Q. When do I start cleaning baby’s teeth?

You should wipe your baby’s mouth with a soft cloth after every feeding even before your baby has teeth.

Start regular tooth care when your baby’s first tooth comes in. Use a wet washcloth or soft bristle brush to wipe the teeth, at least twice daily. Both dentists and pediatricians advise using a rice-sized amount of fluoride-containing toothpaste to cleanse the teeth. Yes, your baby will swallow it and that’s okay.

Here is a key point: you absolutely need to clean your baby’s teeth AFTER the last feeding of the night, before your baby goes to sleep. Yes, that means you may be waking up a baby who has fallen asleep while feeding. But if you don’t do this, you will be asking for cavities (also known as nursing caries).

Parents fall into the routine of feeding/nursing their babies to sleep (and back to sleep throughout the night)—and then don’t know when to stop doing it. If your baby is old enough to have teeth, I guarantee he is old enough to fall asleep on his own and sleep through the night without a feeding. The alternative is poor sleep habits, reliance upon sucking/eating to fall asleep, and high dental bills.