How to Handle Teething

Teething can be a very stressful time of life for a baby and for the baby’s parents.  Teething is painful and stressful for the baby.Teething makes for a cranky baby, and therefore cranky parents. Luckily there are some time tested methods and some new technologies that help the teething process break though.

Teething is the time of a baby`s life when he or she begins to cut new teeth. This is when the newly developed baby teeth push through the gum line and begin taking up their new homes in the baby’s mouth. This can be a very exciting time in the life of the baby. This is the time when the baby moves on from liquid foods to solid foods. For the parents, it is an exciting time watching the new changes in the baby’s appearance and capabilities.   However, this is an extremely stressful time as well. The baby’s gums hurt from the teeth pushing though. In addition to this, the urge to chew is at an all time high. Providing for the pain and the desire to chew can be somewhat of a challenge for a parent.

One of the oldest methods of handling both the desire to chew and the need to  relieve the pain is also one of the cheapest and the easiest. This method takes a clean wash towel, one that has not been washed using any harsh detergents or anything that may harm the baby, soaks it in water or juice, and freezes it. The baby is then allowed to chew on the was  towel in its frozen state. This provides the baby with a solid item to chew on while numbing the gums against the pain of teething. When freezing the wash towel, it is a good idea to twist the towel up and place a knot in it. This helps to keep it in a usable shape for the baby.

Several toys have been developed that use the same concept as the wash towel. These toys are made from a nontoxic plastic and are filled with water. The toy is then frozen and given to the baby. The baby is then allowed to chew on these toys. The difficulty with these toys is that they are often too smooth for the baby to really chew on. This is why the frozen wash towel has remained so popular.

Another common thing for parents to do when chewing a frozen toy is not an option, is to apply a numbing agent to the baby’s gums. This helps to relieve the pain from the teething process when natural methods such as chewing and icing are not an option.  There are many different medications available to the parents to help numb the gums and it is best if each one is tried on the baby until one that does the job effectively is found. These medications are not a replacement to something that the baby can chew though; as they will not help the baby cut new teeth.