Once Claire stopped using a bottle for milk, we switched from putting her liquid multivitamin (Poly-Vi-Sol) in her bottle to giving her the dose directly. We’d do it just before bed and brush her teeth after. It’s a dark brown vitamin that I think tastes vile (the iron especially), but she didn’t object.

Sometime around late February I noticed her teeth looked a little grayish around the edges. By her doctor visit March 10, they were definitely gray. The doctor referred us to a pediatric dentist. We felt terrible. Had we “broken” her in some way? Was this permanent?

I researched possible causes. Was it too much fluoride? No. Our zip code area in Santa Clara doesn’t have fluoridated water, and the dose of fluoride drops we give her is correct for her age and weight. Was it lack of calcium? We ruled that out, because even though she still refuses milk (and cottage cheese, cream cheese, regular cheese), she eats a little yogurt and gets a Viactiv supplement daily (her Chewie). So she receives much-needed calcium and vitamin D daily. Was it too much iron? Her vitamin contains iron, and I had my suspicions.

My suspicions were correct. The iron in the vitamin stained her teeth gray. Claire and I went to the dentist last Thursday, where I lay on the chair with Claire lying on top of me (on her back) while the dentist and assistant polished her teeth back to their pearly white state. Claire was a champ. She cried lustily in protest, but she did not fight, and we were done quickly. For her bravery she got a cool little plastic toy phone that she loves to use.

The dentist said her teeth were in fine condition otherwise, and we’ll go back in six months for a check-up. And we switched from the liquid vitamin to a one-third dose of a Flintstone Complete (which is fruit-flavored and thus eagerly consumed).