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Home › Articles › Basic Care › Ouch, Teething Hurts!

Ouch, Teething Hurts!

Relieving Baby's Pain

By Belinda Clarke

Pages:  1  2  

You've survived sleep deprivation and the "new parent jitters," and finally your baby is sleeping through the night, sort of. Now, a new issue has reared its ugly head: teething.

What started as intermittent crankiness has now ballooned into fits of sobbing and a watershed of tears. As you try to soothe your baby, you think to yourself, "I wonder if this hurts me as much as it hurts him?" And because he can't tell you how he feels, you do what you can to ease his pain and swollen gums.

What is Teething Pain?
When Baby's first teeth begin to "come in," most feel a certain amount of discomfort as the teeth push their way through the gums. The swelling of the gum is a result of the pressure the tooth uses to break through the gum-line tissue. The stretching and puncturing of the gums are what cause the actual pain.

As with any significant change of the body or medical condition, there are signs and symptoms to indicate the presence of teething. They are usually easy to recognize:

  • Increased drooling;
  • Irritability;
  • Attempting to chew on hard objects;
  • Mild swelling of the small area of the gum;
  • Difficulty sleeping;
  • Crying during feedings;
  • Refusing food or feedings;
  • Low-grade fever no higher then 99.3 degrees Fahrenheit;
  • Mild diarrhea.

The following are not symptoms related to teething:

  • Bleeding of the gums;
  • Moderate to high fever, above 99.3 degrees Fahrenheit;
  • Excessive diarrhea;
  • Excessive swelling of the gums or a large area of gum tissue.


Pages:  1  2  

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