Infant caries or bottle-feeding syndrome

Caries is not a problem only of children who already consume solid foods, decay can also affect breast-feeding babies. Also known as Baby Bottle Syndrome , early childhood caries is a very serious and severe disease that can destroy the baby's first teeth. Usually, parents tend to minimize the impor

Caries is not a problem only of children who already consume solid foods, decay can also affect breast-feeding babies. Also known as Baby Bottle Syndrome, early childhood caries is a very serious and severe disease that can destroy the baby's first teeth.

Usually, parents tend to minimize the importance of teething babies. They do not consider it as important as the definitive one. The cavities of the bottle are related to the custom of prolonged sucking of the pacifier or bottle, especially when they have sugary substances.

What is bottle syndrome?

It is a disease that rapidly destroys temporary teeth, causing alterations of functional, aesthetic, phonation and nutrition in babies, since milk teeth are essential for both chewing and for children's speech. Initially, the caries affects the upper incisors and its appearance is related to the habit of sucking the pacifier or bottle, with liquids containing sucrose at bedtime.

What Causes Infant Caries

To avoid bottle syndrome in babies, it is necessary to consider what causes and causes this disease. The most common causes of infant syndrome:

1- Allow the baby to play with the bottle

2- Allow the baby to fall asleep with the bottle in his mouth

3- Breastfeed the baby for prolonged periods

4- The Sugar, present in both formula and breast milk, in prolonged contact with the baby's teeth can cause tooth decay.

The effects of bottle syndrome on babies

The consequences of infant caries are visible in early childhood. The effects do not wait. Bottle cavities can cause the baby to lose the baby tooth, have problems in the ear and with language and feel pain. That is why it is very important to prevent cavities in childhood.

How to avoid infant caries

Early childhood caries can be prevented. How? We tell you:

1- Prevent the baby from falling asleep while breastfeeding, bottle or breast.

2- The bottle should not be a toy for the baby. The bottle should be just an instrument for feeding. The bottle is not a pacifier.

3- Establish the habit of removing the bottle when the baby has fed enough.

4- Teach the baby to use a cup to drink water or juice, by 8 to 12 months of age. Little by little, you should remove the bottle during the day and take it with the cup. Do not prolong the use of the bottle by babies.

5- Do not add sugar to the fruit juices of babies. The child must get used to being satisfied with the natural sugar of fruits. The same with fruit porridges.

6- Avoid soaking the pacifier in sugar or in any other sweetened substance before offering it to the baby.

7- Avoid prolonged use of both the bottle and the pacifier, and even breastfeeding.