Teething hurts. What do you do when your little one is agonizing over that tooth that's struggling to emerge?
Steps
1
Remember that you may not know your baby is teething until the actual tooth pops through, so don't automatically assume any cry is teething and quickly resort to medicine. Eliminate other possibilities like hunger, wet diaper, or boredom first.
2
When your baby is in terrible pain, give him/her a warm bath, this will calm them down. Try rubbing olive oil or baby oil on him/her after you dry them off. Give him/her a small baby massage, this will calm him/her down, a bit.
3
If you are breast feeding, and he/she tries to teethe on your breast, which can be very painful, fill a bottle with ice cold water, and let your baby gnaw on the tip of the nipple, they won't drink much water, but this will save your nipples.
4
Keep teething toys in the fridge for a cool treat for the gums. The coldness of teething toys provides a numbing effect. Check with the directions of the teething toy, most advise AGAINST putting them in the freezer.
5
Don't use alcohol of any kind - even a small amount is poisonous for an infant.
6
Wet a clean washcloth and freeze it.The texture of the frozen terry cloth seems to be satisfying. Put one in a plastic bag ahead of time to keep it clean for this use.
7
In a mesh feeder, you can put a cold, refrigerated (NOT frozen) piece of banana or other soft fruit.
8
Use counter-pressure. Run your freshly washed finger over those sore gums. The pressure might soothe the pain. Use your knuckles.Make sure your hands are washed, bend your pointer finger, and let him/her gnaw on your knuckle.Be aware that babies can chomp down fairly hard even without teeth!
9
Use your chin. Make sure your face is clean, and let your baby gnaw on your chin bone, this may seem a little weird, but it works, until they start to have teeth, then this hurts.
10
Lastly try giving him/her some baby Tylenol, or ibuprofen, sometimes with teething comes fever, so the Tylenol or ibuprofen should help alleviate his/her symptoms as well.
11
If none of this works, there may something else wrong, and you should take your baby to the doctor. What you may think is teething could be signs of something else.