Baby's teething: how can I help?

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Extract from the article: Teething is a stage in life that often worries parents when it happens to a very young child. Tough, tough, when the first milk teeth start to erupt. Admittedly, this unpleasant moment is unavoidable, but there are a few tricks that can help.

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Teething is a stage in life that often worries parents when it happens to a very young child. Tough, tough, when the first milk teeth start to erupt. Admittedly, this unpleasant moment is unavoidable, but there are a few tricks that can help.

Between 6 months and 2 years of age, 20 milk teeth will break through your little one's gums on a schedule that varies from one child to the next. However, the symptom that dominates the clinical picture of teething is pain, whatever the age.

Pain during teething

Tooth eruption is exactly like a sprouting seedling breaking through the soil. The breakthrough of the gum, or the emergence of the tooth from the jaw, causes a mechanical tear, which is accompanied by inflammatory reactions. The pain is linked to this inevitable mechanical effect, but above all to the inflammatory process that surrounds it.

Legitimately recognizing that baby is teething

This pain will translate into crying, refusal to eat, hyper-salivation and lack of appetite.The inflammation caused by teething may also lead to a rise in temperature (no higher than 38°C).In the baby's mouth, we'll see redness and swelling of the gums where the teeth will erupt. All these signs disappear as soon as the tooth becomes visible.

Teething can sometimes be accompanied by loose stools, diaper rash due to acidic stools, a runny nose or even irritability.  Warning signs of an underlying illness that require medical attention: fever over 38.5°C; abundant, watery diarrhea (several times a day); vomiting; earache or colored nasal discharge.

Soothing teething

To soothe your child's teething, you can: massage the gums with your little finger and apply a soothing balm; offer him a refrigerated teething ring (cold has soothing properties) or give him a piece of bread or a refrigerated carrot (from 6-7 months); administer a dose of paracetamol if the pain seems to be bothering him a lot.

What not to do

File the gums with a sugar cube.Try to help the tooth to pierce the gums with an instrument, otherwise you risk causing a local infection. Only pediatricians or a dental surgeon are authorized in certain cases to apply pressure to the gums with a tongue depressor when the tooth is about to emerge. Give your child a bottle of sweetened water or fruit juice at night to calm him or her down. This can lead to cavities. Use a local anesthetic or aspirin.

Around 6-8 months: 2 central incisors in each jaw. Between 8 and 12 months: 2 incisors in the upper jaw and 2 incisors in the lower jaw. Between 12 and 16 months: first 4 molars (two upper and two lower). Between 16 and 20 months: 2 canines in each jaw.Between 20 and 24 months: 4 molars (2 in the upper jaw and 2 in the lower jaw).At one year of age, if no teeth have come out, or if some are missing despite the passing months, it's advisable to consult your dentist or a pedodontist. 

William O.

Expert: Dr Enyonam Tsolenyanu, Pediatrician at CHU Sylvanus Olympio Lomé Togo