Breast feeding brings smile, not tooth decay

Dear Doctor,

My wife and I were told by our pediatric dentist that Wayan, our two-year-old son, will require extensive dental restoration to repair damage to his teeth caused by his mothers milk. As new parents, we read all that we could on the subject of child care. Nothing that we read warned us that nursing could be the cause of cavities. Perhaps you might inform your readers about this matter to prevent the same case from occurring to another family. Thankfully we have the financial wherewithal to have our sons teeth repaired, but we realize there are those that do not. A warning from you, dear doctor, may save a smile.

-- Brian, Swasti & Wayan Crain

Dear Brian,

Thank you for your letter but I must tell you that your comments raise many questions for me. It is my opinion and experience that breast feeding is the best, safest and most effective way to prevent tooth decay, so I must ask you: How many teeth your son has? Which teeth are decayed? Does your son drink fruit juice or formula milk from a bottle? Does your son ever sleep with a bottle? And finally, do you brush his teeth?

I am sorry that I cannot be of more help as I have no evidence that breast feeding can be harmful to tooth development in infants under a year old. However, I will say that after an infant is a year old and many teeth develop, breast milk -- even though not as likely nor as severe as fruit juice or formula -- can cause decay if the child does not swallow and lets the milk stay in the mouth during the night. To prevent this type of decay from happening, be sure that the child is propped up and has swallowed before going to sleep.

-- Dr. Donya

Dear Dr. Donya,

Hi! I've been reading your features regularly every Wednesday in The Jakarta Post and find all the information of great help to me. I hope you can also help me with my problem.

My daughter just turned a year old, but until today, she is not able to walk on her own. She has been active walking since she was six months old, but I rarely put her in the walker since her pediatrician advised against it as she might develop fear of walking independently. She prefers to walk when someone is with her. But now to my surprise, she has developed way too much fear of walking. When I walk with her and slowly withdraw my hand, she immediately senses it, freezes and then cries. I have tried everything I can, including attracting her attention with her favorite toys, but she simply refuses to budge.

For your information, whenever she walks with someone, she runs in excitement and stumbles. She also does not look where she is going. Is that the reason for her fear? I also put light weight shoes on her every time she wants to walk and have been doing so since six months. Is this O.K.?

She has never crawled either. What is the right age for babies to crawl and also to walk? Doctor, please advise me as to what I should do?

I've also been told to change her milk to the one for children above one year of age. I tried the follow-up milk on her. She does take it, but not as well as the milk which she was drinking. The one I'm giving her can be given for infants six months to three years of age. A lot of people advised me to change because of the high nutritional value since children are basically more active after one year of age. Is it advisable? How good is cow's milk for her? Can I give her some once a day in the mornings? Thank you immensely. Awaiting your response eagerly.

-- Vindhiya

Dear Vindhiya,

Your questions are about when the baby starts crawling, walking and wearing shoes. I will start with crawling. Most babies start dragging themselves across the floor any time between six to nine months old, crawling is next, which is at around eight to 10 months.

Occasionally, some healthy normal babies never crawl at all, they just sit until they learn to stand up. You didn't mention about standing. I assume your daughter can stand on her own. Normally, babies can stand by the end of the first year but some are faster and some are slower. They are all still in the normal development average as long as they are healthy, seem bright and responsive in other ways.

One important thing to note about when babies start to stand is, they don't know how to sit down again. This situation creates a bit of confusion for the baby. She may stand until exhausted or cry within a few minutes after standing. But one day, she will find out how to let herself down. After that, she will learn to move around objects using two hands then with one until eventually she will let her hands go for a few second, not realizing what she is doing, meaning she is getting ready to walk.

Parents don't have to do anything to teach the child to walk. When her muscles, nerves and spirit are ready, you will not be able to stop her. There are a lot of factors that determine the age of walking; inheritance, illness and bad experiences. Most babies learn to walk between 12 and 15 months.

Now as to your question, I do not think there is anything wrong with your daughter's development and also there is no rush, like I said, she has time. You have to let her be ready when she wants. If she still wants to sit or stand and cry when you take her to walk, pulling your hand away from her is not a good idea and that may affect her fear. It is wise to let her regress to standing for a while and when she is ready she will walk again. Remember, there is no rush.

I also think shoes may effect her balance. There is no need to put anything on her feet until she is walking outdoors. And it's good for the child to go barefoot indoors till the age of two or three. There is a real value in developing the arches of the feet which are flat and are gradually built up along with the strengthening of the ankle through walking without shoes. When she does begin to wear shoes, they should be the right size and replaced frequently as babies outgrow shoes at a fast rate. The shoes should have a space at the toe and be comfortably wide.

As for her milk, there is nothing wrong with using formula for children six months to three years old because milk is not the main food source any more. You can give her formula two or three times a day and it is still not too much. Good luck and let me know if she gets pass the fear of walking.

-- Dr. Donya