Bottle Rot

My BIL is a dentist. He sees this a lot. It's a frustrating part of his job since it's 100 preventable. And it breaks his heart every time he has to cap a little one's teeth. I agree with others that a bottle at night is a bad habit to start. Give him his milk earlier and brush his teeth. If he gets thirsty let him have water in his bed.

According to my kid's doctor, you can start giving water when they start eating solid and have gained enough weight. When my son just had one or two teeth came out, I use a wet cotton ball to clean after he had his bottle before sleep. Even though it may upset him a little, but it is worth to do so. If they want to have milk in the middle of night, try to offer less milk then gradually switch to water totally.

My pediatric dentist and I had a long talk about this, and if you google it you will also see the facts. Holding the bottle all night long in the mouth is what causes the teeth to get weak and decay. Saliva naturally rinses the mouth, if the milk is continuously dripping onto the teeth for extended amounts of time then the saliva cannot rinse it off and protect the teeth.

How many people do you know that eat all day and drink stuff all day and don't run to the bathroom and brush their teeth. It's the same concept. If you hold a piece of hard candy in your mouth all day, every day, the teeth will eventually start breaking down and get decay.

I have had dentists say that if you have weak enamel there is nothing to do to prevent decay. It will happen. If the family genetics are for strong enamel there is not much that can weaken it.

Our little grandson, 4 now, stayed on the bottle until he was 2-2 1/2 and has zero cavities. His big sis stopped the bottle much earlier and had lots of cavities. I only found out she had cavities because she fell and broke her front tooth and had to see a pediatric dentist to have it capped and that's when we found out about the cavities.

If you are taking good care of these teeth then having a bottle at night is going to do little to hurt them. As he gets older you can wean him away from wanting it. But I still held our little guy to get him to sleep for a long time. I miss those times now.

Teeth health is determined by several things, one of the biggest is genetics, another is prenatal health, and another is hygiene. So your question depends on how old your child is, how many teeth he has, your genetics, etc.

One of my nephews had this, but they put him to bed with a bottle of fruit juice (eww!) often, after his teeth had come in. He had to have caps put on all his front teeth.

My daughter fell asleep after nursing/bottle often and has perfectly healthy teeth.

Milk contains natural sugars and if they are left on the teeth continuously it can cause tooth decay. It's more of an issue if the baby is left with a bottle in their crib at night - they can wake up, decide to keep sucking on it, then fall asleep with their teeth coated in milk. Same thing can happen with juice. Also, when you are awake, your salivary glands constantly produce saliva, which helps rinse your mouth a little as you swallow. However, when you are asleep, this doesn't happen as effectively, which leaves more of the sugar to stay on the teeth. If you are going to leave a bottle in the crib, make sure it's just filled with plain water.

You did not mention how old your child is, but you can try at least wiping the teeth down with a wet cloth after the bottle. Do not allow a bottle of milk or juice to be in the crib at night or during naps (water only). If your child is toddler-age, you might want to consider also getting him/her to fall asleep on his/her own - give the bottle, then lay him/her down in the crib while still awake but sleepy. This can give you a chance to actually brush the teeth and get your child in the habit of having it done, and also teach him/her to fall asleep on their own. Start getting him/her out of the habit of needing a bottle or needing to be in your arms to fall asleep.

A pediatric dentist will have more information if you are concerned and want to know more about keeping your child's teeth healthy.

From pp's I'm assuming your son is about 13-14 mos old--that is too old to be falling asleep with a bottle. Feed him his bottle, brush his teeth, change his diaper & put him to sleep. Also not good that he is learning to use the bottle to put himself to sleep. He's of an age where a good bedtime routine needs to be done--O. which does not involve a bottle in the crib til he's sleeping! A former co-worker of mine had a son with severe "baby bottle mouth" and it was extensive and expensive to get it all fixed.

Bottle rot is a huge concern. Recently I met a 4-year-old girl who had no front teeth because of bottle rot. She couldn't talk understandably because of the lack of teeth (bottom and front were gone). It was so sad to see the consequences she suffered through no fault of her own. It's great that you're asking this question and getting good answers, so that you can help your child avoid a similar fate!

I have a little girl in my daycare who had bottle rot. Nearly all of her teeth are capped, crowned or filled at 2 years old. It was horrible for her and costly for her grandparents. This is really preventable and not a good habit for your little one for various other reasons. I'd switch to water and eventually wean off the bottle.

I breastfed, so my daughter took a night feeding until she was a year old. My pediatrician and our dentist gave us this advice: it is not one night bottle or milk or one nightly feeding that causes bottle rot. Bottle rot is caused by giving your child a bottle with formula, juice or sugary drinks to suck on whenever they please, basically as a pacifier substitute.
Brush your LO's teeth mornings and evenings and don't give him formula or sugary drinks to soothe himself. If he is under one a night or evening feeding is fine, around his first birthday it should be subbed by water.
My daughter's teeth are great at three!
Good luck.

If you don't stop with the nighttime bottle, your LO will end up like my niece and have to have the top front 4 teeth pulled by the time he's 2. This is DEFINITELY cause for concern!

No juice, start watering down the milk immediately and get to just water. The bottle is a crutch anyway, but try to wean him away from it right away. Even if you take a week or 10 days, it's better than continuing as you have been!

To train him away from a bottle try to put him to sleep with a bottle of water after feeding and brushing. Otherwise try a pacifier. But stop the milk, juice or anything else but water after brushing.

wow! Stop that bedtime bottle or use just water! & think about how you can get your child to be self-sufficient & confident enough to fall asleep independently.....

I had bottle rot as a toddler. I had a bottle in bed. I had to have a lot of dental work done. I would try and stop this if you can and brush his teeth before bed. Good luck!

I agree - switch to water for the last bottle.. If you have to, give the milk bottle, then brush the teeth, then give a water bottle. Eventually (and I'm not sure how old the baby is) you will want to wean that last bottle. Good luck and good for asking!

Depends how old your little one is.... as of age one you should get 'em off the bottle as soon as you can. They don't need all that liquid food anymore when they are eating real food. Plus, you need to wean them off the liquids at night so potty training will be a lot more easy at night (down the road of course).

Don't give water to a baby under a year.
See if you can let him get into a good sleep, then use a clean (no fabric softner used), warm, wet wash cloth to clean his mouth. Rub his cheeks, gums, teeth, etc. and you should be good to go.

Yep you need to move the night bottle to an earlier time and brush his teeth. or at least try to wipe his teeth with a soft wet cloth. The milk sugars will sit on his teeth all night and could cause decay.

This routine isn't as bad as letting him have the bottle to lay down with and keep in his mouth for a long period of time. Then the sugars really sit right on those front few teeth and do a number on them.