Brushing Baby's Teeth

Keeping your baby's teeth clean may not always be easy - when he clamps his jaws shut, it can be difficult to persuade him to open them - but it is very important.
Ideally, you should start cleaning your baby's mouth from birth, using a piece of damp gauze or a soft, damp washcloth to wipe any milk residue from his gums and teeth. It's a good idea to start this early, as it gives your baby time to get used to the whole routine and may make him less likely to object to having his teeth brushed later on!

Once his baby teeth start appearing, it's crucial to clean them carefully at least twice a day. The bacteria that live naturally in your baby's mouth turn the sugars (including natural sugars) from foods into acid. This acid may then attack the enamel of your baby's teeth.

The importance of your baby's first teeth

Although your baby will eventually lose his first teeth, don't be fooled into thinking that caring for them is any less important than caring for his permanent teeth later on.

1. Baby teeth "reserve" a place for the permanent teeth to grow into. If a baby tooth is lost, the permanent teeth may shift, potentially leading to orthodontic problems later on.

2. Babies need their milk teeth in order to learn to speak clearly and correctly.

3. Baby teeth are needed for biting and chewing.

4. The excessive loss of baby teeth due to decay can affect your child's confidence at pre-school level - after all, we all want to look our best!

Choosing a toothbrush Once your baby has his first tooth, it's time to buy an appropriate toothbrush. A long handled brush with a small head is best at first, as this design makes it easy to reach all parts of your baby's mouth quite easily. The brush should have soft, rounded filaments and should be replaced every 10-12 weeks, or as soon as the filaments start to splay.

Alternatively, you could use the type of infant toothbrush that fits over your finger and some babies do prefer this - but beware if your baby is a biter, as they don't offer much protection to your vulnerable finger!

When your baby is older and wants to hold the brush himself, then buy him a chunkier-handled design, which will be easier for him to hold - although you will still need to do the bulk of the brushing yourself!

Toothpaste and fluoride

You don't have to use toothpaste to clean your baby's teeth - the action of brushing is the most important factor in keeping them clean. If you do use toothpaste, then choose one specifically designed for infants - these usually contain very little fluoride. The American Association of Pediatric Dentistry actually recommends that babies under the age of 2 should receive NO fluoride at all.

Although fluoride can help strengthen the enamel of the teeth, too much of it can lead to fluorosis - a condition which can cause white spots to appear on the permanent teeth. Young babies tend to swallow toothpaste rather than spit it out - if you use an adult toothpaste, then they will be swallowing too much fluoride.

Speak to your child's dentist for more information about the fluoride requirements for your child.

For further information, see How Much Fluoride Is Enough?.

Tips for brushing baby's teeth

1. If your baby is reluctant to open his mouth, try putting a brush in your own mouth - babies love to copy whatever Mum's doing!

2. Try singing a musical scale with your mouth wide open (no-one's looking!) He may try to copy the singing - or he may laugh - but either way, he'll open his mouth!

3. Sit your baby in whatever position works best for you - standing or sitting behind your baby as he looks up is a great position, because it enables you to reach all parts of his mouth very easily.

4. Be gentle - firm brushing isn't necessary at this stage and can put your baby off the whole experience.

Visiting the dentist

So when should your baby pay his first visit to the dentist?

According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and many other dental authorities worldwide, you should take him for a dental check-up at some point during his first year.

This gives your baby's dentist the opportunity to identify potential problems at an early stage and also to establish a good prevention program. It also gets your baby accustomed to the routine of dental visits and can help ensure he is calm on future visits.

Tips to keep your baby's teeth healthy

1. Avoid giving your baby juice. Nearly 90% of infants in the US are drinking juice before their first birthday. Yet whole fruit is nutritionally superior to fruit juice and contains dietary fiber, which juice lacks. Giving water to your baby is the healthiest option when he needs additional fluids.

2. If you do give your baby fruit juice, then make sure he drinks it from a sippy cup, not a bottle. Drinking juice from a bottle causes it to "pool" around your baby's teeth and puts him at a very high risk of dental decay.

3. Do not put your baby to bed with a bottle of juice or milk. The lactose in milk can react with the bacteria in your baby's mouth, forming the acids that attack tooth enamel.

4. Do not dip your baby's dummy/pacifier into any sweet substance.

5. Do not add sugar to your baby's food. A little maple syrup or barley malt can be used instead if you really need to sweeten a particular food for your baby. NEVER use honey as a sweetener for babies less than 1 year of age - honey may contain botulism spores, which can be fatal to a young baby.

6. Ensure that baby's teeth get an extra good clean at bedtime! During the night, his natural production of saliva decreases, so its rinsing action diminishes too. This means that any harmful bacteria in the mouth are able to settle on the teeth more easily.

7. If your baby is receiving oral medication, give it to him before you brush his teeth, not afterwards. Almost all oral medications for infants contain sucrose.

Christine Albury is a mother of four and the author of Homemade Baby Food Recipes - your complete guide to solid feeding during baby's first year. Homemade Baby Food Recipes, which was recently featured by the BBC, includes a very active blog - keeping parents up to date with all important baby food news - plus a free monthly newsletter.

Eating Vegetables

Vegetables contain so many vitamins, minerals and nutrients necessary to good health that it's important to ensure your baby is eating enough of them. Understandably, then, many parents become concerned when their little ones refuse to eat vegetables at all!
When starting solids, it's a good idea to try introducing veggies before fruits - the thinking behind this is that babies will be less happy to accept vegetables after experiencing the sweetness of fruits. Despite this, though, some babies just don't seem to particularly enjoy vegetables - so here are some ideas to help incorporate these nutritious foods into his diet:

Try cooking your baby's vegetables in homemade beef stock or chicken stock instead of water (avoid commercial stocks, which are too salty for use in baby food preparation). This is a popular solution that works well for many parents.

Try stirring some pureed veggies into pureed fruit. It sounds awful, but actually tastes pretty good - babies have no idea which foods should "go" together, so you'll be surprised by what they enjoy!

Top a dish of cooked veggies, whether pureed or cut-up, with grated cheese. A subtle difference, but one that many babies appreciate! Alternatively, serve veggie pieces with a cheese dip.

Add pureed veggies to your baby's favourite soup or pasta sauce - he won't even realize he's consuming all those wonderful vitamins!

For older babies, add grated squash, pumpkin or carrots to your homemade muffins.

At mealtimes, offer your baby a plate of cooked vegetables to feed himself at the beginning of the meal (if he is developmentally ready for finger foods). This is when he will be most hungry... and therefore most likely to try them.

If you are making mashed potatoes for your baby, use sweet potatoes instead of white ones - they are highly nutritious and a great source of beta-carotene.

Don't overcook your veggies! As well as losing their texture, vegetables lose their goodness AND their colour when cooked to a mush. If you want your baby to enjoy vegetables, they need to be appetising and visually enticing, too!

Set a good example by eating plenty of veggies yourself - eat them in front of your baby, with exaggerated enjoyment... and your baby might just copy you!

Christine Albury is a mother of four and the author of Homemade Baby Food Recipes - your complete guide to solid feeding during baby's first year.

stroller Weight

If you get the right one it should last 3-4 years and its money well spent.....If any body has any ideas about selecting any baby care products then drop me a line, because it helps all of us equip our children with the best, without wasting any money.

Top Tip for buying a Stroller

The key is to try out as many as possible and think about the weight. I cannot emphasize this enough. Ask your friends what they think, if they have one and give them a try yourself with a child on-board it makes all the difference. Do not rely on the shops to give you best advice about what baby care product to buy. do your own home work it will safe your lots of money$$$.

Baby stroller/Buggy/Pram part 2

The second buggy is a pramette this was great when the baby was tiny really cosy. It had small lockable wheels for great manoeuvrability around town. Adjustable handle height is great when the dad's pushing and drops back for the mum's. It sounds simple but try pushing a stroller with your arms up at an angle for any length of time and its amazing how it hurts. You would think as most husband's and wife's are different heights the manufactures would consider this on all strollers/buggies.It also has the scissor action for easy collapsing with 1 hand. This is also very light weight.

Baby Buggy/Pram/Stroller

There are some super models around today that were not available when my first two children were born. With our third we were determined to get it right.......guess what we still ended up with TWO, proving to get baby care on wheels right is very hard. A three wheeler buggy with quick release wheels that have pneumatic tyres although carry a roll of plastic bags with you to put the dirty wheels in when you return from your loverly off road walk. Adjustable handle bars and a big shopping basket are a good idea to have. We find this type of buggy great for recreational walking to school etc. If you have the smaller wheels you get stuck in cracks etc and frankly its hard work pushing the thing especially as your baby's weight piles on! So make sure it is light weight because some models weigh as much as a small truck only joking but some times it feels like it.

Baby Buggy/Pram/Stroller Part 1

Pram/Buggy/Stroller,

Well this is where your confusion will start as the choice is endless. Sadly I still feel the perfect baby care pram/buggy/stroller has yet to be seen! When we had our first baby I went for style, I wanted to best looking transport for my beautiful baby to be seen in.....the reality was it was great if you walked everywhere but it was difficult to manoeuvre in town and we could fit nothing else in the car when it eventually was squeezed in the boot, (by the way we did,t have a small car either.
We also stopped going to the gym because we didn't need to go anymore as we where getting a good work out manhandling the pram/buggy/stroller every day. Great Muscles. We also found the car's paint work was suffering from chips and scratches from getting it in and out especially in the rain.

The truth is you need to take time thinking about your lifestyle and what you will be doing. I would suggest this is the product you invest the most time in. If you don't you will be like me and work your way FOUR different ones

Baby Transport

Car seat. This is probably the one area where I would say money is well spent as you will want the safest chair available if taking your precious cargo out.

The new isofix system is fantastic and takes baby care to a new level by removing all the worry out of "have I fitted it right". On my previous car that was quite old it did not have this new fitting system and I drove around for 2 years with an incorrectly fitted car seat and whats more worrying is the car manufactures say its a common problem, which is not very reassuring for baby care. So if you can get an isofix system it makes the seat rock solid.

Baby Sleeping alone

Another tip to consider when buying a cot is to consider one where a side can be removed to put the cot next to your bed.

Baby's don't always follow the text book and some need a little more time to sleep alone in their own room. It isi't considered safe to have a baby in your bed and this type of cot could give you much needed rest.

Third baby

My third baby had reflux which is quite common and he spent most of the time sleeping in the car seat inside the cot to prevent choking. So they actually spent very little time in their moses basket. It was a very stressful time for us all. Sleep becomes the main focus for both partners, sharing the available time to get some rest does help, but there are no quick baby care products to buy that will help improve the situation except lots of soft clothes to mop up your baby's mess. Sorry I wish we had the answer to that problem.