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Children's tooth decay and use of a bottle

2 replies

stressed2007 · 28/04/2010 15:38

I saw a programme on tooth decay. Numerous kids had teeth that had literally rotted in their mouth. One of the main culprits was baby bottles particularly at night. Please can someone explain the problem with these? And why at night? Is the risk just if you have a juice or is it also milk? One of the mums said she watered the milk down at night so I am surmising that milk at night has issues too. My 2 year old goes to bed with a bottle of milk ? am I doing something wrong? Should I be giving milk earlier, then teeth brushing and nothing more? Many thanks

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
PommePoire · 28/04/2010 15:45

Hi stressed, I've been worrying about children's dental health today too, though no-one's been on my thread yet! Let's see if I can help you.

This is taken from the British Dental Health Foundation\s website, note the last sentence:

"How can I prevent tooth decay in my child?

The main cause of tooth decay is not the amount of sugar or acid in the diet, but how often it is eaten or drunk. The more often your child has sugary or acidic foods or drinks, the more likely they are to have decay. It is therefore important to keep sugary and acidic foods to mealtimes only. If you want to give your child a snack, try to stick to cheese, vegetables and fruit, but not dried fruit.

It is also worth remembering that some processed baby foods contain quite a lot of sugar. Try checking the list of ingredients: the higher up the list sugar is, the more there is in the product. Sometimes, these are shown as fructose, glucose, lactose or sucrose. Thorough brushing for two minutes, twice a day, particularly last thing at night, will help to prevent tooth decay."

Seona1973 · 28/04/2010 16:16

there is less saliva production at night so the sugars in milk and juice can do more damage to the teeth. Teeth should be brushed just before bed and nothing sugary should be given afterwards.

Is it all right to settle my baby with a bottle of milk?

www.mindfulmum.co.uk/2010/04/baby-bottle-tooth-decay-plan-for-healthy-baby-teeth/

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