Your infant is cranky, crying, salivating, sucking on everything in sight, what's wrong? Your baby may be teething. Some infants, although rare, have been known to cut teeth within a few weeks, most will start however, within 3-6 months. As you could imagine this makes baby very irritable, during this time be very observant to notice the signs that your infant may be teething as listed above. What can you do?
Referring to your pediatrician is always best, there are some practical things you can do to make your baby more comfortable. Some infants do fairly well during this time, normally just finding something to bite on soothes them. Other infants have a hard time with this. Some parents find it helpful to get a rubber teething ring, freeze it, then let the infant bite, and suck on that. The coldness seems to numb the irritation. Your local pharmacist may recommend an ointment such as "baby" orajel, not regular orajel, for you to rub on your infant's gums. Do not be surprised if your infant needs more. Your pharmacist may also recommend a liquid pain reliever like "Infant Motrin" for you to administer in a "dropper", especially before bedtime to help your baby sleep.
As your baby cuts more teeth, and gets older, this will get easier for you and your baby. You will find it neat to observe how much your little one looks to you for everything, since your baby cannot talk, your infant depends on you to "know" what's wrong and fix it, chalk this up as another notch on your parenting skill belt.
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