Impact of infant feeding practices on caries experience of preschool children.

Aim: This study investigated the association between breastfeeding, bottle feeding, night feeding, age, and sex of the child on the caries experience.

Method: Information was collected from the mothers of preschool children. Information included the age of the child, sex of the child, form of breastfeeding (whether exclusive, almost exclusive or mixed), duration of breastfeeding, night feeding habits of the child, and duration and content of bottle feeding. Intraoral examination was done to assess the dmft. The impact of the variables on the caries experience (rampant caries, no caries and the dmft) was then assessed.

Results: The duration of breast feeding (p = 0.002), and form of breast feeding (p = 0.03) were significant predictors of the dmft. The dmft was highest in children who were breastfed for longer than 18 months and highest for children who were exclusively breastfed. There is a strong association between rampant caries and duration of breast feeding only (p < 0.001). The risk of having rampant caries increases by 10% (p = 0.012) with every month increase in the duration of breastfeeding.

Conclusion: The duration of breastfeeding increased the risk for rampant caries in preschool children in Nigeria. The longer the duration, the higher the risk for caries.