728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Dental Health › Dental Essentials

Dental Essentials

Caring For Your Baby's Teeth Before They Appear

By Fred Ferguson, D.D.S.

Pages:  1  2  

  1. Throw away the bottle (if your child is able to drink from a cup).
  2. Use only water for the crib bottle or the "outside-the-house" bottle.
  3. Today, replace one ounce of the bottle liquid with water, tomorrow use 2 ounces of water, and on the third day use 3 ounces. By day four, an 8-ounce bottle will have half water and half milk (or juice, or whatever liquid you're diluting). Continue by replacing a half-ounce of water each day. This can take two to three weeks.

Monitor your own dental health.
Parents, especially the primary caretaker, must know that if they themselves have tooth decay and bleeding gums, the germs that cause these mouth problems will be passed in their saliva to their children. This happens through normal activities of child care (such as sharing spoons, having a child put his hands to your mouth, kissing a child's hands, etc).

Thus, lack of daily mouth care for your child, overuse of bottles in the crib or breastfeeding at night without mouth cleaning afterward, and the presence of mouth problems in parents are primary concerns for oral problems in young children.

Good mouth care is an investment in your baby's health and future. If you want more information about your role in your child's oral health and development, visit AboutSmiles.com.

Pages:  1  2  

Want to see more?

Comments

There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to add a comment.

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.