Here’s some easy ways to help promote your child’s oral health:
- Brush your child’s teeth twice a day, the best in the morning after breakfast, and in the evening right before a bedtime
- Allow your child to drink water that contains fluoride
- Ask your dentist about applying sealants when appropriate
- If your child is younger than 6, watch them brush.
- Make sure they use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste and always spit it out rather than swallow.
- Help your child brush until they have good brushing skills.
- Kids should floss! You start flossing when two teeth touch.
- Talk to your dentist or doctor about putting fluoride varnish on your child’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears. According to the Centers for Disease Control and ADA’s Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry, sealants have been shown to reduce the risk of decay by nearly 80% in molars.
- Do not put your baby to bed with a bottle or sippy cup. Frequent and prolonged exposure of baby’s teeth to drinks that contain sugar can cause tooth decay.
- Do not pick a pacifier from the floor and put into your mouth to clean it and then give to your baby! The bacteria that causes cavities can be passed through saliva.
- Weaning from a pacifier is a topic you should discuss with your doctor and your dentist. Pacifier use has been shown to reduce the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a condition where infants suddenly stop breathing in their sleep, within the first year of life. However, long term pacifier use can impact teeth position, so you should discuss when to stop using a pacifier with your child’s health care team.
- Do not share utensils with your baby, because you will share your germs too.
The following shots are recommended for children from 2 years to 5 years:
At 2 to 3 years:
- Annual Flu Vaccine
- This vaccine is recommended from September to April each year once your child is at least 6 months of age
- Their first time being vaccinated with the flu vaccine, they will get 2 flu vaccines that season—1 initially and then another 1 month later
- This vaccine will help protect your child from getting the flu which can cause them to get a fever, feel achy, lose their appetite, and have nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
- It takes at least 2 weeks for protection from the flu virus to kick in after being vaccinated
At 4 years to 5 years of age:
- Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTap)
- This is one shot that works to protect your baby from three different sicknesses that can cause lung problems, coughing, respiratory problems, and severe muscle stiffness
- With this shot, your child will be fully protected at this age from DTap. Boosters will be required much later in childhood and then every 10 years after that to keep them protected.
- Inactivated Polio Virus (IPV)
- This shot will protect your child from a virus that can cause lifelong paralysis. They will be unable to move any of their muscles and it can cause death if it keeps their respiratory muscles from being able to move.
- With this shot, your child will be fully protected from IPV
- Measles, Mumps, & Rubella (MMR)
- This is the first of two shots that your child needs to help protect them from three very deadly illnesses—measles, mumps, and rubella
- With this shot, your child will be fully protected from MMR
- Varicella
- This is the first of two shots that your child needs to help protect them from the virus that causes chicken pox
- While chicken pox was a common illness several years ago, it is important that children be vaccinated against it because if a child gets the chicken pox virus their body cannot fully get rid of the virus and instead it will hide in their nervous system. Later in life, the virus can then come back and attack different nerve strands causing a very painful sometimes itchy one sided rash called shingles. When the virus attacks the nerves in shingles, it can cause lifelong nerve pain along that nerve.
- Being vaccinated against varicella prevents your child from having shingles in the future and protects them from future lifelong nerve pain.
- With this shot, your child will be fully protected from varicella
- Annual Flu Vaccine
- This vaccine is recommended from September to April each year once your child is at least 6 months of age
- Their first time being vaccinated with the flu vaccine, they will get 2 flu vaccines that season—1 initially and then another 1 month later
- This vaccine will help protect your child from getting the flu which can cause them to get a fever, feel achy, lose their appetite, and have nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
- It takes at least 2 weeks for protection from the flu virus to kick in after being vaccinated
