How to best care for your bottle fed toddler's teeth before bedtime or in the night?

You might be already cleaning your toddler's teeth sometime in the evening, before the bedtime bottle. Cleaning your toddler's teeth is often a wriggly, very frustrating activity! If you have a very young toddler, closer to 12 months of age, you might do it yourself, quickly. The main thing is not to accidentally create a conditioned dialling up with teeth cleaning by forcing it upon your little one! Let your little one be in control of teeth cleaning as much as possible as she matures, as you supervise and encourage.

Children over 12 months of age who take the bottle in the night are at slightly increased risk of dental caries, and that risk increases for toddlers over two years of age who take a bottle in the night. Some families do a quick swipe over the little one's teeth with water on a very soft toothbrush in the night. You can find out about stopping bottles in the night here.

Avoiding bottles of milk in the night will have only a small effect on dental decay. You can find out about when you might stop the bottle here. The main things which prevent dental decay are

1. A wholesome diet with no sweets and minimal sugars, juice or sticky dried fruits

2. Water flouridation

3. Flouridated tooth-paste. (To my mind, it doesn't matter if you don't use flouridated tooth-paste if you decide to wipe or brush your toddler's teeth over after a bottle in the night, as long as you're using it at other times.)

Also, importantly, from 12 months of age, there is no need for formula use. Whole-fat cow's milk is the best option (unless your doctor has specifically recommended special toddler formula). Toddler formula does not protect your toddler's brain or immunity more than cow's milk, but contains twice as much carbohydrate and sugar, which is not good for your little one's health or teeth. You can find out more here.

Selected references

Julien S. Prophylaxis of caries with fluoride for children under five years. BMC Pediatrics. 2021;21 (Suppl 1)(351): https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-12021-02702-12883.

Khan SY, Schroth RJ, De Jesus V. A systematic review of caries risk in children < 6 years of age. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry. 2023;00:doi:10.1111/ipd.13140.

Van Meijeren-van Luneren A, Voortman T, Elfrink M. Breastfeeding and childhood dental caries: results from a socially diverse birth cohort study. Caries Research. 2021;55:153-161.

Veile A, Miller V. Duration of breast feeding in ancestral environments. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_818: Springer, Cham.; 2021.