Quote:
Facilitates proper dental and jaw development
Nursing is good for a baby's tooth and jaw development. Babies drinking from the human breast have to use as much as 60 times more energy to get food than do those drinking from a bottle. Obviously, a nursing baby's jaws are receiving much more exercise as she pulls her mother's milk into her mouth. Apparently, this constant gentle pulling assists the growth of well-formed jaws and straight, healthy teeth. Among breastfed infants, the longer the duration of nursing, the less chance of dental malocclusion.
The Complete Book Of Breastfeeding M.S. Eiger. MD, S. Wendkos Olds, Copyright 1972, 1987 Comstock, Inc., Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Labbok, M.H. "Does Breastfeeding Protect against Malocclusion? An Analysis of the 1981 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey" American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1987
Quote:
Breastfeeding encourages healthy tooth and jaw development and does not cause tooth decay.
Editorial provided by Beth Leianne Curtis, MSW, CCE, CD(DONA). Beth is the owner of Believe In Birth, in Philadelphia, and a certified Childbirth Educator, Birth Doula, La Leche League Leader, and homebirth midwifery student.