Little M, my one- plus old
elder daughter, loves her milk bottle. For a long time, she could rarely
go to sleep without sucking on her milk bottle. I wanted to brush her teeth
before she nods off, but how could this task be accomplished if she needs
to rely on sucking the milk bottle in order to go to sleep?
The most discussed topic
in bringing up babies : SLEEP SOLUTIONS!
Are
you a "cry-it out" method proponent or the "no-tears"
technique proponent? This question will invariably come to all new parents'
minds when their baby is still waking up 3 hourly for a feed at 4 weeks old . (
For those lucky Asians who have a confinement lady , the question will linger
on in their minds after the wonder- lady leaves their home on Day 28!)
As a proponent of "attachment parenting" ,I first used the no-tears sleep solution by putting Little M to bed with a bottle.The bottle was used as a pacifier to put Little M to sleep.
Little M's bedtime routine was, for a long while, story time,brushing teeth and lastly drinking milk from her bottle.But my husband and I came to a realisation that this was not a good habit. Being dentists, we learnt about early childhood caries (baby- bottle tooth decay) on the first day of our paediatric module in dental school. The main cause of tooth decay in toddlers is prolonged exposure to milk, mostly when they are given a bottle of milk to bed each night, as the sugar in the milk is given time throughout the night to cause tooth decay over the long run.
I am obsessed about brushing Little M 's teeth and making sure that her intake of sugary food remains low. However I could not remove her milk bottle from her to brush her teeth before she goes to la-la land . Little M had become so used to using the milk bottle as a pacifier .
Trying to change her bedtime routine to make brushing her teeth the last step was a challenge. I started off by first diluting her last milk feed. Gradually, I substituted milk with water completely, and much to my surprise Little M continued suckling on her bottle even though it was filled with just plain water. I was overjoyed by the outcome as I could finally brush her teeth after her last milk feed.
As a proponent of "attachment parenting" ,I first used the no-tears sleep solution by putting Little M to bed with a bottle.The bottle was used as a pacifier to put Little M to sleep.
Little M's bedtime routine was, for a long while, story time,brushing teeth and lastly drinking milk from her bottle.But my husband and I came to a realisation that this was not a good habit. Being dentists, we learnt about early childhood caries (baby- bottle tooth decay) on the first day of our paediatric module in dental school. The main cause of tooth decay in toddlers is prolonged exposure to milk, mostly when they are given a bottle of milk to bed each night, as the sugar in the milk is given time throughout the night to cause tooth decay over the long run.
I am obsessed about brushing Little M 's teeth and making sure that her intake of sugary food remains low. However I could not remove her milk bottle from her to brush her teeth before she goes to la-la land . Little M had become so used to using the milk bottle as a pacifier .
Trying to change her bedtime routine to make brushing her teeth the last step was a challenge. I started off by first diluting her last milk feed. Gradually, I substituted milk with water completely, and much to my surprise Little M continued suckling on her bottle even though it was filled with just plain water. I was overjoyed by the outcome as I could finally brush her teeth after her last milk feed.
She has since developed
a strong emotional attachment to her milk bottle, and I reckon the
next challenge would be to get rid of the milk bottle totally.
So, I have been reading this book I had found on Amazon, called "I want my dummy!" by Tony Ross to her, and I am still reading it to her now, hoping for the day she will throw her dummy away for good and fall asleep at night like other children.
Written by: Dr. Debbie Hong
No comments:
Post a Comment