I’m talking about proper brushing, not just sucking the toothbrush.
It occurred to me this morning, as I held our kid in a headlock and tried to prise open his mouth with the toothbrush, that this might not be the best method for teaching happy toothbrushing time. He’s only 1 and a half - but the dentist made a point of saying he should be brushing every day when I brought him in for a check of his teeth. He’s not got the hang of it at all - too young to expect a proper brush of the teeth?
When our son was about your kid’s age, we began giving him the brush, which he would mostly chew and suck on, then we’d go over his teeth again. We made sure to praise him when he held the brush correctly, even if it was for a couple of seconds, and noted what a big boy he was for doing it on his own.
At about 2 and a half, we started using toothpaste (we waited until we could trust him not to eat it). Now, at 3 and a half, he’s pretty good at brushing by himself, but he doesn’t like to do it, so we have to threaten to do it ourselves, which always works. If he’s missed a couple of spots, we’ll take a turn, but he’s pretty coordinated and knows he’s not leaving the bathroom until all his teeth are clean.
It’s not exactly the happiest time and we do unfortunately have to threaten to take over about 2-3 out of 5 times he brushes his teeth, but it’s getting easier because it’s slowly falling under the category of “just one of those things you do,” right up there with washing hands before meals and putting dishes in the dishwasher when you’re done with them.