The Breast Time to Wean

The decision to wean your child from the breast can either be an easy one or a hard one with strong emotions attached. Breastfeeding exclusively (without supplementation) is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for at least "the first 6 months of a baby's life and support should be given for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child." Despite the encouragement to breastfeed for as long as moms feel comfortable with, our society has different views. In any event, my decision to stop was based on my concern for my 20 month-old son's dental health, though I had been recently contemplating about weaning him off. My husband always said that if my son could ask for it, then he's too old. His babble consisted of asking for it. Anyway, I was brushing his teeth one night and noticed some brown spots on his incisors that were just coming out. Also, there was occasional bleeding from the gums that I had attributed to teething. The brown looked like decay, so I immediately scheduled a consultation with the first available dentist in the office my daughter receives care from. Lo and behold, my son has a textbook case of early childhood caries (or baby bottle tooth decay). He has not used a bottle and will drink water and diluted juice from a sippy cup or with a straw, so the frequent nighttime feeds without proper dental hygiene after each feed was deemed the cause. Yes, breast milk can cause caries. The dentist did say that it looked worse than it is. While he did not mandate stopping the breastfeeding immediately, I felt terrible and wanted to rectify the situation and avoid further damage. Having had multiple root canal treatments and unsightly fillings, I didn't want him to have to endure that in the future. So, in addition to brushing his teeth daily with adult toothpaste (I got the ok) and applying more fluoride to the affected teeth, I decided to stop nursing my son cold turkey. It's been 2 weeks now and it really wasn't that bad. Initially he was very upset about it. Oh, there were tears and dirty looks, but he did stop asking for it. We used a baby bottle with water as a transition. He actually took it the first couple of nights (especially since he had a fever the second night), but now he's fine. Although he is still a bad sleeper, he does not need the breast to help him fall back asleep (just reassurance that mommy's around). And the brushing part? He welcomes the toothbrush, but fights as soon as he tastes the mint. It's tough love, but it will make a tremendous difference in his oral health. We go back to the dentist in 4 months for his official first visit. Hopefully he will not need major restoration of his teeth.

Moms, if you are still breastfeeding, follow these tips from the American Dental Association to prevent early childhood tooth decay.