To not have a clue what is right when it comes to sugar?

[mycatisginger]

I have just been reading an article (DM I admit) about how we are ruining our children's teeth with fruit and milk.

Seriously, I have no clue what is right or wrong anymore.

My DD is a year old and she has raspberries and bananas AND she has a milk before bed so the last thing in her mouth at night is not a toothbrush.

So too much fruit? WTF should we be feeding them? Everything seems wrong! Bloody stressed !!

Dentists blame FRUIT for record numbers of child teeth extractions

dailym.ai/2o24qXM

I would think you need to worry more about the amount of processed sugars in your child's diet than those in fruit and milk, as they are naturally occurring. That said, it is best not to put a child to sleep with a bottle, as this does encourage decay. Try water instead if she needs to suck something to sleep. During the day when she eats fruit, make sure she has a good drink afterwards to flush her teeth of any remnants. That would help a great deal.

I'm a dentist. No one asked me.
I blame sweets and drinks

Milk does contain sugar - we changed the bedtime routine when DCs hit about 18 months to having milk downstairs with a bit of TV then teeth brushing upstairs after that.

Apart from that, I go with the everything in moderation. So DC don't tend to have sweets apart from at parties and if they do, I make a big point about extra careful brushing that night.

We also don't have fruit juice or squash as a rule - just water or milk.

I seriously doubt, that with the above approach, the bucket loads of fruit they both eat will cause any teeth problems.

Fruit, not likely.
Fruit juice that they are drinking all the time ... possibly. I knew a child who had bad teeth because they had fruit juice in a bottle they suckled on all day.

I ate fruit and drank milk as child and got sweets in moderation, and my first tooth filling was necessary at about 17, I think.

Get them used to drinking water against thirst, and consider any other drink a special treat or dessert.

I think it's the same as everything. Be reasonable! Not to many sweets, keep snacks down so they're not constantly eating all day, water to drink as much as possible.

As soon as ours had teeth, tooth brushing was done after the last feed.

Can I ask why you aren't brushing her teeth before bed? I was told by HV to brush my wee ones teeth before bed as soon as he could stay awake after a bottle. He cut his first teeth at 6 months so we started giving him his bottle before his bath and brushing his teeth in his bath - could you do something similar? The sugar lying on teeth all night can cause damage.
I'm sure it's more fizzy Drinks and sweets that are really to blame though.

I'd be more concerned about reading the daily hate (spit)

Brushing straight after eating is a problem too- acids in fruit can temporarily weaken the enamel on teeth and then brushing damages it. It's now recommended to wait 20-30 minutes after eating before brushing as this gives the teeth time to recover. Not sure if that applies after bedtime milk though!

pregnant I'm sure it does apply to bedtime milk. Just now we manage about 15 minutes in between finishing milk and brushing and as ds gets older I will gradually try to increase the time.