A Mother's Discovery

a mother's experience nurturing her little ones, treasuring every single family moments with her loved ones and sharing her thoughts on day-to-day life experience, breastfeeding and natural parenting ...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

sweet tooth...


i remember when my Jihan had her first tooth...she was about 7 -8 months...it was the the lower central incisors...they emerged one by one...then it stopped...for quite some time...i started to worry and asked my dentist why the other teeth have not erupted yet...she said not to worry, in fact i should be thankful because the later they come out, the later they'll get dental carries....


we waited quite long for the other teeth to come out...when she was almost 1 year old, then the upper central incisors emerged...by then she had 4 teeth...we didn't give her foods that were hard and difficult to chew as she only had her gums to chew on the food.....


when she was about 15 months then she had most of her teeth erupted...by then she ate almost everything...


we have no problems to care for Jihan's teeth...we started brushing her soft gums when she was about 4 months....when she got bigger, we bought her her own toothbrush and toothpaste...and now, she is able to brush her own teeth....twice a day...and she really loves it...


besides that, we do not introduce chocolates and sweets to her...once a while, she got to taste them but those sweet foods are not in her dietary plans....and she never had a taste of carbonated drinks...that can promote dental carries if your child indulges into them...


it is not difficult to care for the little one's teeth....avoid sweet foods and instill the habit of good dental hygiene in them since young....by starting early, your baby will become used to having his teeth cleaned and hopefully, you will avoid future problems with brushing...


also avoid acidic, sugary or fizzy drinks especially between meals, at bedtime or during the night as a comforter..tooth decay can occur if a baby has long and frequent exposure to sugary drinks given in a bottle...if possible avoid night feeding where the bottle is stucked at your baby's mouth for a long time....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right about not introducing sweets to the little ones. I'm a mother of two lovely girls and they were not allowed any sweets when they were small. They're now 21 and 18, never had any tooth decay for their milk teeth dropped off in due time (in still good condition), never knew the agony of toothache (they used to ask me how it felt!) and have beautiful (thx to braces), healthy teeth.