For help in dealing with a breastfed baby who has teeth which are causing you pain as you feed, see our article on Biting and Teething.

Also see our article on making the transition from Bottle to Beaker for children who are 12m and over and receive milk or juice etc in a bottle.



Any foods and drinks that contain added sugar can cause tooth decay, especially if your baby has them frequently. The type of sugar added when food is processed is the worst type of sugar for teeth.

When you're buying food, watch out for these words on the ingredients list: sucrose, glucose, fructose, hydrolysed starch and invert sugar. These are all types of sugar that are bad for teeth, so it's better not to give foods that contain them to your baby very often. Honey, golden syrup, treacle, granulated sugar and caster sugar can all cause tooth decay, and so can the sugar in fruit juices.

So, when you prepare foods at home, try not to add any sugar – you could use puréed fruit to add sweetness instead. You shouldn't give fruit juice to your baby until he or she is six months old and, after this age, make sure that fruit juice is well diluted (one part juice with ten parts cooled boiled water).

Even products labelled 'no added sugar' might be sweetened with concentrated fruit juice, which can damage teeth. You could make your own sugar-free snacks for your baby, such as carrot sticks, pieces of peeled apple and pitta bread, or try adding puréed fruit to plain fromage frais or yoghurt.

It's OK to give your baby fromage frais or yoghurts every now and then as part of a balanced diet (avoiding low-fat varieties). But these can contain added sugar, so it's better for your baby's teeth if he or she doesn't have them too often.

Teeth are most likely to decay when sugar is in the mouth for a long time. This is why having sweet snacks and drinks between meals or at bedtime is particularly bad for teeth, because the sugar stays in the mouth.

Try to avoid giving squash (or other sugary drinks) in a bottle, because the sugar will be in the mouth for a long time while your baby gradually drinks the squash. Remember that infants in their first year need breast milk or about 500ml (about a pint) of formula milk each day as a main drink.

Even when teeth first emerge, you should make a start on cleaning them gently with an infant toothbrush and a spot of fluoride toothpaste.




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