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Original poster

Help! Rotting teeth nightmare

33 replies

jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 09:58

I am hoping someone can help me, i have a 7 month old and she is totally addict to baby juice. i am sure its my fault as i started her on it at 3 months and now she is even waking in the night for it. Some one told me when she gets her first tooth it may come up black! As you can imagine this is scaring me to death and i am desperatly trying to get her to drink out of a beaker. She does not understand you need to suck on the spout and ends and just chewing on it and getting frustrated. How can i resolve this situation and do i try and stop the juice all together. The baby juices all say sugar free but i have recently been told that is not the case. Will my baby have black teeth!!!!!

OP posts:
janh · 16/09/2003 10:18

Hi, jenny. Her teeth won't come out black, honest! But if she has a bottle of juice around all day after they come through they could decay quite quickly. (There are natural sugars in juice.)

Also you could do without her waking at night for juice. If you start gradually diluting the juice with more and more water, so she doesn't notice you're doing it, until the bottle is mostly water, it won't damage her teeth and she might stop bothering to wake up at night for it. (And she will eventually get the hang of the beaker - but you should still keep it mostly water.)

Good luck!

SoupDragon · 16/09/2003 10:31

I was going to suggest diluting the juice too. I wouldn't offer her juice at all if she wakes in the night for it though. (This is easy to say from where I 'm sitting though, not so easy if you've got to deal with the crying baby I admit)

monkey · 16/09/2003 10:32

I agree with janh. Her teeth won't come out black, but it'd be good to stop this before her teeth do come. Also agree with diluting more & more until she only drinks water, and keep to this as much as possible, especially in the night. Better suffer a bit of grumpiness about it now than loads of grumpiness, and major habit & rotting teeth a few months down the line.

aloha · 16/09/2003 10:39

I never give my son juice, only water or milk, and he's fine. If your baby has no teeth she can't get tooth decay, but it's wise to stop this before she does get her teeth (as others have said). Get her on water at night and then phase that out and you can have your sleep back - that has to be an incentive! Getting her to drink out of a beaker is unnecessary IMO. It's the juice that's the problem, not the bottle.

SoupDragon · 16/09/2003 11:05

Nooooo.... juice from a bottle is really bad as the juice spends more time in contact with the teeth.

Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 11:40

thank you so much for all your messages i will definatly try out your suggestions, but can i just say my dd will not drink plain water even if she is despeatly thirsty. i worry that she will dehydrate but i will start diluting the juice down. Thanks everyone

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LIZS · 16/09/2003 11:56

I'm afraid I disagree, a thirsty baby will drink whatever you offer including water but if you have been offering juice since she was 3 months old then the habit is well established and it will take time to reverse.

Soupie, I think Aloha meant that water in a bottle would not be a problem at this age.

bloss · 16/09/2003 12:20

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aloha · 16/09/2003 12:54

Agree with Bloss - until she can go to the shop and buy her own juice you do have the upper hand here . And yes, I did mean that if you only give water then giving a bottle isn't a problem - though my post probably was confusing. I'm actually quite anti-juice as it seems unnecessary to me. Your baby won't suffer from dehydration from not drinking at night! I assume she still has milk during the day and stuff like fruit and sloppy food? That all adds up to plenty of water. If she's still thirsty she will drink water.

MumOfLeo · 16/09/2003 13:21

I agree with Aloha and janh: she's waking in the night out of habit, not thirst. Diluting the juice should "wean" her away from waking. At this point, she really ought to sleep from 7 pm to 7 am. I highly recommend Gina Ford's "Contented Little Baby Book" and "From Contented Little Baby to Confident Child." Both books deal with this issue of night waking. Jen, be strong! A few nights of crankiness now are far, far easier to deal with than months and months of night waking and, eventually, rotting teeth. hang in there!!

robinw · 16/09/2003 13:40

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Oakmaiden · 16/09/2003 13:48

You could try getting on of the beakers with a spout that doesn't require sucking on? My ds never got the hang of using the no-spill cups, so we never really bothered. just used to give him the "free flow" ones, and he was fine.

Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 14:06

I totally agree what you all say, i guess it is my habit of giving her juice cos it is the easiest way of stopping her grizzling! I am going to sort this one out once and for all so i hope you all feel sorry for me tonight!! I did start reading the contented baby book when my dd was first born but my health visitor told me to rip it up and burn it!! I just want to ask, has anyone ever heard of babies teeth coming out black or is it a slow process of decay? I am just trying to work out if my friend is using scare tactics

OP posts:
Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 14:06

I totally agree what you all say, i guess it is my habit of giving her juice cos it is the easiest way of stopping her grizzling! I am going to sort this one out once and for all so i hope you all feel sorry for me tonight!! I did start reading the contented baby book when my dd was first born but my health visitor told me to rip it up and burn it!! I just want to ask, has anyone ever heard of babies teeth coming out black or is it a slow process of decay? I am just trying to work out if my friend is using scare tactics

OP posts:
Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 14:08

I totally agree with what you all say, i guess it is my habit of giving her juice cos it is the easiest way of stopping her grizzling! I am going to sort this one out once and for all so i hope you all feel sorry for me tonight!! I did start reading the contented baby book when my dd was first born but my health visitor told me to rip it up and burn it!! I just want to ask, has anyone ever heard of babies teeth coming out black or is it a slow process of decay? I am just trying to work out if my friend is using scare tactics

OP posts:
Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 14:08

I totally agree with what you all say, i guess it is my habit of giving her juice cos it is the easiest way of stopping her grizzling! I am going to sort this one out once and for all so i hope you all feel sorry for me tonight!! I did start reading the contented baby book when my dd was first born but my health visitor told me to rip it up and burn it!! I just want to ask, has anyone ever heard of babies teeth coming out black or is it a slow process of decay? I am just trying to work out if my friend is using scare tactics

OP posts:
Original poster
jennyjen1982 · 16/09/2003 14:11

oops, sorry!

OP posts:
Angeliz · 16/09/2003 14:14

hi jennyjen1982 my sis works in a shop and she told me a few weeks ago a woman went in with two boyy aged about 1.6 and 2.6 and that their teeth were black. The woman told my sis they'd always been like that and she thinks it's off all that black pop they drink(i think she meant coke!)I only told you this cause you asked but i HONESTLY think it may have been an exageratd story and that was COKE!!!!

suedonim · 16/09/2003 14:23

My neighbour's baby's molar teeth were decayed when they erupted and had to be extracted at 18mths. They had used a dummy dipped in honey to keep him quiet, almost since birth, poor little lad. But that is an extreme case, I am sure. Good luck with the water/beaker weaning.

janh · 16/09/2003 15:51

We are currently trying out the Coke-dissolves-teeth experiment - after close to 48 hours the tooth (in a glass of Coke) has turned a very nasty colour but is still intact ( bit disappointing really! I bet it doesn't work as a toilet cleaner either...)

jenny, I never heard that sweet things could affect teeth before they come through - I think your friend is either confused about it or else she is trying to scare you into stopping the juice (it worked, didn't it! )

When your baby's teeth have started to come through though you mustn't let her suck on a bottle off and on all day - unless it's water - same with eating sweets when she's older, if she has them, it should be all at once and then finish, not one sweet every few minutes. Sweets and pop are one of the things I have always been very strict about, and I have 4 kids with no fillings (eldest is 21) so it's definitely worth it.

bloss · 16/09/2003 21:14

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SueW · 17/09/2003 09:05

Instead of coke, try the salt and vinegar rots teeth trick.

I don't know whether it will work but it instaneously brightens up old coins whereas coke takes a while.

DD loves vinegar and all things pickled - I wonder this has contributed to her teeth problem.

janh · 17/09/2003 09:19

Sue, it might have, mightn't it? Maybe they should start giving out health warnings - "restrict your child's pickle consumption"!

sunchowder · 17/09/2003 22:42

JennyJen, I agree with diluting the juiceunless you have stopped already! I, of course, did not take my DH off of her bottle until she was 3 years old. I know this is TERRIBLE. I didn't know about Mumsnet, I was all alone and and as she didn't have any other vices (pacifier, blankie or favorite doll) I just couldn't seem to take it away. The truth was that I did not have an uninterrupted night of sleep for 3 years eitherevery night at 3:00 am she would wake until she was totally weened from the bottle. I had always given her diluted juice, because when I gave her full strength at six months or so, she never ate well after it. When she was three, I limited the bottle to one a day just at nighttime. I filled that bottle with spring water. Her teeth did not come in black, but we did have to get her little caps because she had some decay on the backs of the teeth and dentist was concerned that leaving the decay might cause the 2nd teeth to be damaged. With my DH, we went from bottle to straw so that she could keep sucking, the only type of sippy cup that would work after that was one with a very long tip. Good luck to you!

robinw · 18/09/2003 06:56

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