Angel Baby Blog

This is for all you great mothers out there who are always thinking about your children and how to keep them safe, happy and healthy.  A major aspect of raising your children is caring for their teeth.  I never knew that brushing teeth twice a day could become such a chore until I had four mouths to clean every day– my own and my three kids!  So here’s my two cents on children and toothpaste.

Before I had kids I went to school and became a dental hygienist, so I know a lot about caring for teeth.  I am trying to apply this as I raise my own children.  Just thought I would pass along a little bit of information that came to my attention the other day… again!

In case you were not aware of this fact, children under five years of age should NOT have fluoridated toothpaste.  Kids under that age are not capable of spitting as well as they need to in order to not swallow harmful levels of toothpaste.

I just went to the store to buy toothpaste for my little boys, age 4 and 2.  Of course they wanted to choose the “cool” toothpaste– you know what I’m talking about.  Disney Pixar’s “Cars” and Marvel’s “Spiderman” themed toothpaste containers really caught their attention.  But, looking at the Active Ingredients list, the first one listed on every tube of children’s toothpaste was Sodium Flouride.

One might argue that kids’ teeth need the extra fluoride that they may get from swallowing a little bit of toothpaste here and there.  However, what most people don’t realize is that fluoride is a potentially dangerous chemical and can cause some serious harm if swallowed in excessive amounts.  Now, take this dangerous substance and make it bubble gum flavored.  If you think that a one, two, three, or four year old wouldn’t eat that any chance they got, you’ve probably never had kids of your own.

In addition to this, most cities in the United States add Fluoride to the waterways in order to benefit the teeth of children.  This means of course that children are exposed to plenty of fluoride during their teeth’s formative years; possibly even excessive fluoridation over time.

Studies have shown that fluoride is beneficial to the teeth when given topically (meaning placed on the teeth), but are inconclusive when it comes to systemic fluoridation (meaning fluoride eaten or swallowed and reaching the teeth through the blood stream).   One thing is certain though, more studies need to be done to see what the long term benefits and risks are for exposing ourselves and our children to fluoride– both for the teeth and for the body as a whole.

Fluoride in toothpaste, however, has long been known to cause problems in children who are unable to rinse and spit sufficiently enough because of their age and physical capabilities.  Fluoride swallowed in excessive amounts can cause an upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, and any number of other problems.  Even fluoride swallowed in tiny amounts at a time can build up and cause numerous problems in later years– problems that we may not even know we are causing yet!

So, because I know all of this and I want to do what is best for my kids, which is to not use Fluoridated toothpaste until they are old enough, I have to deprive them of their cartoon character toothpaste tubes and shop for their toothpaste on the baby aisle.  Baby tooth and gum cleanser with sorbitol (a different form of sugar that does not allow bacteria to grow) instead of sodium fluoride is the safest bet until children reach five years of age and can spit and rinse properly.

This probably comes as a shock to all of you great mothers out there who are concerned for the health of your children’s teeth and get them children’s toothpaste with all the fun characters as an incentive to promote good tooth brushing habits.  Hooray for you!  But, keep in mind that if you do allow them to use fluoride toothpaste that you should always monitor them and make sure that none gets swallowed.  Treat it like your bathroom cleansers, meaning keep it away from children when not under adult supervision.

And remember, good habits start young!  So by all means teach your kids to brush their teeth several times a day and to eat healthy foods so they don’t have to deal with all the problems that come from tooth decay (cavities) and weight issues.

Just like every mother I want the best for my kids, and so I just thought I would pass along this tidbit of information for you to thinkabout and watch out for.  From past experiences I know that fluoridation can be a controversial subject.  So, let’s get talking.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments by leaving a comment below!

One of the biggest challenges of raising babies and children is keeping them fed and happy. Almost the minute a baby is born, even before the difficulty of labor and childbirth is entirely over, a newborn should be introduced to the world of breastfeeding, if the mother chooses to breastfeed.

When I was younger I had no idea what breastfeeding entailed. I thought, since it is the natural choice for feeding a baby, that breastfeeding just came naturally to infant and mother and that it was easy and convenient to do. When I was expecting my first baby I was given information on breast feeding and discussed it with my doctor. Still, I was not prepared for the actuality of the situation when the day finally arrived.

My baby boy wouldn’t latch on properly and when he did he promptly fell asleep within a minute. Needless to say, it took us several weeks to come to an understanding– I had to be available for feeding 24/7 and he got to eat whenever he decided to. By the time he was six weeks old or so we had a pretty good feeding schedule and he was getting to be a pro at the whole idea.

However, something else that I had not been prepared for was the discomfort that I felt. Not all new mothers experience pain from breastfeeding their babies, but with my first I had such tremendous pain sometimes that I would just sit and cry while my baby was eating. I wasn’t about to quit, because I know how good it is for the baby, but it definitely was not the sweet bonding experience that I had always thought it would be. It hurt 90% of the time until we were finally done breastfeeding nine months later.

My second baby was different. He latched on well right after he was born, and aside from some minor ups and downs through the months ahead it was a much better experience. Even though I didn’t think I was doing anything different I didn’t have the same pain that I did with my first… luckily!

Another challenge that I was not prepared for when I started breastfeeding my baby was the milk supply and demand issue. Again, I’ve heard stories that some women are challenged with too much breastmilk, so they have to express some before or after nursing the baby in order to be comfortable. Others seem to have just enough and can feed “on demand”.

My problem was a lack of available milk, though I tried everything that the lactation consultant and my doctor and baby’s pediatrician recommended to solve the problem. I changed my eating habits to include more fat, I didn’t exercise because I’d heard that that can diminish milk supply soon after childbirth, I pumped regularly to induce milk let down… and still I would only have barely enough to satisfy my babies.

I really wanted to breastfeed my children until they reached one year old. I started both boys on rice cereal and introduced fruits and vegetables between 4 and 5 months, when my doctor recommended because the babies weren’t gaining enough weight on breast milk alone. Even with solids and breast milk I still had to supplement with two or three ounces of formula once a day to satiate my boys’ appetites.

By the time my first was nine months old he’d had it with the frustration of trying to eat from me so we quit cold turkey. I didn’t even get engorged after that– that’s how little milk my body was producing. With my second baby we made it to ten months and then it just made him calmer and happier to have a bottle instead of breastfeed. I’m hoping that this next baby will be a little less challenging and that I can experience the “too much” problem instead. I always hated feeling like I couldn’t feed my children what they needed to grow and develop and be comfortable. It was definitely not what I was expecting when I decided to breastfeed my babies.

Of course, now that my boys are toddlers, the challenge of feeding them has just changed, it hasn’t gone away. Now it’s a matter of getting enough healthy options on the table in front of them and actually getting it into their tummies. I don’t have particularly picky eaters, but still it’s hard to get nutritious meals and snacks into them so they keep a strong immune system and have plenty of energy for playing hard like boys do.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with the challenge of feeding children. Let me know what solutions you’ve found by adding your stories, suggestions and comments.

Check out this hilarious video too– this cute baby says it all with his expressions.