Dear CS,
Thank you for contacting us at wholesomebabyfood.com. We appreciate your feedback.
As you may have gathered from our page on supplements, we do not believe that supplements should be doled out to every baby just because that has been the practice; not all babies need supplements. There may be some confusion with the ADA and the AAP policies regarding use of fluoride supplements for infants.
In 2008, the recommendation came out that infant formulas not be prepared with fluoridated "nursery water". We have not heard of any statements that included not giving infants older than 6 months of age fluoride supplements when needed. As we noted in a Blog post about the use of "nursery water" (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/news/?p=48#more-48), fluoridated water such as nursery water should not be used to prepare formula and/or homemade baby food. In the post we noted that the Academy (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends no intentionally added fluoride at all for young infants, stating “Supplementary fluoride should not be provided during the first six months of life.”
The ADA sent out a letter as early as 2007 cautioning against using fluoridated waters for infants. (see http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/topics/fluoride_letter_interim.pdf ) You can visit the ADA's page on fluoride at http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/infantsformula_faq.asp and http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/index.asp where you will find useful information concerning infants and fluoride.
This information is also found at the Fluoride Action Network at http://www.fluoridealert.org/infant-warning.pdf . The exact wording of the AAP policy is "Supplementary fluoride should not be provided during the first 6 months of life.
From 6 months to 3 years of age, the decision whether to provide fluoride supplementation should be made on the basis of the fluoride concentration in the water supply (fluoride supplementation generally is not needed unless the concentration in the drinking water is <0.3 ppm) and in other food, fluid sources, and toothpaste. "
As recently as 2009, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/ ) note in their brochure A Healthy Mouth for Your Baby, "Fluoride is in the drinking water of many towns and cities. Ask your dentist or doctor if your water has fluoride in it. If it doesn't, talk to your dentist or doctor about giving you a prescription for fluoride drops for your baby."
In May of 2009, in the report Drinking Water From Private Wells and Risks to Children (PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 6 June 2009, pp. e1123-e1137), the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that it "recommends no fluoride supplementation before 6 months of age; from 6 months to 3 years of age, children require fluoride supplementation if the water has <0.3 ppm (3 µg/L) fluoride."
Bright Futures, an initiative that is focused at the American Academy of Pediatrics and targeted to medical professions, speaks to fluoride supplementation in their brochure http://www.brightfutures.org/bf2/pdf/pdf/Infancy.pdf stating "Give your baby fluoride supplements as recommended by your dentist, based on the level of fluoride in your baby’s drinking water." on page 95. You may find Bright Futures interesting for all the ways it addresses child health, visit their FAQ page at http://brightfutures.aap.org/faqs.html#q1 to learn more.
In the Bright Futures in Practice, Oral Health a pocket Guide, (http://www.mchoralhealth.org/PDFs/BFOHPocketGuide.pdf), it notes on page 28 "Giving the infant age 6 months or older fluoride supplements only as recommended by a dentist or physician based on the infant’s risk for developing tooth decay and the known level of fluoride in the infant’s drinking water (see Systemic Fluoride Supplements: Recommended Dosage on page 84). The recommendation is for babies and kids, 6 months–3 years, supplementation only if the fluoride in drinking water is less than 0.3 ppm at an amount of 0.25 mg/dayb.
Please be sure to let us know where you found the information that the ADA/AAP no longer recommend fluoride supplements for infants 6 months and older. We will be very happy to make corrections to our page about supplements.
Thank you again for writing to us.
Warm regards,
Maggie
Wishing you and your family happy and healthy eating.