Need to nightwean

[tnmom66]

I don't know if this is dental or breastfeeding or nighttime parenting...

My daughter is 22 months old and 3 dentists have told me that breastmilk, especially at night is making her teeth worse. 6 months ago, she was pretty much latched on all night long and now she wakes every 2-3 hours and nursed for just a few minutes before detaching herself, or else I remove my nipple from her mouth.

I think she has defective teeth and breastmilk or not, she'd still be having these same issues. HOWEVER, it does make sense to me that if she is latched on all night long and has milk pooling in her mouth, that might not be a good thing, unless breastmilk has more ANTI cavity properties than cariogenic ones.

Baby's dad is pushing me to night wean as he says it will make it easier on him--she had her first overnight visit last weekend and was up several times. And he is convinced that the breastmilk is the problem because he heard the dentist tell me "it's time to wean her".

I don't know what my question is....I feel like I need some guidance. I don't know what to do.

Are there any benefits to extended nighttime nursing??? My gut is telling me not to push too hard to wean her, but I don't know why.

My middle child weaned himself at 15 months during an ear infection and I took that opportunity to wean my 2 1/2 yr. old daughter--I told her for several days that the milk was going to get "bad" and I painted "Thumz" for thumbsucking and nailbiting on my nipples and one time did the job. Now I think that was kind of mean, but I was needing to go on some meds. and she was old enough and smart enough to understand.

[Dingletwitz]

What are the dentists saying is wrong with her teeth?

[LadyCatherine185]

does she have cavities or decay? my DS had decay at 17 months old that needed fillings under general anesthesia. It was not fun.

We nightweaned a few months later due to pregnancy, and it went really well. We used the Dr Jay Gordon method (you can google it) and took it a bit slower than he suggests.

The dentist we say did not say that we needed to nighwean, however. He suggested brushing thouroghly before bed, and either wiping his teeth with a wet washcloth or giving him sips of water to help wash out some of the milk from his mouth.

[Super~Single~Mama]

nak

If it helps at all, my ds has been having overnights with his dad since he was 11mo, and I'm just now starting to nightwean (he's 19mo). I don't think it will make it any "easier" unless he STTN at his dad's house too - and since he frequently wakes up more at his dads house than mine I really don't know that there will be a difference.

If your dd's dad doesn't want to get up in the middle of the night with her, he shouldn't have over-nights. If he wants overnights, and she's waking up, he needs to figure out how to comfort her to go back to sleep - if my ex can figure it out, I'm sure yours can to.

Now, thats all separate from the teeth issue, but a dentist saying she needs to be weaned, doesn't necessarily mean that she needs to wean so that she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night.

good luck!!

[tnmom66]

Originally Posted by Dingletwitz

What are the dentists saying is wrong with her teeth?

At 16 months, the top front 4 teeth had decay in the back. They had large orange craters. The dentist said she needed all 4 to be crowned. Since then, her 1st molars have come in, and the top ones have decay on the smooth surfaces. Basically, she has pretty severe Early Childhood Caries.

I have finally given up on trying to heal or save these teeth. I had hoped to be able to keep them till they fell out naturally, but they are getting worse.

I have tried for 6 months with xylitol, ACT flouride rinse (Dr. Ellie's protocol), cell salts, and MI paste and a few days ago started pascalite clay. If these teeth are simply defective, crowns should be a huge stress reliever for me and I can concentrate on keeping her other teeth healthy.

Trying to wash her mouth out after night nursing doesn't go well. She wants the breast "last".

My 2 older kids nursed at night and didn't have this issue.

I am willing to night wean to protect her teeth, not to make things easier on her Dad. He didn't complain!