Pearly Whites & a Bottle at Night

Hi A.

I'm the same way about details so I understand...

It's definitely worse to put the bottle into bed with them and let them fall asleep with the bottle/milk sitting on the teeth. It's better if you can find a way to either brush or rinse their teeth after that last bottle though. Some of the sugars are still there even if not puddled. At 1 you might be getting ready to say goodbye to the bottles. If you are going to give them something in their bed, I'd recommend a sippy with water - no need to keep the focus on the bottle unless you have to. Mine have always been thirsty at night and both have taken a sippy of water to bed since about 1. My daughter's 3.5 now and my son 2. There's really no worry that it's going to bother their teeth. My 2 year old and sometimes my 3 year old still like to have a cup of milk before bed. We usually have them snuggle with us to read a book or watch a short kid video while they drink it - maybe 15 minutes of Goodnight Show. Then we go upstairs for baths/teeth/bed. They get their milk and their teeth get cleaned.

Hi A.!

Water is the best thing at night and nap time, if they take the bottle to bed with them. Any time they may fall alseep, if they are drinking then the liquid can settle in their mouth and start working on their teeth and the sugar could cause them to rot.

I want to share an experience with you. My olderest daughter is 5, when she was 2 and a half her top 4 front teeth began to rot. I took her to 2 dentists all telling me I put her to bed with too much juice, but I knew I didn't! Finally, after visiting the 3rd dentist (who is wonderful) we found it was a calcium inbalance that caused the rotting, not juice, and he repaired what he could of the teeth.

I hope I helped atleast a little!

Have a great day!

From what I have learned is that giving them the bottle while they are in their cribs and falling asleep with it in their mouths is what wil rot their teeth. I would give my son those floride tablets before bed then give him a bottle then lay him down. I never gave it to him to fall asleep with at night and if I did give him something to have in his crib it was a sippy cup because he couldn't fall asleep with it in his mouth. Hope this helps.

K..

I always put my babies to bed with just a bottle of water. And if you want to continue to put them to bed with a bottle of milk then i would brush their teeth afterward.But if you really want to be assured call a dentist.

Hello A., I always gave my children their bedtime bottle and then put them to bed without brushing and they all have pearly whites. I always give my children their flouride vitamis which keep their teeth strong. Keep doing what you are doing and if you are that concerned you can bruch their teeth after the bottle. My children are 6 yrs old and twin girls that are 2 1/2yrs old. Welcome to the multiple parenthood. I'm also a SAHM with a VCD. I would like to meet with other moms of multiples, so if you are interested please email me ____@____.com that the weather is starting to get nice again we can meet at a park with the kids.

Good Luck with the twins.

T.

Tooth decay usually occurs when they take the bottle to bed and then they fall asleep with the liquid in their mouth. The juice/formula/milk etc feeds the plaque bacteria and speeds up the tooth decay. Just for good measure, I have the kids brush their teeth before bed and then they go to bed without a drink.

Hope that helps!
K.

Hi A.,
I am a dental assistant for a pediatric dentist and it is true that babies teeth can rotten out but it only happens if they fall asleep with the bottle of milk. The milk sits on the teeth. However if you are giving them one before they go to sleep you are fine. If they need something to fall asleep in there crib then either switch to water or give them a binky. Reading alot of litature can make you crazy just remember that.
Anymore questions about teeth just ask
L.

just brush their teeth after their milk. the teeth rot from the sugars sitting in the mouth/on the teeth (whether they fall asleep with the bottle in their mouths or drink and then go to sleep w/out brushing) the sugars feed the bacteria in the mouth which creates acid that rots the teeth. yuck. just be vigilant about brushing--and starting now just gets them used to it that much sooner!

Hi A.,

My daughter did have the bottle rot syndrome. I felt horrible about it because I always put her to bed with a bottle but her dentist told me it has alot to do with genetics as well as bedtime bottles. I would switch them to water before bed if they will take it(myson is 16months and wants nothing to do with water.) but as long as you are brushing their teeth on a regular basis they should be ok. If they take a bottle before bed you should try to brush before bed because the sugars are on the teeth and that is what causes the decay. My daughter has caps on her teeth and they are white so she still looks beautiful but I am doing everything I can not to have a repeat with my son. Also check with your water supply because you children may need flouride drops if your water does not have flouride in it...ours does not so this was another factor in her tooth decay.

Hope this helped...good luck.
S. F

Taking the bottle to bed with them does make it more a possibility... you are on the right track. Try once they have thier last bottle of milk, formula or anything other than water wipe thier teeth with a soft clean wet wash cloth... when they are 'awake' and all, like after breakfast its not too early to have a baby tooth brush (always use soft bristles) and brush thier teeth.

well, my daughter is 6 now, but when she was a baby i also put her to bed with a bottle. she did end up getting bottle rot, which i had never even heard of before. My parents always used to give my siblings and i bottles to go to bed with, so there was absolutly no indication that this would happen. what happened was she ended up having to have her from teeth pulled, which was not a pleasant experience. so i guess i would have to say that while i don't know if it is from her going to sleep with the bottle or just not brushing her teeth, i would suggest that you don't give your kids bottles with milk in them to go to sleep with. try giving them bottles with water, or if you must, mix the water with very little milk, just to give them the taste. if you are just giving them the bottles to get them all the milk they need for the day, do it awhile before bed time, that way you can either brush their teeth or just wipe them with a soft washcloth. btw, my daughter is doing fine now, she has her adult teeth in, but for a while she didn't have anything in the front, and it made me feel horrible. anyway, good luck!
L.

My son is also one, and we were told no bottles now that he is a year. We started giving him whole milk in a sippy cup last night. He seems fine with it! and then we brush his teeth. We also fear him having yucky teeth. We brush in the morning and at night, he actually tries to help, so I guess we are doing it right, but if anyone else has advice, I'm happy to hear it.

The teeth rotting you are referring to is more common in children who have a bottle of milk or juice in bed with them. It is because your saliva flow slows while sleeping and the milk or juice sugars are bathing the teeth all night when they have that bottle in the crib. At this age having a bottle before bed is not the worse thing. A lot of my patients do it and their children's teeth are fine. If you are concerned you can brush before bed or just wipe their mouths out with a wash cloth. The brushing before bed will be easier when they are older and you start to wean them from the night time bottle. Even a little water afterwards helps. Try to limit their juice and dilute with water when possible.

Hi A.,
I am a local dentist and I see a lot of children. My advice is this: never let your children go to bed with a bottle of anything but water. Milk or any other drink containing sugar will cause what is called baby bottle caries (rotting of the front teeth). Milk is full of sugar (lactose) and will feed the bacteria present in plaque (the white stuff that coats every one's teeth). Your kids may or may not be sipping the milk at night, but it is never advisable to let them have a chance. If you are worried that they already have decay, have them see a pediatric dentist or a general dentist comfortable with treating children.
As for brushing, it is great to start even before they have teeth (with a little cloth); then use a baby-toddler brush with toothpaste that has no fluoride.
Sorry for such a lengthy response, hope it helps.
Best of luck,
I. Slipak

Ok, this is what i understand about the situation. I have a 2 1/2yr old son. He got a bottle of formula/milk before bed for a long time. Its ok to have a bottle BEFORE bed. No taking a bottle INTO bed with them all nite. I believe the rotted teeth more comes from going to bed with bottle of juice...wich is surgary.
I asked my pediatrician about this before, and he said bottle before bed ok, nothing to bed with them except water....and should be in sippy cup, not bottle. SO my son still likes to take bevarage to bed, so he gets sippy cup of water next to his bed.
Hope this helped

Hi A. ~ I am a SAH mom of 4 boys, this happened to 2 of them! My oldest son ended up having his 4 front top teeth removed (boy were we shocked at the hospital to find out how many other kids were there to have the same thing done!! we thought we were the only one) My 2nd oldest same thing but since we knew what to look for it didn't get very far. Today they are handsome young men with their adult teeth coming in w/ no problems. To answer your question our awesome children's dentist said that it usually happens because of genetics! But it can happen from going to bed w/ bottle and the sugar just lays there in their mouth. We were told to use water, if they stilled needed that before bed bottle!
Hope this is helpful & God Bless ~ mom of 4 boys

I believe (although I am NOT a dentist!) that is not from drinking a bottle before bed it is from the child falling asleep and the bottle or milk sitting in their mouth. I have an almost three year old that went from drinking and botle to a sippy cup before bed and I still can't break the habit. My doctor recommended using diluted juice before bed and continuing to dilute it more and more until they are drinking only water before bed. It's worked here... good luck!

This happened to mycousin and all her teeth ended up falling out. I have a little boy of my own and my pediatrician who is the best, and voted top 5 in the country says you should never use the bottle to soothe your child to sleep. Instead do a routine to get them used to knowing bedtime is coming up so they wont need anything. It should be eat, wake, then sleep. Milk should not help them go to sleep. Anyways they rot out because the milk stays in their mouth while sleeping, and while you sleep you don't produce enough saliva to rinse away things, hence morning breath from bacteria! Check out babyfit.com for their sleep analysis tool to help you figure out the best way to put your baby to sleep. Hope this helps.

The issue that happens is that milk has a lot of natural sugars in it and those natural sugars will rot your teeth. So ideally, if the baby gets any bottle overnight then it needs to be water.

If you want to give your kids a bottle just before bedtime, then I'd follow it up with water and/or use one of those baby toothbrushes on their teeth just before putting them down for the night. And at this age it's a great time to start the ritual of tooth-brushing anyway - I did that with my daughter and she LOVES to brush her teeth now at 2 years because it's a "mommy and me" activity. Toothpaste isn't as necessary as getting the bristles to get the sugars off their teeth.

And absolutely, you should call your pediatrician for more suggestions/opinions. That's always a good call!

J.

My 15 month old takes a bottle before bed as well and I am not cutting it out! He has had his beautiful teeth for a while and they are fine. All the research I have done has shown that the rotting teeth is because parents let their babies take the bottle to bed with them and thay fall asleep with it or are able to take it all night long. I brush my son's teeth every night at bathtime (as well as you can brush a toddlers teeth) and his teeth are fine. Don't worry!! You're kids pearlies will stay pearly!

I was told from my pediatrician and the research I did that you are not supposed to give a kid a bottle when he is older than 1, that you need to switch to sippy cups. I was also told not to let them take bottles to bed. If necessary, give them a bottle/sippy cup of milk before bed and then brush their teeth afterwards. I stick to this because I have sensitive teeth and I know that if I don't follow these things genetics and pure laziness will be working against them. I don't know why people start giving their kids bottles in bed, but it's not good for them (I guess I got lucky and my twins didn't need to have something in the bed with them like that to help them sleep, that or the schedule that we made for them helped us to avoid this). A pacifier (for a period of time, not when they are 5 or anything!) is a lot better. I also wouldn't listen to parents who think that because so far their kids teeth haven't rotted that they know what they are talking about. Basically when it's all said and done, you want to do what is best for your child. If you don't mind the thought of them having to go through the rotted out teeth pictures and any pain that may be associated with it, then that's up to you. I, however, look at my 17 month old twin boys beautiful smiles and know that I need to do the best thing for them and that is to take care of those teeth by not giving them bottles now that they are over a year, not letting them sleep with any kind of juice, and letting the last thing (besides the pacifier) that goes in their mouth before bed be a toothbrush (which, by the way, they love to chew on and have in their mouth because it feels good on the little bit of gums they have left, just in case you think it might be difficult to do)! I hope this helps your decision some...

So A., I am wondering with all of this advice what path you will choose? I too have heard that the rot has to do more with Genetics. My first son went to bed with a bottle of formula until the age of 1. He did not take it in the bed with him, but he did get one before bed. He was also breast fed for the first 6 months of life. All of his teeth have been fine. My second son was on the Nutramigine formula and at the age of 18 months was still waking in the middle of the night for a bottle and had a bottle prior to bed. (I had spoiling issues with him :) We have not had any problems with his teeth. My daughter was BF until the age of 10 mnths. She stopped the middle of the night feeding at 9 months. She would have Organic formula prior to bed in a bottle. At 9 months we began to introduce the sippy cup. I noticed she did not like any that had hard tips ad preferred the "soft spout" ones. At 13 months we made the transition to all sippy cup and stopped the bed time bottles and she has not had a problem since. Her teeth all seem to be fine. Currently our dilemma is getting her to relinquish the pacifier (at 14 months). Know that whatever decision you make it is the right one no matter what the outcome because your are their mama and you are doing the best job you can!

Jenn
Mama to Bryce~9 Austin~6 Taylor~ 14 mnths
Step Mama to Nich~ 15 Christian~ 14

A lot of times, it's up to genetics if your teeth have bad kids or not. When drinking from a bottle, the milk or juice has a tendency to collect in the mouth, making the teeth rot when they go to sleep with it. It's because they don't brush their teeth afterwards. If you are really worried, take a wet cloth and wipe their teeth/gums down or brush their teeth. Do it at least twice a day. Hope this is helpful.

Y.

I spoke with my pediatrician about this recently. I think that the problem would be them falling asleep with the bottle in their mouth becuase then the milk is just sitting against their teeth. As long as they aren't falling asleep with it I think you are fine. My daughter (9 1/2 months) goes in her crib with her bottle at night while I finish getting my son (2 1/2) ready for bed. After he is in bed I go in a take the bottle out of her crib, is she hasn't already thrown it. I used to let my son fall have his bottle in bed too, but then I would always go in a make sure he tossed it aside...if it was still near his mouth I would put his pacifier in his mouth instead to make sure he sucked all of the milk out of his mouth. At some point before 1 1/2 I stopped giving him the bottle at night and starting trying to calm him with his bath and storytime routine. It seemed to work fine. If you are really concerned myabe you could let them have their bottles while you read thier stories and then brush and put them to bed. Oh, my sons teeth are perfectly fine too. I hope this helps.

Babies are just not supposed to go to bed with a bottle of milk with them. It's said that if they do that they'll drink a little bit and leave some sitting in their mouth and the sugar and whatever else is in there starts to rot their teeth. My kids have fine teeth, they have milk before bed and then when they're actually in bed they get cups of water.

Hello A., it is so funny you asked that question today of all days. To answer your questioned. It is because they fall asleep with the bottle in their mouths and their teeth are not brushed afterwards. The milk sits on their teeth and due to the content of natural sugar in milk a cavity could start. It also depends on your baby, if he wakes up throughout the night and sucks from the bottle several times during the night it could be even worse on his teeth. Water is really the best thing to do. I being a new mom nursed my baby at night and when I finally got him down for the evening I was so happy that he was asleep I didn’t want to wake him so I would just let him go. The problem is my baby woke up 3-4 times a night for the first year and a half. The only thing that would sooth him back to sleep was to nurse. Because I would get up in a daze I would not always wipe his mouth out after he was finished. The end result was that when he got his first set of teeth. I noticed that they were not as white. I took him to the dentist and we have been dealing with it since. The good news is that it was only his two front teeth that were affected. Due to my wanting to comfort him I caused more harm to my baby. I was instructed to immediately stopped nursering him. Breast milk is a lot sweeter than formula. It was the most difficult time I had with my precious baby. He had gotten use to his routine, and did not want to stop nursering. He has already had two outpatient surgeries to put partials on the front teeth. He was playing at Gymboree the other day and knocked one of his partials out. So we were scheduled for his third minor surgery today, to replace it. But the fact that he had a cold they could not perform the procedure. So we are scheduled to go back late April. Of course I would do anything for my child, and this is the least important thing but it has cost my Husband and I about 10,000 to date to correct it. I know that many parents would not have corrected it but he is my child and It was my fault and as stated earlier I will do anything for him. I know that this is long but I have been up since 5:30 this morning getting him ready for his procedure, which was unable to be performed. I hope this helps if you want you can email to ask me additionally questions you may. I would also like to say that your questioned is a good questioned. I was always taught that there are never silly questions just silly answers. Good luck, K..