Teething in infants is a long process of discomfort, irritability, and crankiness in infants that eventually lead to problems for the parents as well, who often don’t know how to deal with teething infants.
Teething can be a major cause of concern for parents and an irritable time for infants to go through. While teething usually occurs between 4 to 7 months, it is different for every infant and may occur outside this window.
Even though teething may be a painful process for most infants and therefore a cause of distress for parents, it will eventually lead to your baby having a big, beautiful smile with all their teeth shining through.
During this time, all the parents can do is help soothe the pain that the infant is going through and make sure that they are as comfortable as they can be.
Common symptoms of teething in infants
- Constant Drooling
- Rashes on the face
- Red and Swollen gums
- Chewing
- Irritability and crankiness
- Gum Pain
- Changed or disturbed sleep pattern
- Loss of appetite
With some of the most common symptoms listed above, there might be many different symptoms experienced by different infants. However, contrary to popular belief, teething does not cause fever, diarrhea, or a runny nose. If your child begins to show the following symptoms, there are high chances that something else is wrong, and you must get it checked by a physician immediately.
How to help teething infants in soothing their pain
If your baby seems uncomfortable and cranky, there might be a high chance that they are teething, and this will go on for 4 to 6 days until the tooth breaks out of the gums.
Therefore, here are a few remedies that you can do which will help your baby and soothe its pain.
1. Rub the gums
Applying pressure on your baby’s gums with a damp gauze or even a clean finger can help soothe the pain as due to the teething, the gums will be red and swollen. A little massage will not only soothe it but also end up cleaning the gums by removing any debris or food that might be stuck and lead to an added source of discomfort for the baby.
It might also increase the chances of a bacterial infection. Therefore, it is a good practice to clean and rub your baby’s gums every day so that you may avoid any possible chances of infection later.
2. Use a teether
A teether is a safe toy that children can chew on to ease their pain while they are teething. Make sure that the teether is solid plastic rather than being gel-filled, as that might lead to added health hazards.
Additionally, a cold teether may suit better for children as it will help with the swollen gums and lead to more relief for the infant. As a safety precaution, always make sure to check your child’s teether, especially as they advance to their 4th or 5th tooth, as there might be broken pieces due to aggressive chewing that may lead to a health hazard.
3. Apply a cold, damp cloth
By soaking a clean cloth in water and freezing it for a few minutes, you will be providing your child with a safe and clean ice pack that you can use to rub their gums. It will help soothe the pain more than anything else. Once done, you can hand over the damp, cool cloth to the infant so that they can gnaw at it themselves. This trick is also useful during the night when the child is usually more irritable and clingy at times.
4. Feed your child with cold food
Cold food helps soothe the teething pain to a large extent. Therefore, consider supplementing your child’s solid foods with foods that can be cold, such as frozen fruits and yogurts. This way, even while feeding, the infants will experience a sense of relief and comfort if they need to chew a bit while eating.
5. Use teething biscuits
Apart from cold foods and damp cloths, there are also teething biscuits available that can be provided to infants above 4 to 5 months who have begun their solid diet. They can easily chew on a teething biscuit for most of their time throughout the day.
6. Try pain medication
Under dire circumstances, when nothing else seems to be working, you may try a pain medication that is recommended by your child’s physician and is permissible for you to feed your child. Apart from the above remedies, this one will most definitely work every time, but it is not recommended to be done repeatedly or unless it is needed.
Embrace this phase of your child’s growth
The teething phase in infants is one of the first major incidents you will have to go through as a parent. And it will not happen only once but will be repeated multiple times over the course of months.
Therefore, as parents, you must be fully equipped and knowledgeable of everything that may happen and everything that you can do to ease your child’s pain and help them in every way that you can.
With being well equipped, you will also be able to come up with more fun and creative ways to maintain normalcy in your and your child’s life so that the teething process does not disrupt any sleeping routines or eating habits.
With each child being unique, some of the remedies here won’t apply to or work with every infant. But they are a major source of comfort, and it is worth giving a shot to see if it works for your child or not!
Through these tips and tricks, you will hopefully be able to emerge from the teething phase of your infants with success. With a few days of pain, there will be a lifetime of big, bright, and beautiful smiles from your babies, which will make all your troubles go away for sure!