Night feeds and teeth

[Queenkongmerrilyonhigh]

So I read in 'What to expect' that night feeding can cause tooth decay once babies have teeth. DS still isn't sleeping through (6mo now) but has his 2 bottom teeth. I regularly boob him off to sleep and am happy with our co- sleeping routine (not for everyone I know but it works for us.) But should I be worried about tooth decay and night weaning?

BM on its own doesn't cause decay, but BM + solids does. So you need to make sure you clean his teeth at bedtime.

Kellymom has links to the research.

IMO at least some of the What to Expect books are not entirely factually correct when it comes to BF.

So, if I understand it correctly, as long as I clean his teeth after dinner, he should be ok?

Yes, that's my understanding anyway.

I had loads of fillings as a child so was worried about this but, like Angels, I read that it should be OK as long as their teeth are cleaned twice a day, especially before bed. My two are 3 and 5, the younger one still feeds at night but the dentist hasn't found any problems yet. That said, a straw poll of other breastfeeding Mums found quite a lot of fillings by 4 / 5. So I guess it means you can't rely on breastmilk's antibacterial properties alone as these can be overwhelmed by the level of bacteria able to breed in the amount of sugar in our "normal" diet these days.