Hi Moms: My daughter is 10.5 months old. She has been eating 3 "real" meals a day for about 3 months now (a breakfast, lunch, and dinner) with bottles in between. I make my own baby food and use good, fresh stuff. She started on meat (chicken and turkey so far) about a month ago. No glitches. At night, I usually give her one last bottle and rock her to get her sleepy. This routine has been working great.
About a month ago, I switched from giving her milk in her last bottle to giving her water instead. I did this because I know of the risk of babies getting tooth decay due to the sugar in the milk, even before any teeth have erupted. My daughter has not truly started teething yet, but she's bound to be on the brink of it. Some days I think she might be, but she's missing most of the characteristic signs (drooling, chewing on everything, etc.). So, I'm being precautious. She has not balked at this routine at all.
This past week, however, she has been very resistant to the water - pushing the bottle away, turning her head, etc. - and fussy beyond regular soothing. (Perhaps she really is finally teething!) The water is just NOT cutting it, but she calms down immediately if I offer milk and she drinks it down in no time. She could be having a growth spurt and/or the water is not filling her up like she needs it to. I don't mind giving her the milk, but I'm concerned about the tooth decay potential. I don't necessarily want to do any "toothbrush" or fingerbrush type things after I've gotten her sleepy because that will wake her back up. What are your thoughts on this? Her next check up isn't until January, so I thought I'd put some feelers out there in Mamapedia Land. :) Thanks in advance!
Thanks so much, moms! I will definitely keep giving her the milk at night. It is breastmilk, BTW. And I don't overdo the water - just enough in the bottle to feign the sleepiness that sucking causes while I rock her. I like the idea of getting into the gum wiping habit. I'll work on that, but now with fewer concerns. Thanks again!
If she gets a bottle of milk at bed time, you could just wipe her gums down real quick with a clean wet cloth - that shouldn't rouse her up as much as brushing would.
Leaving the bottle in her mouth or allowing a bottle to stay in the bed with her so she can grab it and suck all night is what causes tooth decay. Normal bottles given do not hurt the baby's teeth unless the enamel is terribly thin and if that is the case then decay would happen no matter what.
Think about what a person eats and drinks during the day. They don't run to the bathroom after each and every thing, a pop, a drink of juice, a bite of lunch, etc...the saliva rinses the mouth and keeps our food from staying all over our teeth. It's the same with a baby. Their saliva rinses their mouth and gets rid of the milk. When she is a toddler and wants a glass of milk with her bedtime snack you'll have her brush her teeth after but now the milk will naturally rinse away as she sleeps.
She can have a bottle of milk in the evening. That is what our pediatric dentist told me.
I nursed all 3 of my daughters to sleep until they were weaned (about a year) and never had a problem. I think once she gets teeth it's important to brush them, but not so that you're waking her up to do it. I think the main problem with 'bottle rot' is that some people leave a bottle of milk with baby and baby keeps sipping on the bottle ALL night long.
If you're really worried, why not give her a sip or two of water after her last bottle? It'll help to rinse her mouth and hopefully not wake her up too much.
Bad teeth run in my husband's family. It doesn't matter HOW careful the parents are... they're rotting before all of them have come in. They're just -practically- mush (yes, they're mostly pulled as they come in... nearly no toddler in my in-laws has teeth until their adult teeth come in).
So I was reeeeally hoping our kid got my genes.
Yup. Great teeth. And you had better believe I had him in the dentist chair when he cut his first two when he was under a year.
Not only nursed him to sleep until 10 mo (then switched to a bottle until 2.5 or 3, and nursed or gave him a bottle throughout the night whenever needed... but my son has hypoglycemia (mildly, but he has it). Which meant he'd have milk before bed every night for YEARS.
Did we always brush?
Heck no.
RARELY.
Now, one has to realize our dentist isn't that much younger than god. He said in 60 years of practice and teaching, he's never seen a child with milk rot. He HAS seen a lot of rotten teeth in toddlers... but it's always been the case that they've had poor nutrition OR solids without brushing OR bad genes. So we went with his advice. Our son had healthy teeth, and HAS healthy teeth at age 9. Good genes for sure. And milk sitting on them every night for 7 years.
I have 2 kids...an almost 4 yr old and a 16 month old. Both took bottles/sippy cups of milk right before bed. I brush teeth every night (before the milk) and sometimes during the day (just havent gotten into habit of 2ce a day yet!). My 4 yr old son has been to dentist 3 times and has always been told his teeth are great and to keep it up. He stopped taking a cup of milk at bedtime prob aroun 2 or 2 1/2, I think the main issue is giving them a bottle to have all night to "nurse" the saliva will help break down whatever is in their mouth right at bedtime.
I have not read your other answers, but I will tell you what both my ped and my dentist told me. THe biggest issue with this is juice, and babies who sleep with thier bottle in bed. Juice is basically horrible for us at all stages of life according to every health proffesional I have talked to (it is sugar water with a few vitamins, but the vitamins don't outweigh the detriment of the insane amount of sugar). It is falling asleep with a mouth full of milk that my dentist worries about, as a baby can lay their asleep with milk in their mouth and not swallow it for hours.
With my oldest, we have brushed teeth at bath time and then had bedtime milk. She is going to be 3 in march and has been on this routine since the beginning. Her teeth are healthy, and both ped and dentist are ok with this and see no risk with this plan. She never has juice (I think she tried it once at a friends' house, but we don't keep it in the house).
My youngest dd is 10 months and has 8 teeth. She is following in her sister's footsteps in the tooth care area and also doing well with it.
On a side note, both of my daughter's peds have recommended no water at all until age 1 - just human milk and formula - due to the electrolyte imbalences it can cause.
Good luck!!
Both of my kids wanted/needed a bottle of milk right before sleep at bedtime to help them calm down and fall asleep. They both had their bottle till they were 2. Then at age 2 we stopped with the bottle. Both of them started teething at 4 months and had tons of teeth by the time they were one yr old. Neither of them got a single cavity. I did not ever give them a bottle to just hold in bed and leave in their mouth. They just drank it down and then I took it away and then it was time to sleep. I am just telling you my experience. I think the babies who get cavities are the ones who lie there sleeping with the milk pooling in their mouth.
At ten months she probably still needs a bottle of formula to be full for the night. As DVMMOM suggested get in the habit of wiping her gums/teeth before putting her down for the night.
I still nursed my baby at that age (and breastmilk has tons of sugar in it as well) and wiped/brushed her teeth twice a day... no signs of decay (she's 4 now).
Good luck!
I nursed all 3 of my kids to sleep until 1 year old (about) and nursed each of them to about 18 months total. Many times I nursed them, they fell asleep, and I laid them down without brushing or wiping teeth after. They are now 6 1/2, 5 and 3, and all have fine teeth.
Your doctor or dentist will tell you to wipe them, but my experience was to brush when they have teeth, wipe when possible, but if they are asleep, I didn't bother and they are all fine - never had a problem with decay - no cavities.
And, on a side note, my MIL told me that all my children would have horrible tooth decay and would need oral surgery because I continued to nurse after teeth came in (she's a nurse at a pediatric outpatient facility). Obviously that never happened, so you have to take all that stuff with a grain of salt.
J.
i know that sometimes if i drink too much water it makes me feel queezy. i dont think their is anything wrong with giving a bottle at bed time my daughter had hers at bed time until 3 yes 3. my cousins little girl still takes one at 5. no health problems at all. dont sweat it she will be fine :)
Don't hold back the milk...I never did any of the things you asked about...between both of my kids....39 and 30 years old....1 cavity...my daughter that had diabetes as a child and still has it. And only then because the high level of sugar in her body can cause cavities. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill!
As the other moms said, "bottle rot" comes from leaving the bottle with the baby and letting them nibble on it all night and then when the issue occures, ignoring it. I nursed my son to bed for a long time and yes, he started getting a little brown spot on his front tooth by age 2. I started brushing it 2 times a day with Tom's of Maine children's toothpaste and 6 months later it fixed itself. So, 1) go ahead and give her the bottle of formula...she is too young for milk yet 2) If you do see a problem, then stop and apply a tiny bit of flouride tooth paste and it will resolve.
