Your baby might be one of the lucky ones that gets its teeth without any teething pain or soreness, but in most cases teething can be very painful and annoying for a child.

If your baby is teething, you may notice red gums, swollen gums, flushed cheeks, serious drooling, gum rubbing, gum itching, sleepless nights, irritable, unsettled, high temperature, diarrhea and not wanting to feed at all.

To ease your child’s teething pain, consider following the tips mentioned below.

Cold Things:

In the same way that ice works on a sprained wrist to reduce pain, numb the area and decrease swelling, cold compresses soothes sore gums. Place a teether in the refrigerator and let your child suck or bite on it. Do not store the teether in the freezer as the frozen teether might get very hard and would damage the baby gums.

Consider selecting solid silicone-based teethers over liquid-filling teethers that might leak and cannot be sterilized. Alternatively, you may offer them a clean, wet washcloth that has been chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes. The child will love munching on it as the cloth massages the gums and numbs the soreness.

Foods:

If your baby is eating solid foods, give him or her some frozen fruit in a mesh bag or a teething biscuit, oven-hardened bread, breadsticks or cold carrot stick to chomp on.

Pressure:

Rub the baby’s gums with a clean finger until the abrasion makes a whiny noise. This pressure will help soothe the gums. In addition, you could gently rub a cold spoon on the gums to soothe them.

Medication:

Many parents choose topical medications like a numbing gel or cream to rub on the gums. These medications are available at most drugstores and contain anesthetic and antiseptic properties that help ease the pain.

Ensure your teething gel or cream does not contain benzocaine as it may not be safe for your little one. If you are still breastfeeding, do not give your baby any teething gel before a feed, as they can numb the baby’s tongue and make it difficult to suck properly.

Homeopathic Remedies:

Many parents swear by homeopathic remedies that they give to their children to soothe their baby’s gums and stimulate healing. Do this under the advice of a registered practitioner only.

Painkillers:

If nothing else works, you may have to consider giving your baby painkillers that are prescribed by the doctor. Over the counter medication like acetaminophen are easily available at most drug stores, but must only be given at the right dosage and on recommendation by the child’s doctor.

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