A teething baby can be a cause for concern for parents.
Teething is an entirely natural process, but teething pain is no joke.
Pain is just one of the symptoms that parents should learn to manage in teething babies. Other symptoms, like drooling, facial flushing, and sleep problems, may worry parents who aren’t familiar with the common symptoms of teething.
This article will look at common teething symptoms to help you identify your baby’s pain. We’ll also offer tips and advice on how to help your little loved one get through the stages of teething.
Common teething symptoms toddler
Each baby’s teething process is different. Some will experience only mild discomfort as their first baby teeth emerge, while others may suffer a lot of pain and other uncomfortable symptoms.
It helps to know what common teething symptoms look like so you can understand what’s going on with your little one.
It’s also helpful to know what symptoms are not teething and instead a separate issue (such as runny nose, fever, or ear infection) so that you can seek support in due time if your little one is experiencing unusual pain.
1. Drooling
Teething can stimulate a heavy drooling response. This drooling response means lots of saliva will flow from your baby’s mouth.
Bibs, pillows, and clothes are likely to be covered in saliva regularly.
Drooling also means that a lot of saliva will cover your little one’s chin and cheeks, which can lead to skin irritation, especially on more sensitive skin types.
2. Skin redness/rash
As mentioned, drooling causes excess saliva to flow from the mouth. This saliva covers the chin and cheeks, especially when babies drool while lying on their side. The saliva often leads to skin irritation, chafing, chapping, and skin rash around the face where the drool has reached.
3. Chewing/biting/gnawing
The pain of teeth emerging from the gums leads children to naturally counter that pressure through chewing, biting, and gnawing anything they can find.
The counter pressure from biting helps them ease the pain. As such, it’s wise to have clean, sterile objects around that they can gnaw on.
4. Crying
It’s normal for babies and toddlers to cry a lot during the teething stages. Some babies won’t cry much, but others may cry incessantly.
The crying typically follows increased gum sensitivity, pain, and inflammation.
Many babies cry and suffer a lot when teething begins but adapt to the feeling over time and eventually suffer less.
5. Crankiness and irritability
Unsurprisingly, teething makes babies and toddlers pretty cranky and irritable. This is to be expected, just as tooth and gum pain makes us adults cranky and irritable!
Molars tend to cause the most pain, so that the first molar teething stage may cause the most upset.
6. Low appetite
Teething pain can rob your little one of their appetite, so you can expect them to refuse food while their teeth push through. Even the sippy cup can make sore gums feel worse.
7. Ear pulling
Some babies and toddlers will pull their ears or rub their cheeks and jaws in response to teething pain. The gums lie on the same nerve pathways as the ears, cheeks, and jaws, so pain in one area can feel like pain and discomfort in other areas.
Sometimes ear pulling and rubbing are mistaken for ear problems such as an ear infection; you can usually tell the difference by how long the behavior lasts.
If ear pulling comes and goes, it’s likely related to teething, but if it’s consistent and seems to increase in intensity, it may be an infection that deserves closer attention.
8. Sleep disruptions
Gum pain can worsen randomly throughout the day and night, so your little one may wake up in the middle of the night with pain from time to time.
Pain can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, so you may have difficulty getting them back to sleep again.
Lack of sleep can be a major cause of concern for parents, but rest assured, knowing that this is a normal part of teething.
When do babies start teething?
In general, babies start teething somewhere between 4 to 12 months old. Some children may take up to 10-12 months to start teething, so parents of a 6-month-old who has not yet started teething need not worry.
A baby rarely begins teething before four months (though this sometimes happens).
Each child grows and develops at their own pace, so there’s no need to worry about how fast your baby’s teeth begin to show.
Still, if a baby has not yet developed the bottom front teeth by 12 months, arrange a visit to a pediatric dentist.
Most of the time, the first two teeth that show are the lower central incisors (the bottom front teeth).
By around three years of age, most children have developed all 20 of their baby teeth (also known as deciduous teeth, milk teeth, and primary teeth).
Typical teething timeline
Teething is a challenging time for kids and parents alike, as the discomfort your little one feels can sometimes be hard to bear.
Kids also lose appetite and sleep throughout the teething process, which can disrupt their sleep.
So, as challenging as this time is, it’s necessary, and knowing what to expect at each stage may help ease your and your little one’s discomfort.
0-6 months (no teeth yet)
From when a baby is born up to around six months, the full set of 20 baby teeth exist within the jaw but have not yet erupted through the gums.
6-8 months (central incisors)
First teeth begin to emerge around the 6-8 month mark. Lower central teeth tend to show first, followed by the upper central incisors (bottom and top front teeth). This is when teething discomfort begins but often starts slightly earlier before any teeth are evident.
This is also the stage you’ll start to notice more chewing and gnawing.
10 – 14 months (first molar teething)
At 10-14 months, the primary molars begin to erupt.
These are the bigger, wider teeth on the jaw’s sides. Drooling, pain and sleep, and appetite loss will become more noticeable.
16-22 months (canine teeth)
At around 16 months, the canine teeth (the ‘fangs,’ the teeth on either side of the front incisors) begin to emerge.
This can happen early or later depending on the child but typically occurs between 14 and 22 months.
25-33 months (large molar teething)
At 25 to 33 months, the large molars (the back teeth) begin to come in. As the largest teeth, these are the culprits of the most severe pain children experience across all teething stages.
Soothing methods that worked previously may become ineffective. Chewing on safe food items such as a peeled carrot is a popular soothing method at this stage.
How to soothe a teething toddler
You can help your little one get through discomfort with the following tips.
1. Offer a teething ring
Babies and young toddlers can gnaw on a teething ring to help ease their pain. These hard rings are typically made from rubber or plastic and create counter pressure against the emerging teeth, allowing some pain relief.
Teething rings are more effective when cold (cold helps numb the pain), so keep the ring in the fridge before giving it to your youngster.
Don’t place the ring in the freezer because freezing may make it more brittle, i.e., more likely to break.
2. Rub their gums
Running a clean finger along your baby’s gums in a soothing, rubbing motion helps ease their discomfort.
Like the ring, a cold finger will more effectively ease the pain than a warm one.
3. Play and distract
It’s hard to get kids into play mode when their gums are causing them so much pain, but playing with your toddler, maintaining contact and connection, and generally distracting them can make the teething process a little easier.
While you understand what’s happening, they don’t, so stay with them and support them through play and distraction when you can.
4. Wipe away drool
As mentioned earlier, excessive drooling means saliva can build up on the chin and cheeks, causing a rash, redness, and other skin irritation.
Irritated skin is another source of pain that makes the teething process harder to bear, so stay on top of drool and prevent irritation by wiping it away from the chin and cheeks and having plenty of bibs ready.
What to avoid when your toddler is teething
Teething gels and teething necklaces are a long-standing method of soothing toddlers, but recent research suggests that these teething aids are best avoided.
Teething necklaces pose a choking hazard, and there are currently no topical teething gels that the FDA backs.
Conclusion
A final tip? Try to stay calm.
The teething process with your little one can be worrying and exhausting for parents, especially first-time parents.
This is a challenging time, and no one considers it easy, but the more you allow yourself to let go of worry, rest when you can, and be there for your little one when they’re struggling, the easier you’ll make things for both of you.