Teething baby won’t sleep? A grumpy crying baby? Baby won’t eat?

Sound familiar? When my daughter started teething, her sleep went from “awesome” to “awful”. The days could be challenging, but the nights were the worst. It’s so hard to watch you baby in pain, and if this has been going on for while, you could be on the brink yourself. There is help for teething babies!

What to do when a baby is teething?

There are many simple things you can do to help relieve teething pain.

Use your finger! Any clean finger will do, with the nails trimmed please! Let your baby chew on your finger a bit. Use your finger to feel around in your babies mouth, try to feel for the raised bulging spots, and press down gently with your finger. The pressure from your finger will help with the pain your baby is feeling from that new tooth trying to push through. Your finger just became the best homemade teether!

Frozen Washcloth! Take a nice thick washcloth and get it wet, wring it out so it’s just damp. Place this washcloth in the freezer or fridge and give it to your baby when they seem to be in pain. You could also take an old clean baby sock, fill it with crushed ice, and tie a knot at the top of the sock. My daughter loved this! It will mold to your babies gums, and the fabric is great for chewing on!

Frozen Foods! If your baby is at least 6 months old then frozen foods are a great teething aid! A frozen chunk of bagel can make a great teething aid! If you are a little nervous about giving your little one a chunk of food to gnaw on, then mesh feeders can be great! Flip them open, shove a frozen strawberry or some crushed ice in there, and let them chew away. My daughter enjoyed frozen peas, strawberries, and banana’s, she would gnaw on that mesh feeder for hours! One word of warning on mesh feeders, gummed banana residue is very hard to clean!

The best thing about giving your teething baby frozen things to chew on, they anesthetize their gums, thus numbing their pain.

Teething Gels, Pastes and Liquids! These topical ointments numb your babies gums, much like frozen teethers and foods. The numbing effect also last longer then any frozen teething treatments. Make sure to use a washcloth to gently pat your babies mouth dry, then apply a small amount to the red bulging area of your babies gums. Teething gels can work well, but I personally would not use them on young babies. First off, have you ever tasted them? They taste horrible! It is too easy to accidentally use too much of it! (Babies mouths are really small) The gel could travel around their mouth in their saliva, thus also numbing their tongues and lips. I was also worried that my daughter might swallow some. If you do decide to use teething gels on your younger baby, apply them after babies feeding is finished as the numbing effect could prevent them from getting a good feeding. I did use teething gel with great results when my daughter was getting her 2nd and 3rd year molars.

Pain Relievers! Now I want to talk about acetaminophen and ibuprofen. If you are having some major baby teething problems then you must have some in you medicine cabinet! They both provide powerful pain relief, reduce inflammation, and are very safe to use as long as you follow the proper dosage instructions.

How to Help with Teething

A lot of the parents I spoke with liked to rotate different “teething treatments” for various situations. As I said before, with my daughter nights were the worst! I would use teethers, and frozen foods during the day, maybe some homeopathic teething drops. At night though, when she just couldn't sleep and was totally miserable I would break out the big guns. Baby Acetaminophen or ibuprofen would be administered about a half hour before bed, then my little one would actually have her night feed and get some sleep (me too)!

Providing teething relief for babies requires a lot of guesswork, and lots of trial and error. Ultimately your must trust yourself, and trust your research, and when in doubt always talk to your doctor!