Teething is an important developmental milestone! As your baby’s teeth come in, he or she will be able to enjoy the different kinds of foods. While teething may or may not cause your baby too much discomfort, its always better to know the symptoms . As a first time parent, it is crucial to understand what to expect and what can be done to best soothe the child and make the process less traumatic.
When does it start?
The teething timeline is usually somewhere between the ages of 4 and 7 months. It varies for girls and boys and each child has a different teething period. Some kids don’t ever feel any discomfort and some have sleepless nights .
Symptoms of Teething
Every baby responds differently to teething. However, there are a few symptoms that you can look out for. These symptoms include:
- Irritability: Babies don’t necessarily understand why they are experiencing pain or discomfort and may become irritable or clingy.
- Trouble sleeping: If your child is uncomfortable, he or she may have a harder time sleeping at night.
- Swollen, sensitive gums: Changes in your baby’s gums, such as puffiness and redness can indicate that teething has begun.
- Drooling: Teething can stimulate a lot of drooling, which often starts for most babies between 10 weeks and 4 months of age.
- Ear pulling: You need to be careful with this one because this can be a sign of an ear infection. However, the pain of teething can sometimes be experienced in the ear as well.
- Loss of appetite: Teething can have a negative impact on your baby’s appetite. The baby avoids soft warm food and happily will eat cold hard food to soothe its aching gums.
Pain Relieving Methods
- Around the Lips
Massage by gently placing your fingertips above the upper lip and below the lower lip to relieve discomfort at night before the baby sleeps.
- Round and Round the Jaw Line
If you place your fingertips in front of your external auditory meatus (a.k.a. hole in the ear) while opening and closing your mouth, you will feel the movement of the temporalmandibular joint (TMJ). With gentle pressure, use your fingertips to perform small circles (direction doesn’t matter) around this jaw line. These strokes can help soothe the muscles that are used for sucking and may also relieve some of the discomfort of teething.
- Clean Cold Wash Cloth
With a wash-cloth massage the gums of the upper and lower jaw.
