Toddler Tooth Care: 2 Berrylicious Recipes For Healthy White Teeth

While your toothy toddler should be seeing a dentist for regular checkups and cleanings, it's important to practice healthy habits at home to minimize the chance of cavity development between those dental visits. In addition to regular brushing and flossing, it is a good idea to limit the consumption of sugary treats throughout the day.

But that doesn't mean that all sweet snacks should be considered an enemy. With the help of ripe strawberries, you can tickle your little one's taste buds while keeping their teeth healthy and white between visits to their dentist. Strawberries contain high levels of both vitamin C and astringents, which work to scrub away plaque and dissolve surface stains – they also happen to be sweet and delicious. Here are two berrylicious recipes your toddler is sure to love:

Tropical Strawberry Milkshake

Everyone loves a good milkshake, and while this tropical strawberry milkshake isn't quite a rich as the real thing, it certainly features a creamy and indulgent profile that kids and adults of all ages will undoubtedly enjoy. You just need a handful of ingredients to create a blender full:

• 3 medium bananas
• 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 cup water

Simply put everything in your blender and mix on high until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour the servings you need into glasses and put the leftovers in a sealable container. Freeze the container for a couple of hours and you'll have some creamy berry sorbet waiting for dessert.

Berry Cube Pops

A great way to cure your child's sweet tooth without filling them up on too much fruit or junk food is to create homemade berry cube pops that keep well in the freezer for weeks so there is always a couple ready to eat on the fly. These pops are super simple and clean, offering your little one a dose of vitamins without all the additives. Here's what you'll need to make a batch:

• 1 clean ice cube tray
• 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
• 2 cups fresh water
• 6 popsicle sticks cut in half

Start by putting the strawberries and water in a medium-sized bowl and using a fork to mash the strawberries into the water until the water turns into bright red juice – there should still be chunks of strawberry in the water once the juice is produced. Slowly pour the juice, berry chunks and all, into your ice cube tray to fill each hole. Carefully place half of a popsicle stick inside each ice cube hole so that part of it stick off to the side of the tray. Place the tray in your freezer for at least 12 hours before serving. Once frozen, you should be able to serve each cube pop just like you would any other kind of commercial pop.

These berrylicious recipes are easy to make and the whole family will love them. You may find that they even encourage your household to reach for more fruit-based sweets as opposed to the packaged stuff. 

For more information about ways to care for your child's oral health, speak to a local dentist.