Re: breastfeeding, food, and teeth

January 14, 2002

--- Dana Milmeister <danamilmeister@...> wrote:

> Re: breastfeeding - there have been some posts

> recently about breastfeeding, and possibly early

> weaning. I'm still breastfeeding my 2.5 year old.

I'm still breastfeeding my 25-month-old, I absolutely

believe in the benefits of extended breastfeeding in

combination with good nutrition on the part of both

the mother and child. My mother nursed me until I was

3. When my baby teeth came in, they had an enamel

defect where it would crumble away in areas, an

apparently inborn condition (i.e. it was not due to

poor hygiene and diet leading to decay, they were

formed that way). But as my adult teeth came in, they

had good enamel, and there's no crowding. I have all

my wisdom teeth. My teeth aren't perfect, one top

front tooth and one side bottom tooth are slightly

misaligned, and I do have an overbite due to my lower

jaw being somewhat smaller, but there is no

overlapping, twisting or anything like that. I

believe that both the breastfeeding and the healthy,

wholefoods diet with plenty of butter, cod-liver oil,

and few refined carbs, which I was given as a young

child, helped me to overcome the inborn tooth defect,

and to have much better adult teeth than either of my

parents.

My son unfortunately has the same enamel defect I had,

but I believe he will also be able to overcome it with

the help of good food and breastfeeding. His baby

teeth will probably need dental work, as mine did, but

I hope to give him the best chance possible at strong

adult teeth. He does seem to have plenty of room in

his mouth, and should be fine if I can help him with

the enamel problem.

I think if I had been better about eating well during

my teenage and young adult years, my son would not

have had to deal with this at all, but I had an

abyssmal diet during those years, and was probably

very depleted. By the time I got pregnant, I was back

on good food, but in retrospect it wasn't long enough

for my body to recover, and I didn't know about Weston

Price or NT until after my son was born.

> I will be surprised if she needs any

> orthodontia (or very little because there's still a

> space in between her front teeth

I think babies should have some space between their

teeth, because adult teeth are bigger and will fill up

those spaces.

So there's my two cents on the issue, as well.

Aubin

__________________________________________________

January 23, 2002

This topic brings up an interesting point that I would like further

clarification on... I know the health of the mother and her diet play

a crucial role in the developement of the bone structure (and dental

arch) of the child, so it only makes sense to me that an extended

breastfeeding could only be beneficial for achieving this. Weston

Price's book does not get into specifics on the length of

breastfeeding practiced by the cultures he studied, but now I am

curious to know how long they did that. Does anyone know?

Price emphasizes the importance of the diet in the mother before

birth as having the most effect on the child, but it sounds like the

length of lactation is just as important.

Comments?

Becky

>

> > Re: breastfeeding - there have been some posts

> > recently about breastfeeding, and possibly early

> > weaning. I'm still breastfeeding my 2.5 year old.

>

> I'm still breastfeeding my 25-month-old, I absolutely

> believe in the benefits of extended breastfeeding in

> combination with good nutrition on the part of both

> the mother and child. My mother nursed me until I was

> 3. When my baby teeth came in, they had an enamel

> defect where it would crumble away in areas, an

> apparently inborn condition (i.e. it was not due to

> poor hygiene and diet leading to decay, they were

> formed that way). But as my adult teeth came in, they

> had good enamel, and there's no crowding. I have all

> my wisdom teeth. My teeth aren't perfect, one top

> front tooth and one side bottom tooth are slightly

> misaligned, and I do have an overbite due to my lower

> jaw being somewhat smaller, but there is no

> overlapping, twisting or anything like that. I

> believe that both the breastfeeding and the healthy,

> wholefoods diet with plenty of butter, cod-liver oil,

> and few refined carbs, which I was given as a young

> child, helped me to overcome the inborn tooth defect,

> and to have much better adult teeth than either of my

> parents.

>

> My son unfortunately has the same enamel defect I had,

> but I believe he will also be able to overcome it with

> the help of good food and breastfeeding. His baby

> teeth will probably need dental work, as mine did, but

> I hope to give him the best chance possible at strong

> adult teeth. He does seem to have plenty of room in

> his mouth, and should be fine if I can help him with

> the enamel problem.

>

> I think if I had been better about eating well during

> my teenage and young adult years, my son would not

> have had to deal with this at all, but I had an

> abyssmal diet during those years, and was probably

> very depleted. By the time I got pregnant, I was back

> on good food, but in retrospect it wasn't long enough

> for my body to recover, and I didn't know about Weston

> Price or NT until after my son was born.

>

> > I will be surprised if she needs any

> > orthodontia (or very little because there's still a

> > space in between her front teeth

>

> I think babies should have some space between their

> teeth, because adult teeth are bigger and will fill up

> those spaces.

>

> So there's my two cents on the issue, as well.

>

> Aubin

>

> __________________________________________________

>

January 23, 2002

La Leche League cites to a study of human " primitive " peoples, and they nurse

anywhere between 3-7 years. (One tribe nursed only 6 months, but that was

forced weaning for religious reasons). Another study LLL cites extrapolated how

long primates nurse their young, and determined that humans should naturally

wean themselves between 3 and 4 years old.

From my experience, of all the people I know who did not force weaning, the

youngest self-weaner was 2.5, and he was very big for his age, which may have

had something to do with it (looked like he was 4).

Re: bone structure - from my experience, I think lactation is more important

than pre-natal diet on bone structure. My daughter's teeth were really, really

bunched close together when they came in. Slowly, with the nursing, I watched

them spread out. Speculation: One key may have been that I was on a semi-NT

diet during my pregnancy with her (I ate a lot of grass fed beef and all organic

produce), but shortly after she was born, and before her teeth came in, I

discovered NT and started eating more on that program. That nutrition most

likely enhanced the breastmilk, which helped with her bone structure.

Dana

----- Original Message -----

From: beckymauldin2001

Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 6:20 AM

Subject: Re: breastfeeding, food, and teeth