Did you know that baby’s oral hygiene must start before the first teeth come out?
It is important to guide mothers to clean the baby’s gums after each breastfeeding. There are studies indicating that the first teeth can already be decayed because of the calcification of milk in the gums, caused by the lack of cleanliness after breastfeeding the newborn.
Cleaning is very simple and easy to do. Just take a gauze or cotton pad moisten it with water and wipe the entire gum after each breastfeeding, thus removing all the milk residue.
Some products were developed to facilitate this process, avoiding that you have to wash a cloth with milk residues several times a day and even having to walk with gauze and a bottle of water everywhere. Today, there are baby wipes on the market, developed by dentists to make this cleaning out correctly and with a safe product for your baby. The best known is the brand My Dentist Choice, but there are others available on the market.
In addition to the wet wipe you can use the silicone fingers to do this cleaning. The main brands are Primo Passi, Safety First, Green Sprouts, Summer, among many others.
After the first tooth come out, cleaning with a small bristle toothbrush should begin.
The daily cleaning of the gums and the use of the finger, as a baby, facilitates the learning of regular brushing, since from an early age the child will get used to learning the importance of daily cleaning of the teeth after each feeding.
Another essential accessory for this stage of the birth of the dentition, are the teethers. Until the birth of the first teeth, the gums go through a natural irritation process that makes babies very irritable and sensitive. It is possible to alleviate this annoyance a little with the use of teethers.
They have different textures, shapes and some can be placed in the refrigerator to give relief in this inflammatory phase, calming the gums.
Another interesting accessory to have besides the teethers are the universal fasteners that allow moms to tie the teethers, whether on the child’s arm, in the stroller, in the feeding chair or in many other places, preventing the product be thrown by the child on the floor, soiling and increasing the risk of contamination.
Depending on the model of the teether, a pacifier clip may also work to keep it in the child’s clothes.
And last but not least are the teething gels used to relieve inflammation of the gums at this stage of the birth of the teeth that help a lot to calm and relieve the pain of the little ones.
