Oral care for infants

[Jewels*]

My DD only has two little teeth (the are adorable...obviously!) I'm wondering when to start any sort of oral hygiene routine and what it should be...brushing / gum rubbing / etc.  I'm hearing a lot of "letting her nurse all night will rot her teeth"

We currently don't do anything for her teeth  

What do you think?

[Knitting Mama]

Letting them nurse at night won't rot their teeth! The only proven thing that will, food wise, is letting a baby have a bottle while falling asleep, as the milk or formula pools in their mouth and can cause decay. With nursing the nipple sits too far into the mouth to cause pooling near the teeth. Don't worry about that!

As for teeth routines, I use a very soft toddler toothbrush and no toothpaste or anything. I tried the fingertip kind of toothbrush, but she can bite hard! The regular toothbrush is a lot safer for my fingers!

[mra]

I just read through the new edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and it also said that nursing will not rot a baby's teeth and not to worry about nursing at night and then not brushing.

[P.J.]

We use this Banana Baby Brush, and he loves it! I put a tiny drop of strawberry flavored non-flouride natural toothpaste (from Logona). Usually he hates having anything done to him (diaper changes, wiping hands and face, etc), but he just loves having his teeth brushed!

[GoBecGo]

If nursing at night rotted babies teeth we would have, as a species, died out about 99million years ago.

I brush her teeth last thing and first thing with a babies toothbrush (by like, colgate or someone, just looked for the one that's suitable for infants) and a smear of flouride toothpaste (i know that's controversial here, but my dentist advises it, i did it with DD1 and no issues or cavities at 5yo and counting so far so i'm happy with this decision, YMMV!).  She nurses after i brush, but doesn't eat anything else.

[PatioGardener]

we brush twice a day with just water, and make sure that once is right before bed. the dentist said that plus avoiding sticky foods, not sharing spoons or cups, and continued nursing (day and/or night) would give ds's teeth the best chance at being cavity free.

nak

[neonalee]

I've been wondering about this but no time to post lately. Adding another thing to the to-do list!


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[somegirl99]

We use the banana baby brush too, just with water, before bed.  He loves it and wants to keep brushing his teeth.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I brush DS's teeth with water - but I think it's time to start using toothpaste.

I know that breastmilk won't rot his teeth (especially since he only has his front ones right now) - but DD night-nursed and although I brushed her teeth religiously, two of her molars rotted and she required general anasthesia to get them capped. This was in large part because the enamel on those teeth was faulty somehow, I was assured by our pediatric dentist, but I will do everything I can short of premature night-weaning to up our chances of this NOT happening to DS.

[sunflower.mama]

FIL is a dentist and he suggested we start brushing dd's 2 little teeth - partly to get her used to it.  We never did it so early with the other 2 though.

He also strongly suggested I night wean the other 2 and I never did.  7 and 4 and  no cavities so far.

[bdoody11]

Originally Posted by Perdita_in_Ontario 

I brush DS's teeth with water - but I think it's time to start using toothpaste.

I know that breastmilk won't rot his teeth (especially since he only has his front ones right now) - but DD night-nursed and although I brushed her teeth religiously, two of her molars rotted and she required general anasthesia to get them capped. This was in large part because the enamel on those teeth was faulty somehow, I was assured by our pediatric dentist, but I will do everything I can short of premature night-weaning to up our chances of this NOT happening to DS.

My dentist also told us to start brushing DD#2's teeth (she has her front bottom teeth). She said I could use water or  non-flouride toothpaste. We use water, brush for a few seconds and then let her chew on the brush so she gets used to the feeling in her mouth. My dentist likes to start seeing kids at 1 years old just to get them used to coming to the dentist. My insurance covers it and DD#1 loves the dentist so I feel like it's a good investment.

Perdita_in_Ontario, my DD#1 also has faulty enamel on four of her molars. She had fillings put in the two top molars when we found the exterior enamel had worn away and it was now sticky and a major risk for a cavities. The other two seem to be holding steady. We use a special paste (MI Paste that get from our dentist) after brushing to help the remaining enamel stay strong. We are religious about using it and it seems to be working. My dentist also assured me that there was absolutely nothing we could have done to cause it. In fact, she said it was probably a blip in utero when her teeth were forming. 

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Yes, our dentist said that it was more than likely in utero too. In fact the very first thing he said to me when he looked in her mouth was "This was not your fault." He knows how parents feel! So I'm not panicked about it. But at the same time, I'm cautious. At this point DS really enjoys chewing on a toothbrush when we are brushing our teeth, so we're capitalizing on that. I think I'll stick with water for the time being since he isn't fighting it!

[crystal_buffaloe]

My DD is 11 months old, and all I do right now is give her a sippy cup of water after each meal/snack to rinse off her two bottom teeth. She's never had any juice or candy or anything like that, but once she's one and can have cake (it's crazy how fast that's coming up!), I'm thinking we'll brush with baby toothpaste once or twice a day. I've never had a cavity, so maybe I'm not as concerned as I should be. I don't think we'll take her to the dentist before she's two, just because I don't want her to have any diagnostic x-rays for baby teeth (if the exam points out that there might be a problem, then maybe she should have the x-ray, but not with no indication).

[LaydieBugs]

My son bites too! 

Fortunately ... he LOVES Mom's electric toothbrush!  I think it was $17 at Wal-Mart, with a top part that spins and a bottom part that wiggles back and forth.  I figure if I get it on his teeth even a little bit, we're doing pretty well.

(He's nearly a year old ... 7 teeth ... 95% breastfed).

[sk8boarder15]

Funny I saw this. M got his first tooth yesterday, and the second is about to pop through. I think I'll start looking at those baby tooth brushes. No ones said it here yet, but I've heard before a year you can just use a wet wash cloth to wipe them each day just to get any food that's lingering.