• It is important to clean your baby’s gums/teeth after each breast or bottle feeding. By using your finger and a baby sock or washcloth, wipe the gums and teeth gently to remove sugars from breast milk and formula that cause cavities. Whether or not the baby is asleep or awake it is important to clean their mouth after each feeding. The baby will gradually adjust to you cleaning their mouth after each feeding and continue to sleep.
• Do not put your baby to bed with a bottle filled with milk or juice. By putting your baby to bed with a milk or juice bottle you are allowing the sugars found in the liquid to lay on your baby’s teeth all throughout the night and cause cavities, also known as Baby Bottle Syndrome. If they need a bottle to sleep, fill it with water only.
• By the age of 1 your baby has the ability to drink out of a cup or a straw. It is very important for the health of your baby’s mouth that you have him/her off the bottle by then.
• As your baby grows and starts teething you should massage their gums to reduce discomfort. At about 3 months old, your baby may start drooling; a sure sign of teething. Be sure to start massaging their gums at 3 months and continue up until they grow their first tooth around 5 or 6 months. You should bring your baby for their first dental visit once they grow their first tooth.
• Babies are not born with the germs that cause cavities in their mouth. These germs can be transferred from parent to baby very easily. By kissing your child on the mouth your saliva (spit), which has the germs in it, touches their mouth and is transferred to them. By testing the temperature of the baby’s food and sharing from the same cup you can also transfer germs. If your baby’s pacifier or bottle falls on the floor rinse it off with water rather than your mouth. It is IMPORTANT that parents and people in close contact with the baby have HEALTHY CLEAN mouths.
  

Future Care for Babies Mouth:

• As your “child” grows and begins to lose teeth, between the ages of 4 And 7, many times the adult tooth will begin to grow before the baby tooth has fallen out. This is completely NORMAL. Your child will again experience some teething pain.