How To Deal With Teething In Children

Teething In Children

Odontiasis, commonly known as teething is referred to the process by which a child’s teeth breaks out of the gum. This also marks the onset of your child’s journey to toddlerhood. 

Teething usually occurs between 6 to 24 months of age. While teething can be distressing for most babies, some babies are lucky enough to go through this process smoothly.

Here are some common signs and symptoms of teething – a few essential things that you must keep a watch out for. 

• Tender or swollen gums
• Irritation and constant crying
• Trying to bite on hard things 
• Excessive production and excretion of drool
• Physical actions like cheek rub or ear pull
• Slight rise in body temperature, sometimes accompanied by cough

So let’s learn more about each sign of teething and see how you can deal with them.

Tender or swollen gums: Swollen gums, inflammation and tenderness during teething is quite natural. The good news is, swollen gums usually occurs just days before a tooth actually erupts. So you may only have to deal with the swollen gum trouble for 3 to 5 days. Once the teeth erupts, the swollenness reduces automatically. However, it is important to provide comfort to your teething child during these painful days.

Solution 1: Give your child a cool message – sore gums really benefit from it. Keep a few clean cotton/linen handkerchiefs in the freezer. Simply take a piece of clean cloth and soak it in some water. Now put it in the freezer up to one hour. Using these will help soothe your baby’s sore and swollen gums instantly.

Remember: Make sure you keep brushing your child’s teeth properly and regularly in order to prevent the buildup of bacteria inside your baby’s mouth.

Constant crying: Teething causes uneasiness and your child may often end up crying incessantly. An irritated teething baby can be quite tough to calm down. And we know it can be quite a task to put the baby to sleep.

Solution: Always keep a few of your baby’s teething toys in the refrigerator. A cooling gum massage with a suitable teething ring will help your child relax and soothe the gum, and lessen the irritation. It is advisable to use hard plastic teething toys, and avoid gel-filled teething toys.

Biting on hard things – Constantly putting fingers in the mouth in an attempt to bite is the most common site of a teething baby. But it is not at all healthy for the baby to put its fingers in the mouth, is it? You have no idea about the millions of germs that might find their way to its stomach. No wonder, loose motion is a common side effect of teething babies.

Solution: Use hard plastic teething toys and disinfect them regularly. You can either use the traditional process of boiling the baby teething toys for five minutes and then cooling them off. If you want to be extra sure you can also use the process of first washing the toys with a mild/children friendly detergent and warm water, and then soaking the toys in a mixture of distilled white vinegar and warm water. Rinse them with clean cool water after fifteen minutes. 

Excessive production and excretion of drool: Drooling indicates that your baby salivary glands are becoming more active. However, not all is being used to digest its food, which is usually milk at the age of six to eight months. Babies tend to drool more than usual during the teething period. The problem is excessive excretion of drool can cause a rash around the mouth – cheeks, chin and neck area. This is caused due to the presence of bacteria in the saliva. Excessive drool can also gag the child, which adds to the woes of teething.

Solution: Rub away as much drool as you can, with a clean soft cloth. Always keep the area around the mouth and neck clean and dry. You can also give your baby a cool teething toy to chew on. However, if rashes appear, then we suggest you consult a paediatrician and apply emollient, or barrier cream to prevent and heal your baby’s skin.

Constant cheek rub and/or ear pull: The irritation and trouble a baby faces during teething is actually immense for these little beings. To deal with the clumsiness inside the mouth, a baby often ends up scratching cheeks or pulling ears in the hope of finding some relief. However, such actions have high chances of having serious scratches or cuts on your child’s cheeks and ears. Remember, baby nails grow really fast and are usually very sharp.

Solution: Divert your baby’s mind to other things. Talk, and play with him or her. Also, give a cool teething toy, or a cold message to relax the soreness caused inside the mouth. 

Rise in body temperature: There are possibilities that your baby’s temperature may rise at times during the teething period, but only slightly. The fever usually comes a day or two before the teeth erupt and goes away after the teeth cuts through the gum. Teething fever may also be accompanied by cough.

Solution: For slight fever use paracetamol syrup and give the baby an age-appropriate dose (in case you are aware of it). If the fever crosses 101 Fahrenheit, then it is advised to consult a paediatrician and give proper medication to your child.  

Remember, teething is actually good news that your baby is taking its natural course of growth. You can even surprise your child with some teething toys to help in his teething journey!

Now we know that the three most essential things that we must keep handy are wet and cooled clothes, properly cleaned and cooled off teething toys and normal fever medication. However, it is always good to be sure about what you are dealing with before giving any medication to your child.

 Always consult your child’s paediatrician just in case you can’t be sure yourself. Happy parenting!

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