Kathy Thorp was looking for information about a dentist who wrote in a
hospital newsletter that breastfeeding should be stopped by a year to avoid
caries.  I don't know about that one, but an article in the July-August
1994 issue of Dentistry for Children said the same thing, and might have
been his source of information:

Tsubouchi J et al. Baby bottle tooth decay: A study of baby bottle tooth
decay and risk factors for 18-month old infants in rural Japan.  Journal of
Dentistry for Children 1994;61(4):293-298

"Prolonged breast feeding for eighteen-month-olds enhances the occurrence
of dental caries and the increase of caries activity.  Some researchers
have stated that 12 to 18 months is an appropriate age for breast weaning.
The authors usually instruct that breast weaning should be completed by
twelve months."

(The researchers cited are published in Japanese journals.)

This is the information circulated in dental circles.  I am not saying that
I agree with it, just that it is what dentists will be reading.

anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, WI
e-mail address:   [log in to unmask]