Gretchen:

     this is both a touchy and a complex issue....

     bottle mouth syndrome results from milk/juice pooling behind the front
teeth....as you know when the infant sucks on the bottle liquid come out...
the bottle nipple is usually just past the gum line.

      in breast feeding the nipple is extended 2 1/2 times its resting size
so that the nipple rests on the soft palate..the tongue moving in a
peristalic motion from front to back bring the milk to the nipple, the
intraoral pressure changes and the milk is released. the milk is released at
the back of the troat and swallowed.  when an infant is sleeping the
intraoral pressure to hold the nipple in the back is not there but neither is
the tongue motion to bring the milk out.

      the likely hood of "bottle mouth syndrome" in breastfed infants is
remote...consider history...this phenomenom is  unknown in history or bf
cultures...possiblky kathy d. can add from her weath of knowledge...

      i would not say unequivically that it can not happen.  i am sure that
one could make a case for milk in the sinus or at nipple tip spilling into
the mouth after the suction is released...

      additionally,  my understanding is that dental detruction and decay is
in large part a result of body flora and chemistry...

             hope this helps..."high maintenace" children are a challenge to
parents and their caregivers...this mother is lucky to have to there and
available to her.

                            patricia