Baby milestones aren’t always filled with laughter and smiles. Cries and fussiness can be a part of growth, like when your baby is teething. This stage is painful as new teeth are beginning to sprout from their gums.
Teething usually begins during the baby’s fourth month. It is characterized by swollen and red gums, lots of drooling, the behavior of rubbing their cheeks and ears, a change in their eating and sleeping routine, and sometimes even a low level fever. All these teething symptoms make your baby more irritable—a stage you’ll struggle with as a parent.
With these, you must be searching about how to relieve infant teething pain or the best infant pain reliever for teething to help your baby. Well, you are in the right place! Here, we’ve listed seven tried and tested ways to help ease your baby’s swollen gums and their effects. Keep reading to learn more!
Gum Massage for Teething Pain
Massaging sore gums can relieve your baby, so rub the swollen area yourself. Make sure to wash your hands before doing this. You can also wrap a cloth around your finger before massaging the area. Even better, dip the cloth in ice-cold water so that, together with the massage, you can minimize gum swelling because of the cold.
Do note that this method is best when your little one is growing their first few teeth, as if you do this later on, you could get bitten.
Frozen and Chilled Treats for a Teething Baby
Everything chilled or frozen will be your baby’s new favorite treat when they begin teething. You can offer chilled or frozen breast milk if they begin teething before they take in solids. There are specially designed popsicle makers for babies that mimic how pacifiers look. Instead of a popsicle stick, the frozen breastmilk will be attached to a pacifier holder. This ensures that your baby can grip it properly.
Aside from milk, you can offer fruit and vegetable popsicles, too, or even just chilled or frozen ones. Chilled mashed bananas, avocados, and apples are baby favorites. To avoid any choking hazards, use a fruit feeder pacifier. This ensures your baby will only eat small portions, while the firm rubber nipple can also serve as a teether for your little one.
Let Them Munch on Teething Biscuits
The primary characteristic of these biscuits that gives relief to your baby is the biscuit’s texture. They have a suitable hardness and texture that your baby can bite and chew on. They do not quickly melt like other biscuits, and when they do, they become a welcome snack for your baby.
You can buy packed ones which have a variety of flavors. The new tastes can be a treat for your baby. You can also bake fresh teething biscuits with ingredients readily available in your kitchen, like oats, fruits and vegetables, and oil.
Let Them Chew on Teethers and a Cold Clean Cloth
Soothing sore gums through biting can ease the teething pain your baby feels. Allow them to do this as long as possible through baby teethers, teething necklaces, teething rings, or a cold cloth. Pick teethers made of rubber that are durable enough not to break despite repetitive freezing. Skip the teethers with water or gel, as your baby might swallow them when the teether breaks.
You can also go for a chilled cloth, but make sure it is clean and free from tiny fabric pieces your baby may swallow. Get a couple of them, so when one is thawed, you can change it with another cold teether.
Welcome Distractions for Your Little One
Another way to keep your baby from fussing about the pain they feel is to keep them busy. Offer them new toys that can catch and keep their attention. To make them productive, pick educational toys. Let them solve baby puzzles, make sounds on baby musical instruments, or exercise their muscles through a baby playground.
Sleeping time is a challenging moment for a teething baby. Divert their attention to classical music or a white noise background, so instead of feeling the pain in their tender gums, they can listen to the music until they doze off. Cuddles with you can make this activity better too.
Keep Your Routine
Schedules will be disrupted when your baby is teething. Because of the pain they feel, they may refuse to eat. Nap and sleep times can also be compromised. However, as much as possible, continue your routine, as it will help your baby’s body. When mealtimes are scheduled at the same time, your baby will feel hungry during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack times. Even if they have teething pains, they’ll try their best to satisfy their hunger.
Meanwhile, when the sleep schedule is followed, your baby will be in the mood to sleep because their energy will be sapped just before bedtime. This will help them fall asleep quicker despite having painful gums.
Prescription Medicine as a Last Resort
If all else fails, and if your little one experiences a fever during teething, it is best to ask for medicine from doctors. Although there are readily available over the counter pain relievers, it is best to consult with doctors first as they may have something specifically for teething pains like topical gels, and they can give the correct dosage too. However, this should be a last resort as babies can typically handle teething pains when the remedies above are done.
Baby Teeth Care From Ashtonbee
We hope the tips above answer your questions about relieving teething pain. Make the milestone of teething less stressful by following these tips. All of them are easy to do and entail getting basic baby supplies like teethers, pacifiers, and baby snacks. With your increased patience and understanding of the growth and change your baby is experiencing, you and your little one will eventually overcome this stage with smiles on your faces.
If you need supplies to keep your baby’s teeth, gums, and oral health superb, check out our products here at Ashtonbee. We have just what you need, so shop now!
