Powdered Milk Causes Rot In Baby Teeth?

[limbos]

In a recent thread I read that powdered milk causes rot in baby teeth.

Our oldest daughter of 3 has serious caries and I wonder if this is caused by the powered milk she consumes.

What are alternatives and is 'normal' milk one of them? If so, as of at what age?

[leisurely]

Fom what I can understand, Thai baby milk has a lot of sugar added to it. Too late for your daughters baby teeth, but look after the second ones carefully. Supervised brushing from now on and not too many sugary snacks, even fruit. Deciduous teeth affect the way adult teeth grow through apparently. I never thought it mattered if ours got caries etc. but the dentist disabused me of this myth. You only get two sets, look after both.

[think_too_mut]

In a recent thread I read that powdered milk causes rot in baby teeth.

Our oldest daughter of 3 has serious caries and I wonder if this is caused by the powered milk she consumes.

What are alternatives and is 'normal' milk one of them? If so, as of at what age?

Our daughter is 2 years old, has never sucked mother's milk, lives on powder milk and has perfect teeth. If there was anything wrong with the milk I would expect to see at least some sign of decay.

Her teeth came out later than with other children. We were told, early teeth (a friend's baby had, at 8 months of age, 4 bottom and 2 up) usualy lead to early decay, no matter what food is fed to the baby.

[steveromagnino]

In a recent thread I read that powdered milk causes rot in baby teeth.

Our oldest daughter of 3 has serious caries and I wonder if this is caused by the powered milk she consumes.

What are alternatives and is 'normal' milk one of them? If so, as of at what age?

Our daughter is 2 years old, has never sucked mother's milk, lives on powder milk and has perfect teeth. If there was anything wrong with the milk I would expect to see at least some sign of decay.

Her teeth came out later than with other children. We were told, early teeth (a friend's baby had, at 8 months of age, 4 bottom and 2 up) usualy lead to early decay, no matter what food is fed to the baby.

Not having mother's milk is a major issue; a baby should definitely have mother's milk as much as possible preferably to age 12 months.

THe lactose issue alone puts me off cows milk; and teeth rot is not that much better.... hmmm.

[limbos]

Steve,

At the moment we're discussing a 3 year old.

One at a time please.

What's hte alternative for a 1 year old than?

[Goldenbead]

All of my children had mother's milk and then formula until the age of about 14 months at which time I switched them to normal pasteurized cows milk.

One very important thing to keep in mind is never let your child have milk immediately before bed and then fall asleep without cleaning her teeth. Don't let her fall asleep with a bottle (of milk) in her mouth. That will lead to decay aka bottle caries.

[Beachbunny]

It's not the milk. I'm surprised some of you don't know this. It's long been known, (at least in the states) that you don't put your baby to bed with a bottle. The natural sugars in the milk (not added sugars, which make it even worse) will affect your babies teeth. I also see a lot of thai people giving their toddlers and older children bottles way past weaning. Also not good for the teeth.

Of course you can't get rotten teeth from mother's milk as the baby doesn't take it to bed with him/her, unless of course the mother has expressed (pumped) her milk for bottle when she's not available.

My neice here had the same problem with rotted baby teeth. She was given the bottle any time she wanted and way past weaning. Not just regular milk but sweetened chocolate milk too. Really sad to see a pretty child smile with a mouth full of rotten teeth.

Beachbunny

[PeaceBlondie]

Half of my six kids got my teeth, easily decaying. Three of the children were nursed by their mother in the family bed until they were about three years old (not uncommon in many countries, but we were a bit excessive). They often fell asleep with milk in their mouth. My third son had to have almost all his baby teeth capped when he was about four years old because they were mottled. It required general anasthesia.

We used to feed the babies powdered skim milk after they weaned, but it had no fat. Babies need fat.

[Thomas_Merton]

In a recent thread I read that powdered milk causes rot in baby teeth.

..

Our son spent most of his "milk" years in Thailand, drinking a substitute for Mother's milk.

Since his arrival in Denmark (and later the UK) he has had to have regular care from a dentist - ranging from 2 extractions to several fillings. He completes his final visit (he is now seven and has lost most of his "milk" teeth) next month. All his teeth will then be lacquered in the hope this will help to prevent any repeat of, what has been, quite a traumatic experience for him.

So please, if you wish to avoid any problems, always use real Mother's milk - better to fall asleep at the breast than with a bottle in his mouth.

There are, of course other positives with the real thing - vitamins, hormones and all those mysterious chemicals only found in a Mother's body.

Cows milk and man made milk can never be an adequate substitute for the real thing.

[think_too_mut]

Now you made me scratch my head. My daughetr might have been lucky so far with nice teeth but 2 years on powder milk and falling asleep 3 times a day (now) with bottle, according to the posts, should show some or many negative signs.

To stop the habbit, what should I do? Can't see her giving up on the milk bottle before sleep easilly.

[Gulliver_in_LOS]

From birth to now, our 6 months old baby was "trained" to always drink a little water before and just after his milk meals. Do you think this routine would help to prevent this problem? Seriously my hair stands up when I read about the above general anesthesia operation...

[think_too_mut]

From birth to now, our 6 months old baby was "trained" to always drink a little water before and just after his milk meals. Do you think this routine would help to prevent this problem? Seriously my hair stands up when I read about the above general anesthesia operation...

Upset with the same thing, I raised the question this morning and was calmed down with "In 2 months, before all teeth are out, no more bottle. Only glass of milk and teeth brushing after".

Our doctor at Samitivej, aware that the baby has had never sucked mother's milk, advised on last visit ( I was not present).

Still, I am not on ease.

[Gulliver_in_LOS]

From birth to now, our 6 months old baby was "trained" to always drink a little water before and just after his milk meals. Do you think this routine would help to prevent this problem? Seriously my hair stands up when I read about the above general anesthesia operation...

Upset with the same thing, I raised the question this morning and was calmed down with "In 2 months, before all teeth are out, no more bottle. Only glass of milk and teeth brushing after".

Our doctor at Samitivej, aware that the baby has had never sucked mother's milk, advised on last visit ( I was not present).

Still, I am not on ease.

After some googling, we found out that this risk increases with the exposure time to sugary liquids, including milk and juices, as the bacteria in the teeth and gum feed from it, and produce the acids which lead to the decay. Therefore sleeping with a bottle will provide a constant flow of sugar for the bacteria for long hours in a day, and the effects are accumulated over the months and years. Some doctors recommend that a bedtime bottle should only contain water.

[PeaceBlondie]

Repeating: mother's milk has lactose, which is natural milk sugar. My kids were breast fed past age three. The non-identical twins had soft teeth enamel (one) and hard teeth enamel (the other). All the kids with soft enamel got terrible cases of "bottle mouth" on their front teeth.

The anaesthesiologist scared me with his canned speech before I signed off on the operation. In medical terms he said, "Your 4 year old is going to be put to sleep. Then I turn off all his natural functions, such as breathing. Then I try hard to keep him alive, but if he dies, it's not my fault."

[astral]

I also see a lot of thai people giving their toddlers and older children bottles way past weaning. Also not good for the teeth.

My neice here had the same problem with rotted baby teeth. She was given the bottle any time she wanted and way past weaning. Not just regular milk but sweetened chocolate milk too. Really sad to see a pretty child smile with a mouth full of rotten teeth.

Beachbunny

My step son would not give up his bottle until he was 6.

His baby teeth were a real mess and we are also struggling to

keep his adult teeth in good order.

[tuky]

excuse the ignorance, but what are caries?

Also, I always thought that bad baby teeth seemd to be more a genetic thing, as peaceblondie says some of his kids had problems but some didn't, the same was true in my family. I had strong teeth as did my brother but my two sisters had weak teeth that turned brown amd rotted, they then passed that onto the some of their kids.

We all had the same amount of time on the same type of milks.

Just seems to me that it is luck of the draw so to speak.

Luckily my 2 year old daughter has great teeth, even though she sleeps with a bottle in her mouth. She does however love to brush her teeth during the day.

[britmaveric]

Niece grew up on powdered milk - she's nearly 3 now and has great teeth. Its about hygiene not if its powder or natural.

Edited March 2, 2006 by britmaveric

[think_too_mut]

Also, I always thought that bad baby teeth seemd to be more a genetic thing, as peaceblondie says some of his kids had problems but some didn't, the same was true in my family.

Hope it works for my daughter too. I had excellent teeth (it was my fault to neglect them), the mother has beautiful teeth, not a single filling.

[astral]

Luckily my 2 year old daughter has great teeth, even though she sleeps with a bottle in her mouth. She does however love to brush her teeth during the day.

Get her off that bottle at bed time.

Give her a dummy if she must have something to suck,

and get her disciplined as soon as possible to clean her

teeth before sleeping.

[daleyboy]

Steve,

At the moment we're discussing a 3 year old.

One at a time please.

What's hte alternative for a 1 year old than?

I have been reading that cows milk is only suitable for childrean over the age of 1. Maybe you could try soya milk, seems to be plenty of that in Thailand