8 Top Tips on how to Soothe a Teething Baby and their Cries

Teething is one of the worst ordeals for newborns and parents alike. Your baby will start to show signs of teething at an age of 4-6 months with their first tooth coming out between 5-12 months of age. 

This tough phase can leave babies feeling uncomfortable and most parents, especially first-time parents stressed out. Your baby will probably drool a lot, become really cranky and the tears never stop making it distressful for you and your infant.

So, how can you relieve your child’s sore gums and make his/her teething phase less painful for your child and a lot easier for you? Here are tips to help you soothe your teething child.

Your baby can experience discomfort caused by sore gums during the day, and start to chew on objects, drool, become irritable and even run a low-grade fever. To ease his/her discomfort, you can apply these tips to ensure that both of you have a great time in the day.

This tip will require you to have clean hands. Use a clean finger to gently massage and rub your baby’s gums. Apply a light pressure so that it helps to ease the nerves and bring down your child’s discomfort.

Babies are easily distracted by anything and that is what a warm bath will do. By splashing around, your baby will get his/her mind off the teething pain and therefore, no pain is registered in the brain. Also, warm baths can help a baby sleep afterward.

Cold objects such as a dry spoon, cold washcloth or a chilled teething ring will help cool the nerves and relieve the teething pain. However, you should not give your child frozen objects as these can bring health complications.

Excessive drooling will come about during the teething phase. This can cause skin irritation in addition to your child’s discomfort in their gums. Therefore, have a clean cloth nearby to constantly wipe off the drool. You can also use a baby moisturizer to keep the skin around the mouth hydrated and soft.

Night time is probably one of the biggest nightmares for parents with newborns. You often feel like you barely sleep and the little time you try to sleep, your child is crying again. During the teething phase, it can get worse because your child is facing a huge discomfort in their gum.

So, here are ways to soothe him/her during the teething stage and enable you and your child to have a comfortable and stress-free night.

This is one method to instantly calm your baby. Breastfeeding will soothe your baby as well as put him back to sleep. However, in the teething stage, your baby will probably hurt you by gnawing on your nipple. You can avoid this by rubbing his/her gums before breastfeeding.

To ensure that your baby’s gums don’t hurt and wake the both of you as well as have him/her sleep on a full stomach, you can give your child cold foods before they sleep. These can be a cold yogurt, vegetable or fruit. However, you need to ensure that the food is age-appropriate and also monitor your child as they eat to prevent choking.

Chamomile tea helps relieve teething pain and even induces sleep. It also helps to relieve inflammation and stomach aches as well as boost immunity and create a relation effect. You can give your child chamomile tea through a feeding bottle or chilling a clean cloth soaked in the tea for your baby to chew on.

However, this tip is suitable for babies beyond 6 months of age and before you opt for this remedy, consult your baby’s doctor first.

To ensure that your baby is able to sleep throughout the night without experiencing night discomfort, you can create a sleeping schedule and enhance it with a calm environment. Making a sleep pattern for your baby will make his/her body accustomed to the pattern such that as the time nears sleeping time, your child will subconsciously become sleepy. This can be effected with a warm bath, singing and rocking your child to sleep, changing him/her into their pajamas, or reading them a story.

Teething process is not a cause for alarm as it is easily manageable. However, if your child develops other illness symptoms such as high fever, acute discomfort and more, you should see your baby’s doctor.

In the day, your baby is more active and their play toys and activities are an easy distraction from teething pain. When nighttime falls, your child will lack these distractions making the discomfort noticeable. This will cause you and your baby exhaustion from sleepless nights.

However, you can mitigate your baby’s restlessness and discomfort and help him/her sleep better at night with these tips.

Giving your child pain-killing medicine like Ibuprofen will help your child get relief from sore gums and enable them to sleep peacefully. The medication should be administered in regards to their age. Also, you should contact your child’s doctor to have the green light for using this remedy.

Your child will become fussy and cranky in his/her teething process. To ensure your newborn is able to sleep, make his sleeping environment calm. This will allow him/her to sleep for a longer period.

As teething continues, your child will grow more fussy and restless. This can easily disrupt the routine you have created in sleep training, as you will be tempted to comfort him/her by sleeping side by side with your child. A sleep pattern will enable them to your child to comfortably fall asleep and get back to sleep without necessarily being at their beck and call.

When your baby starts to teeth, it is a natural process that onsets the growth and development of new teeth. To enable your child to relax and sleep well through the night, you can form a habit of cleaning their gum with a clean, damp cloth. As they grow, you can replace the cloth with a soft toothbrush for infants. This will not only massage the gums and ease the teething pain, but it also cleans your baby’s gum hence preventing bacteria build-up in your child’s mouth.

When a baby develops certain symptoms while teething, most parents will blame the teething phase. However, teething does not bring about a fever, and especially a high fever. Your child could be teething while experiencing other illnesses such as fever, diarrhea, loss of appetite, coughing and development of rashes.

This is because, as your baby goes through teething, he/she will constantly put something in their mouth for chewing purposes, as this eases the pain in the gum. Therefore, some of these objects could contain viruses and germs which can bring about fever and other illnesses.

Therefore, you should not assume that your child’s symptoms are caused by teething. Each time your child develops a tooth, he/she may experience mild-acute symptoms. Therefore, when in doubt, consult your pediatrician.

It is important to make sure that your child is experiencing the teething stage or if his/her discomfort is being caused by another infection. This way, you can manage to help your child and ease their discomfort.

Teething is a normal process that assures you of the healthy development of your child. However, it is one of the most painful experiences your infant will go through and this can take a toll on you. Using these soothing tips for your teething baby will enable your child to remain comfortable during this development milestone and in turn, this will affect you positively.

Also, once your baby’s teething phase is over, you need to be able to care for your infant’s teeth. This will enable him/her to develop a healthy and strong gum with strong and clean teeth. Remember to constantly breastfeed your child, see a pediatrician, and have patience. This phase will soon be over and you will forget the sleepless nights.