Breastfeeding and mouth development

Posted on February 1st, 2009 by Jane HBFW

Fascinating info re the difference in development of the mouth, with photos of same.

Filed under: Breastfeeding info - general

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2 Responses to “Breastfeeding and mouth development”

  1. Hoppybird, on February 6th, 2009 at 5:11 pm Said:

    Ah, I see you’ve posted the article I referenced. :)
    This is something which is so very rarely mentioned with reference to breast and bottle-feeding.

    This is entirely anecdotal, but anyway:- although I was breastfed for the first couple of months, I was absolutely obsessed with the bottle, and wouldn’t give it up until I was around 5 years old. I do have an overbite, and I had 4 molars removed as a child to prevent crowding - after having read the article, I do wonder whether the milk delivery method had something to do with it. (I know it’s not just bottles which affect the development of your mouth and teeth - there’s thumb-sucking, dummies and the genes you’ve been dealt by your parents, too).

    It also gets me thinking about other sort of related things - my bf son, who had only a couple of expressed bottles ever, has a particularly resonant voice - could that be because his palate has developed in the way it was supposed to because of bf, or would he have been a fog-horn anyway, even if he’d had bottles? :)
    We’ll never know. :)
    Unfortunately, I do occasionally find myself noticing crooked, crowded or generally ‘different’ teeth and wondering…

  2. Jane (HBFW), on February 6th, 2009 at 7:13 pm Said:

    Yes, thank you very much for that - I think it’s a fascinating topic, and, as you say, seldom mentioned. As you say, genes, thumb and dummy sucking and just good old-fashioned luck probably play a large part too, but I think it adds to the “list of reasons to breastfeed” - especially if anyone in your family has had extensive (and expensive!) orthodontistry.

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