I too have had the experience of four long-term (and all night long) nursing
children showing very different patterns with dental caries. My daughter
(second child) had many cavities in her molars (none in front teeth) by the
time she was three, and dentist told me it was "from carrying a bottle
around all day long and at night." I told him she had never had a bottle and
he told me I was lying. When I explained she was breastfed, he said that
must be the cause. However, my doctor told me she felt it was flawed enamel,
that she had noticed when those molars first came through that there seemed
to be areas not properly covered with enamel. I was on medication during my
pregnancy with Lisa and wonder if that caused the problem.

My three boys have had few cavities. My youngest (who nursed all night long
until he was almost five) had more sugar, etc., than the others as a toddler
and preschooler, because the older kids would give him treats. Yet he had no
cavities at age four. Lisa, the one with the worst problems, never had much
taste for sweet things and rarely consumed sugar.

So I remain completely unconvinced that night nursing (or daytime nursing
for that matter) has any effect on cavities.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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