What you eat when you are pregnant is very important. Eating right will help you and your growing baby stay healthy. Follow your doctor’s advice for eating the right foods and taking vitamins.

To help prevent baby bottle tooth decay, do not put your baby to bed at night or at nap time with a bottle that is filled with milk, formula, juices and other sweet drinks that all have sugar. A baby sucking on a bottle filled with liquids that have sugar in them can cause decay. If you do give your baby a bottle at night or naptime, fill it with water only.

Check and clean your baby’s teeth. Healthy teeth should be all one color. If you see spots or stains on the teeth, take your baby to your dentist for a check-up. As soon as the teeth come in, use a clean, soft cloth or a baby’s toothbrush to clean the teeth. Do not use any fluoride toothpaste on your baby’s teeth until the child is at least 2 years of age. At that time use only a small pea size of fluoride toothpaste to brush their teeth. Very young children cannot get their teeth clean by themselves. Until your children are about 7 years old, you should brush their teeth after they do.