Bf in pg causes foetal tooth decay

[Wotsitsareafterme]

This was alleged to me earlier. Had a Google trawl but not found anything much about it.
I'm fairly sure it doesn't. Any info/links much appreciated

I am not even sure I understand the question. That bfing an older child will damage the foetuses teeth?

What bollocks.

Sounds like nonsense. A friend of mine bf whilst preg not once but twice and all her DC (now adults) have stunningly good teeth.

I've heard it all now

That doesn't even make sense? Decay?!

The untrue shit people peddle about bf never ceases to amaze me.

My DD has been to the dentist today, she was bf til 13 months. The dentist said she had beautiful teeth

Not bad considering she's 11 and hasn't been to the dentist since she was 6!

OP, were they suggesting that if you breastfeed your older child during pregnancy that your developing foetus won't receive the adequate nutrients they need to grow healthy teeth, bones, etc.?

KellyMom has good info on breastfeeding when pregnant.

If it were true that you can't/shouldn't breastfeed when pregnant, the human race would have died (toothless) a long time ago.

lol.

Somebody has a pole up his or her arse about breastfeeding...

Bollocks! Wtf is foetal tooth decay?

Foetuses don't have teeth.

I've heard it all now. wtf?

How could their teeth decay? They don't even have teeth! They can't decay before they grow!

Thanks everyone. It kind of went like this 'it's not my fault Billy's teeth are shocking because when I was pg with him I was still feeding johnny'

What I'm after is any lit on the subject anyone might have seen. Journal paper or similar.

I knew it wasn't true but I need some evidence

But why would there be a paper disproving random bollocks? Why would someone waste time researching that?

I don't have any evidence about the teeth per se but the KellyMom website does address the health of mum and baby and breastfeeding during pregnancy.

Technically foetuses do have teeth because the teeth are formed in the gums from about week 8 of pregnancy.

Oh, and what penguins said!

You're more likely to find general research on a pregnant, breastfeeding woman's health which might serve your purpose.

I fed ds1 throughout my pregnancy with ds2.

DS2 has has a couple of teeth which are de mineralised, but that is completely different from decay. Two of his teeth are very gnarled and difficult to clean which I am guessing makes them more at risk of decaying.

BUT I am fairly sure they were demineralised because as well as feeding ds1, I was also trying to heal bones in my ankle which got completely smashed when I was 32 weeks pregnant. I am guessing this was a huge ask for my reserves and ds2's teeth suffered.

I had ds2 at a paediatric dentist a while back (for something else) and the first thing he asked was "what happened when you were pregnant?"

Are the child in questions teeth actually decayed?

What sort of evidence would you like OP? I mean, there's a lot. We call it the cochrane hierarchy.

It begins with "my mate told me that Billy's teeth are like this because" and it ends with a "randomised, double blind, controlled study."

Which in health, is pretty high level evidence. I don't know about owt except health.

The thing is, high level evidence is quite expensive to come by so if I wanted to prove that "sitting next to my black nurse makes me black", I'm less likely to receive funding than say if I asked, "does aspirin taken in pregnancy cause developmental defects in neonates" (this is totes made up obvs).

So proving shit shit doesnt happen isn't a huge priority. Whatever or whoever told you that is odd, you'll not find much evidence because of the bollocks nature of the query. Does that help at all?

Mawbroon - yes v badly decayed.

OP. tell us, how old is child? Which teeth are decayed? Also a diet record is really helpful. Teeth only decay in the presence of sugar, some teeth are more prone but sugar is the common culprit. There are things that can be done to help, fissure sealants, fluoride supplements etc. have you used any? Has your dentist mentioned?

There are a lot of things that can cause gnarled teeth. Mine are genetic and due to being a twin. My mum was a dental maniac so I have no fillings in spite of this.

I've heard of heavy anti biotic use during pregnancy affecting foetal tooth development but bf?? Not that I've heard of.

How bizarre.

I suppose that you could theorise that bf an older child means less nutrients / vitamins / minerals available for the foetus, especially if the mother is a bit malnourished or has other medical issues. But if this was really a common problem you'd expect it to be mentioned in the standard pregnancy guidance or nhs website.

I'm not an expert, but I would expect a child's diet and level of dental care after birth to have a bigger impact.

There's some relatively poor quality evidence that bf lying down after baby has their first teeth can cause decay. It does kind of make sense to me but like I said the evidence is poor and also the relationship must be complex as baby will be eating solids by this time too. Perhaps your friend got confused with that?
But equally I can see that there could be a chain of causality to unborn baby's teeth, if mum has low calcium or other vitamin/mineral levels due to bf and not taking supplements / having a balanced diet, will there be enough to build unborn baby's teeth?

Thanks for all the replies. The child is 4 now. It was a work question sorry to be so vague