Healthy Baby Teeth from the Beginning

Healthy baby teeth – an important prerequisite for the health of subsequent teeth. With proper care and nutrition, teeth and gums stay healthy from the beginning!

9 Tips on how to keep baby teeth healthy as they are forming.

  1. If possible, breastfeed your child for the first four to six months of life. This will give your child everything necessary to grow and ward off illness. Milk is both food and drink. Additional fluids are not usually necessary. Only in case of great heat or feverish illnesses, you can give your baby some more water, for example, with the teaspoon.
  2. Do not give your child a plastic bottle for constant “self-service” in the crib or stroller. Any sweet liquid is bad for the teeth when continuously sucking: fruit and vegetable juices, even diluted or sweetened teas. Continuous sucking causes teat bottle caries. The upper incisors in particular can be damaged to such an extent that they turn completely black or even break off. It is best to buy only glass bottles, then you will not be tempted to give your child the bottle to “self-service”.
  3. What to do if your child does not sleep through the night? Reassure him, but do not give him a bottle to suck. Drinking at night will cause your child to wake up more often and want to drink again. A cycle of waking up and wanting to drink develops. Your child and yourself no longer get a good night’s rest. If your child wakes up at night and cries, it is good if you yourself stay calm. To fall asleep again helps soothing speech, soft singing, physical contact, a cuddly bear, maybe a pacifier.
  4. What to do if your child is already accustomed to getting the bottle in bed? Aim for a weaning within four weeks, because eating and drinking belong to the awake phases of the day; rest and night times are for sleeping. During the transition period, make sure you bottle only tap water, still mineral water or homemade, unsweetened tea.
  5. Even the first milk tooth wants to be cared for: with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Start brushing as soon as the first baby tooth is there. Use a baby toothbrush to brush the little teeth in the morning and evening. In the evening, put “a touch” of fluoride-containing children’s toothpaste on the brush. From the second birthday, you should use a pea-sized amount of children’s toothpaste twice a day in the morning and evening.
  6. Buy table salt labeled “iodine and fluoride” for cooking and salting. This is important for your child once he participates in the family diet. The fluoride contained in the salt hardens the teeth.
  7. Give your child in between small cut fruit or vegetables. This tastes, is healthy and stimulates chewing – the teeth are happy about it, because they have something to do. Children do not need sweets, sweet drinks or salty snacks like chips for their well-being all the time.
  8. As soon as your child can sit on his own, help him drink from a cup. At the latest from the first birthday, your child should only drink from the cup or mug and no longer from the bottle. In the beginning, the child still spills. Put water in the cup, it will not make sticky stains. Most children do not need a cup with a spout. If, then only for a short transition period of no more than four weeks.
  9. A pacifier is useful for infants because they still have a high need to suck. However, as soon as upper and lower front teeth are there, you should wean your child off the pacifier; this is around the 10th month. In order for the jaw to develop properly, neither pacifiers nor thumbs should remain pushed between the teeth for long periods of time from this point on. Especially when your child has fallen asleep, pull the pacifier out of the mouth again. If your child starts sucking his thumb, offer him a pacifier as a substitute – it is easier to get out of the habit. After the first birthday at the latest, your child will no longer need the pacifier. Praise and imaginative stories help to wean and explain to the child the “disappearance” or handing over (pacifier fairy, Santa Claus…).

Rejoice in your success!

Show your child’s healthy teeth to the pediatrician and dentist. At two and a half years, your child has all the milk teeth. At the latest, you should present the child to a dentist for regular care.