Baby Teething Guide: Nature, Start Time, Eruption Succession, Symptoms, and At Home Help Tips
Baby teething is something all parents keep waiting for with the greatest anxiety and trembling, as it is related with pain and discomfort for a child and sleepless nights for his mother and father. Still, teething is the process every baby is bound to go through. So, let's learn the answers to some frequently asked questions about baby teething to be fully armed, when it starts!
What is Baby Teething?
Baby teething is the process of your son's or daughter's first set of teeth gradual eruption. These first teeth to break through his or her gums are called primary or milk teeth. Totally, there are twenty of them, which is twelve teeth less, than the full set of teeth the adults develop.
Generally, baby teething is a rather slow process; it takes up to 2.5 years to be completed. It also causes a lot of troubles for both a baby and his parents. But in fact, there is no certain strict pattern on how long it will take a new tooth o erupt and how much pain and discomfort it will cause to your baby.
When is Baby Teething Supposed to Start?
The baby teething pattern is rather individual. One baby will develop a new tooth overnight, and another one will be bound to go through the long tooth cutting torture.
The medicine course books state that the baby teething process is designed to start at the age of 6 months. In the real life it normally starts somewhere between 3 and 12 months age. Your child usually develops his full set of milk teeth by the age of 2 and 3 years.
Keep in mind that teething is known to follow the hereditary pattern. This means that your baby is likely to develop his new teeth at the age one of his parents did.
Which Teeth are Supposed to Erupt First?
As a rule, the lower front teeth are the first ones to cut through your baby's gums. In 1 or 2 months they get followed by the upper front teeth. The second molars, which are the second set of double chewing teeth, cut through the gums at the back of your child's mouth.
What are the Baby Teething Symptoms?
The teething symptoms are rather individual and vary from baby to a baby. Below we list the most frequently observed symptoms of the baby teething. Still, if your child has at least some of these symptoms, it is better to consult with your pediatrician to find out, whether there might be any other possible causes for these symptoms.
To start with, babies usually become irritable and fussier than usually, when their new teeth start to break through. Such a behavior is usually associated with your child's gums swelling and soreness in 3 to 5 days before the actual tooth erupts. As a rule, these symptoms go away as soon as the new tooth breaks through your baby's gums skin.
The baby teething is also often accompanied with the excessive drooling, which is sometimes related to your baby's occasional cough. Apart from that, your baby's skin constant contact with saliva often leads to chin or chest rush.
Your baby might also bite on anything that gets on his way, when he goes trough the teething, as the pressure from biting helps to relieve the pain. Also note that you baby might refuse to eat or sleep well, when his new teeth are getting ready to erupt. If the pain in gums travels to cheeks and ears, you might notice your child pulling on his ear or rubbing his cheek.
In the more severe cases of baby teething, your child might suffer from low-grade fever, diarrhea, and some of the cold symptoms.
How Can I Help My Baby, When He is Teething?
Parents always want to relieve their baby's pain. Here are some baby teething tips. For example, pressure on your baby's gums, associated with teething, can be relieved by letting your child bite on a special teething ring, rubber teething toy, previously filled with water and chilled, and on his mom's or dad's clean (!) finger.
Sucking on a bottle of cold water can also work. Apart from bringing pain relief, this will also replenish your child's body fluids balance, disturbed due to excessive drooling, often associated with baby teething.
If nothing else helps, previously having consulted with your pediatrician, you might give the Infant Tylenol to your child.
The baby teething is the process every baby goes through, and the difficulties associated with it will certainly, come and go like many others issues and changes your newborn baby brings into your life. Just be careful and patient enough with your child and try to choose the things, which will help him to feel the most comfortable during his teething period.
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