Oh Baby! Watch for These Signs Your Child Is Teething

As a newborn, your baby has mostly slept, pooped, and cried when it’s feeding time. As they have learned to hold their heads up and focus their sight, they have also shared their adorable, goofy gummy smiles. However, at about six months old, they will start an important developmental stage: teething. You, as a conscientious parent, want to know when this step begins, so here are some things to be aware of and watch out for!

When Do Babies Teethe?

Between about six months and three years old, your child will have 20 primary teeth emerge from their gums. Each type of tooth has an age range when it usually erupts. For instance, the two bottom front teeth typically come between six and ten months of age. Meanwhile canine teeth can take 16 to 23 months to grow in. Your pediatric dentist will be able to provide guidance and general timelines for each kind of tooth.

How Can You Tell If Your Baby Is Teething?

Unfortunately, teeth don’t arrive on a precise schedule, so you have to try to identify symptoms. Some of the most common signs are as follows:

• Fussing and crying.
• Low-grade fever under 100.4°F.
• Gnawing, biting, and chewing on hard objects, including their hands.
• Excessive drooling.
• Swollen gums.
• Pulling on their ears or rubbing their cheeks.
• Changes in eating or sleeping.

How Can You Help Your Teething Baby?

As you can see from the signs above, teething can be a difficult stage for you and your baby. To ease you both through this growth, your best resource for insight will be your pediatric dentist. However, here are some of the tips they might give you:

• Have a clean cloth handy to keep your baby’s face dry. Too much moisture could cause a skin rash.
• Give your child infant pain medication according to directions from your pediatrician to help with sleep.
• Chill your baby’s teething toys and pacifiers in the fridge. The cold will help soothe their aching gums. Avoid toys that contain liquid or need to be the freezer because they can leak or hurt your baby.
• Feed cold solid foods to your baby. For instance, you can keep applesauce in the fridge and feed it to them chilled.
• If your baby’s temperature rises above 100.4°F, they could have another health issue and need to see their pediatrician.

Teething can be a challenging stage, but if you can recognize its signs and help your baby, you both can come out the other side in a healthy, happy way! Be patient with your little one and follow these tips, and you can fall in love with their new smile full of primary teeth!

About the Practice

In San Luis Obispo, Coastal Pediatric Dentistry focuses exclusively on treating infants through 18-year-olds. As board-certified pediatric dentists, Dr. James Forester and Dr. Natalie Vander Kam underwent an additional three years of specific training for this age group. As a result, we are especially qualified to guide you and your child to oral health. In addition, they are parents too! If you would like to talk about methods to help your baby through teething or any other issue, contact us to schedule a consultation today. You can call us at 805-592-2020 or visit our Contact Us page here.