Hey mamas! We are are fresh off Breastfeeding awareness month and I wrapped it up with advocacy and a lesson learned.
My husband and I took the children to the dentist for their cleaning and boy were we in over our head! Five children who all need pretty lengthy treatment. While I felt like a horrible parent. How did I allow this to happen? Where did I go wrong and DAMMIT, I should have allowed the tantrums to ensue! I decided to take it as a lesson learned for my little ones. Those older ones...well they are on their own (Except jay of course). For a mom that doesn't buy candies or many sugary snacks outside of granola bars, you would think my children would have a pretty healthy set of grills. Tuh!
I learned that breastfed babies are really prone to cavities! UGH! For a grown woman who has NO cavities you can understand how unbelievable it is to me. My husband on the other hand, well he loves candy!
So, due to the sweetness of breastmilk, sugar settles in on the babies teeth and makes itself comfortable in the face of a cavity. To be honest, ignorant me never really gave it much thought! However, it makes completely good sense.
We spend so much time discussing all of the health benefits of breastfeeding and breastmilk, and we neglect to add in the oral health piece. Don't trip, thats why I am using my situation to share with you some ways to prevent cavities in your breastfed kiddo.
Morning
Brush your child teeth yourself. Flip up that top lip and thoroughly brush along the gum-line. Next, try to get the molars (if your child has molars). Scrub in circles and then allow them to do their own thing, this may cut down on the tantrums.
Midday
If you child is breastfeeding during the day. Try not to feed them to sleep (HARD, I am not sure how to master this with my 1 year old, start early). If you are to feed them to sleep, you need to grab tooth tissues and graze it across those teeth. The same applies if your child is still awake after feeding. These wipes wash off any access milk that tends to linger around in the babies mouth. Additionally, you can wipe away milk residue that sits on top of the teeth, prohibiting cavities to surface.
Night Time
Simply repeat the morning steps and try not to nurse your child to sleep.
While all of this is pretty simple, its not talked about. So, kids may complain but its in their best interest. You don't want your kiddo to need dental work that requires, repairing cavities BELIEVE ME!
If you are in the west suburbs of Chicago, I recommend BRUSH Pediatric dentistry. They are located in Hinsdale on Ogden.
Comments