Teething Problems in Babies and Ways to Tackle it

Babies typically start to teeth from their third month and three years, it is all dependent on an individual baby. Teething is a normal part of your baby’s development and thus should never worry you as much. However, teething usually presents itself with a set of problems that causes discomfort to the baby. Some subtle signs of a baby that is starting to experience teething include; drooling or rubbing anything on the gums.

Some more serious signs of uncomfortable teething in a baby may be difficulty sleeping and night long crying and fever. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to help ease the discomfort that teething can present to your baby.

Ways to ease your baby’s discomfort during teething

Due to the itching that your baby might be feeling due to teething, it is advised that you give the baby something to chew. This could be something made of rubber but clean and firm enough not to break in pieces. Also ensure that it is something that the baby cannot easily swallow to cause choking.

You can buy some good quality rubber toy from the baby shop and give your baby to chew on. This may help alleviate the discomfort caused by teething and also keep the baby busy. If the pain from the gums is intense, you can use give painkillers as advised by a qualified pediatrician.

Things to avoid doing during teething

It is never a good idea to put or insert anything in your baby’s mouth that is not specifically approved to soothe teething.

Below are some products that are posed in the market to be customised for teething but are never safe:

• Any teethers or teething aids that come filled with liquids. These can easily tear when the baby bite and spill unsafe liquids which is inside of them.
• Any object made for teething but is made of material that can easily break such as plastic. This may cause choking to the baby and thus must be avoided.
• Any products that is made of frozen solid which may be too hard for the baby to chew.

Always watch out for the material that is used to make anything that claims to be baby teether. Avoid any product that is made from harmful materials such as lead, rather opt for those made of safe rubber.

Find out about teething medication

These are never a good idea as in most circumstances they don’t really help. They usually wash away in the baby’s mouth as soon as they are rubbed on the itching gums by saliva. They then end up on the throat of the baby thus numbing it and may make it hard for the baby to swallow.

Other products to avoid are all those over-the-counter medications or teething gels that contain the ingredient Benzocaine. This should never be given to children below the age of two years. Studies have found it to have rare but side effects that can be detrimental to the health of your baby.