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Baby Bottle Tooth Decay Baby bottle tooth decay or baby bottle mouth is a form of severe tooth decay. There are many teeth involved, usually the upper front four teeth. Baby bottle mouth develops when an infant's or child's teeth are bathed in liquids containing sugars for long periods of time. These liquids are: formula, other milks, fruit juice, sweetened water, and other sweetened beverages. Getting these beverages by bottle increase the time they are in the child's mouth coming in contact with the teeth and doing damage. In the early stages of tooth decay there is discoloration, in the later stages the teeth actually rot away. This is a very painful condition, and will require the attention of a dentist. To save you and your child this pain, please follow these recommendations for preventing baby bottle tooth decay: ü Use bottles only for feeding formula, expressed breast milk, or water. ü Only offer fruit juice or other sweet beverages in a cup. This will be messy at first, so practice with water. ü Only give the bottle at feeding time, not when going to sleep. If the baby does fall asleep while feeding, move the baby around a little bit to get them to swallow before putting them down to sleep. ü Don't leave a bottle in the baby's crib or play pen. ü If you are bottle-feeding and not breast feeding, it's a good idea to start gradually replacing bottle feedings with cup feedings, at around 6 to 8 months old. Having the baby off the bottle at one year greatly reduces their chances of developing tooth decay. NEVER prop a baby's bottle this a bad habit to have, some companies even make bottles that can be propped, this doesn't mean it's a good idea. Propping a baby's bottle will increase the likelihood of tooth rot, but it also takes the bonding out of feeding and your baby may suffer psychologically. For more information about propping bottles go to http://members.tripod.com/~jemesat/prop.html. Sources: Infant Nutrition and Feeding. United States Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition Service. 1993 For further information on baby bottle tooth decay, try these web sites: _________________________________________________________________ |
