Yet another encouragement to introduce your dentist to Dr. Palmer's website. Plus a couple comments of my own:
I've been working with monthly discussion circles exclusively for "extended" or "sustained" nursing since January 1993. Rarely does a child enter this circle without a history of co-sleeping and night nursing. Rare too is the child with dental caries! We occasionally see a child with dental challenges but s/he is generally the exception in a family of nursed siblings.
Currently a friend is nursing 3 year old twins. One has dental issues, the other has none ( overalneither did big brother). The mother is well-educated on all related matters (will sit for the IBCLE exam this summer) and continues to nurse, including nighttime, while stepping up other dental hygiene practices.
Children often nurse more than once a night at this age, more than doubling the challenge of weaning for mothers of twins -- a process rarely understood by outsiders to the situation!
This is a parenting issue as much as a medical one. Some children develop dental caries in spite of breastfeeding, not because of it.
Night weaning greatly speeds up the overall weaning process, particularly when mom is separated during the day by employment. This should be mother's choice or child's choice, not "dentist's choice!"
Susan Johnson MFA, IBCLC, RLC
Salt Lake City, Utah
My twins still breastfeed during the nights. They are 21 months. I work
during the day, and breastfeeding at nights has been working great for us=.
Unfortunately, last week, we took care of their cavities. The dentist
assured me that the cause is the night breatfeedings.
I need an advice of how to wean them from the night feedings.
Thanks,
Vivianne Jakobs, RN, MSN, IBCLC
***********************************************
It is NOT night feedings. Your dentist is woefully out of touch with the
science and the facts. In fact, breastfeeding, at night and otherwise, has most
certainly reduced the number and severity of their caries. Caries are NOT
caused by breastmilk, or by nursing at night. They are caused by a bacteria in
the mouth, with the likelihood of caries increased by maternal stress during
pregnancy, genetics, and antibiotic used during the 2nd trimester. Brian Palmer
is a good source for information about breastfeeding and caries,
http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/ and LLL has some good articles on their website
as well.
Joylyn Souter
------------------------------
Brian just gave his presentation last night (Dutch time...) for GOLD,
explaining this.
It's carbohydrates ADDED to breastmilk, that cause caries.
If it would be mm, it would cause caries anyway, not just during the night.
It's the other substances or not good enough oral hygiene and the number of
'sweet' moment over the day.
Good advice, to have your dentist checkout Brian's site... as long as it
stays up-to-date!
GOLD announced he is retiring completely now and yesterday was his last
lecture... :-(
Bye,
Marianne Vanderveen IBCLC, Netherlands (and like a severely addicted junkie
hooked to the GOLD-site this weekend ;o))
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
