets him just before bed. He doesn’t want to hold him down anymore but instead wants to keep trying to get him to brush them properly himself using more gentle techniques (none of which have worked so fair). I just don’t want my son to get cavities. What should we do?