Teething signs and symptoms

Children experience teething differently – from when teeth emerge to the types of symptoms and how much pain they feel.

Here's how to spot the signs that your baby is teething, so you can offer remedies to treat the discomfort.

Signs that your baby is teething

Symptoms can last for just a few days, right around the time a new tooth is coming in, or as long as several months, as a group of teeth make their way through. For a few lucky babies (and parents), teething doesn't cause any noticeable signs at all.

What's tricky is that there's no single set of teething symptoms. "No more than a third of babies have any one symptom," says pediatrician Deb Lonzer, chairperson of the Department of Community Pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital. "So, one third of the kids might drool, another third might be irritable, and another third might have trouble sleeping."

For this reason, the following list of symptoms is just a guideline.

Signs your baby is teething may include:

• A tooth visible below the gum
• Swollen, bulging gums
• Trying to bite, chew, and suck on everything she can get her hands on
• Drooling
• Irritability
• Rubbing her face
• Difficulty sleeping
• Turning away food
• Grabbing her ears

If you observe several of these symptoms together, the likelihood that teething is the culprit is higher – but there's always the chance that something else is to blame.

What not to chalk up to teething

If your baby is suffering from diarrhea, fever, or a runny nose, don't dismiss it as merely a sign of teething, especially if the symptoms persist for more than 24 hours.

Even though plenty of parents swear that these symptoms seem directly related to their child's teething, there's no scientific proof that they are linked. A comprehensive analysis of 78 studies published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood in 2007, for example, found no connection between high fever and teething.

So if your child exhibits diarrhea or fever, call his doctor to rule out anything more serious.

When to worry about a late teether

The first pearly white typically peeks through between 4 and 10 month of age, but it's also perfectly normal for it to show up a little later. If your child's teeth are slow to appear but her bone growth, skin, and hair are normal, there's likely nothing wrong.

Still, if your baby reaches her first birthday with no tooth in sight, mention it to her doctor, who may refer you to a pediatric dentist. Occasionally, children can be missing a primary or permanent tooth, but it's not usually a long-term concern. By the time your child is 8 or 9, you can consult with an orthodontist who will review the options, which include closing the gap with braces or fitting an implant.

Late teething doesn't signal problems with a child's overall development. And there's actually a potential upside to being a late bloomer, says pediatrician Paul Horowitz, founder of Discovery Pediatrics in Valencia, California: The later these teeth come in, the less time they have to develop decay before they fall out and make way for a child's permanent teeth.