Baby is teething: how to relieve it?

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Extract from the article: Teething is a stage in life that often worries parents when it occurs in very young children. Hard, hard, when the first baby teeth start to grow. Of course, ...

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Teething is a stage in life that often worries parents when it occurs in very young children. Hard, hard, when the first baby teeth start to grow. Of course, this difficult time is unavoidable, but some tips can help your baby.

Between 6 months and 2 years, 20 baby teeth will pierce your little one's gums according to a schedule that varies more or less from one child to another. However, the symptom that dominates the clinical picture of teething is pain, regardless of age.

Why does a baby feel pain during teething?

Dental eruption is exactly like the breaking through of the ground by a young plant that is germinating. The breakthrough of the gum or the exit of the tooth from the jaw therefore causes a mechanical tear, which is accompanied by inflammatory reactions. The pain is linked to this inevitable mechanical effect, but especially to the inflammatory process that surrounds it.

Legitimately recognize that the baby is teething

This pain will result in crying, refusal to eat, hyper salivation and a lack of appetite. Due to the inflammation caused by teething, a rise in temperature may also be observed (no more than 38 °C). In the mouth of this infant, we will observe redness and swelling of the gum, at the place where the tooth will erupt. All these signs disappear as soon as the tooth becomes visible.

Teething can sometimes be accompanied by loose stools, diaper rash linked to the acidity of the stools, a runny nose or even a certain irritability. Warning signs of an underlying disease that require consulting a doctor: the child has a fever of more than 38.5 °C; he has liquid and abundant diarrhea (several times a day); he vomits; he has earaches or his nasal discharge is colored.

Good tips for calming teething

To relieve the child when his teeth are growing, we can: massage his gums with the little finger on which we have applied a soothing balm; offer him a refrigerated teething ring, the 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 bother him a lot.

What not to do

Fill the gums with a sugar cube. Try to help the tooth break through the gum with an instrument, otherwise it can cause a local infection. Only pediatricians or a dental surgeon are authorized in certain cases to exert pressure on the gum with a tongue depressor when the tooth is about to emerge. Give a bottle of sugar water or fruit juice at night to help it calm down on its own. This may promote the appearance of cavities. Use a local anesthetic or aspirin.

Gamé KOKO

Article validated by Dr Enyonam Tsolenyanu, Paediatrician at CHU Sylvanus Olympio (Lomé-Togo)