If you have a toddler, you already know about the teeth brushing battle. If you don't have a toddler yet, let me prepare you: it is a nightly negotiation with someone who has no concept of dental hygiene, no interest in your reasoning, and a surprisingly powerful grip for someone who weighs twelve kilograms.
My daughter Rosie is two and a half. She is funny, affectionate, and absolutely certain that teeth brushing is something that happens to other children. For about four months, our bedtime routine included a solid three to five minutes of Rosie clamping her mouth shut, turning her head away, and occasionally crying as if I were doing something genuinely terrible rather than trying to prevent future cavities.
I tried everything. Different toothpastes. Letting her hold the brush herself. Brushing my own teeth at the same time to model the behaviour. A song. A timer. A reward chart. Some of these helped slightly. None of them solved it.
What I Was Actually Looking For
I'm a part-time occupational therapist in Cambridge, currently working three days a week while Rosie is at nursery. I approach most parenting challenges the way I approach clinical problems: methodically, with an evidence base where possible, and with the understanding that what works for one child won't necessarily work for another.
What I'd worked out about Rosie was that her resistance to teeth brushing was partly about control and partly about the toothbrush itself. The brush we'd been using was fine — soft bristles, appropriate size — but it was boring. It was a small white and blue thing with no particular character. Rosie is at the age where she has strong opinions about objects: which cup she uses, which plate, which spoon. The toothbrush had never been something she'd chosen or felt any ownership over.
I started looking for something she might actually want to pick up.
Why the Dr. Brown's Flamingo Toothbrush
The Dr. Brown's Toddler Toothbrush in Flamingo caught my attention for two reasons: the design and the practical details. Rosie is currently obsessed with flamingos — she has a flamingo on her bedroom wall, a flamingo on her water bottle, and she refers to the colour pink as "flamingo colour." A flamingo toothbrush was, I thought, at least worth trying.
But beyond the design, the product details were genuinely well-considered. The bristles are soft yet sturdy enough to withstand biting — which is relevant because Rosie's first instinct with any toothbrush is to bite it. The handle shape and material are designed for little fingers to grip, which matters when you're trying to encourage a toddler to hold it themselves. The suction cup base keeps it upright on the sink rather than rolling around or falling on the floor. And it's BPA-free, which for something going in a child's mouth daily is a baseline requirement. I ordered it the same evening.
The First Evening
It arrived the next day. I showed it to Rosie before bath time, without any preamble or build-up. I just held it out and said: "Look, a flamingo toothbrush."
She took it immediately. She looked at it for a moment. Then she said "flamingo" very seriously, walked to the bathroom, and stood at the sink.
I stood very still, not wanting to break whatever was happening.
She brushed her teeth. Not perfectly — she's two — but she opened her mouth, she let me help, and she didn't cry. When we finished she put the toothbrush on its suction cup base on the edge of the sink, which she did herself without being asked, and said "flamingo sleep now."
I went downstairs and told my husband what had happened. He didn't believe me until he saw it himself the following evening.
Three Months On
Rosie now asks for her flamingo toothbrush. Not every night — she's two, consistency is aspirational — but most nights. The battle has not entirely disappeared; there are still evenings when she's overtired and resistant to everything. But the baseline has shifted completely. Teeth brushing is no longer a source of nightly dread for either of us. It's just part of the routine, anchored by a toothbrush she has genuine affection for.
The suction cup base has been more useful than I expected. It means the toothbrush is always in the same place, always upright, and Rosie can find it herself and put it back herself, which feeds into her need for independence and control. The bristles have held up well across three months of daily use and occasional biting. The handle hasn't cracked or discoloured.
It is, objectively, a toothbrush. But it solved a problem that four months of other approaches hadn't, and it did it on the first evening. Sometimes the right object at the right moment is exactly that simple.
You'll find it in the Baby Health and Baby & Toddler collections. If you're in the middle of a teeth brushing battle and you know your toddler has a favourite animal, start there.
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