Kissing Your Baby On The Lips Can Lead To Health Problems For Your Little One
You could give your baby health problems.
The kind of health problems is dental related! More specifically, cavities and dental decay.
A study from 2015 from the University of Oulo, led by Virtanen, noted that kissing babies can increase their risk of tooth decay later in life, as the bacteria that cause cavities can be passed on through saliva – but few mothers are aware of this.
Based on the mother’s oral health, a baby can be more likely to have dental problems later in life. Factors include whether mom smokes, and how often she brushes her teeth.
It’s not just kissing babies on the lips that can cause problems but also sharing spoons…
While 38% of mums kissed their children on the lips and 14% shared a spoon with their child, few had any idea that the bacteria that causes cavities could be passed on in this way.
‘Dental decay (cavities in teeth) is considered an infectious and transmissible disease,’ Dr Raha Sepehrara explains to Metro.co.uk. ‘This means that it can be passed on from one person to another or in this case from mother to child.
Alongside increasing the risk of dental decay, kissing your child on the lips is an easy way to pass on infections such as a cold or herpes, so it’s worth avoiding in general.
