Teething relief for 3 month old

Tips for helping your teething baby

Teething can be distressing for some babies, but there are ways to make it easier for them.

Every baby is different, and you may have to try a few different things until you find something that works for your baby.

Teething rings

Teething rings give your baby something to chew safely. This may ease their discomfort and distract them from any pain.

Some teething rings can be cooled first in the fridge, which may help to soothe your baby's gums.

The instructions that come with the ring should tell you how long to chill it for.

Never put a teething ring in the freezer, as it could damage your baby's gums if it gets frozen.

Never tie a teething ring around your baby's neck, as it may be a choking hazard.

If your baby is chewing

One of the signs that your baby is teething is that they start to chew on their fingers, toys or other objects they get hold of.

If your baby is 6 months or older, you can give them healthy things to chew on, such as raw fruit and vegetables. Soft fruit like melon can soothe gums.

You could also try giving your baby a crust of bread or a breadstick.

Always watch when your baby is eating in case they choke.

Find out what to do if your baby starts choking

It's best to avoid rusks because nearly all brands contain some sugar.

Avoid any foods that contain lots of sugar, as this can cause tooth decay, even if your child only has a few teeth.

Teething gels

There's a lack of evidence that teething gels are effective. It's recommended that parents try non-medical options for teething first, such as a teething ring.

If you do decide to use a gel, make sure you use a teething gel that's specially designed for young children.

General oral pain relief gels are not suitable for children.

Teething gels contain a mild local anaesthetic and are only available from pharmacies. Speak to a pharmacist for further advice.

There's no evidence that homeopathic teething gels are effective. If you use a homeopathic gel, make sure it's licensed for use in the UK.

Some unlicensed homeopathic gels advertised on the internet have been linked to serious side effects.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has a list of licensed homeopathic gels.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen for teething

If your baby is in pain, you may want to give them a sugar-free painkilling medicine.

Paracetamol or ibuprofen can be given to relieve teething symptoms in babies and young children aged 3 months or older.

Children under 16 years old should not have aspirin.

Always follow the instructions that come with the medicine.

If you're not sure, speak to your GP or pharmacist.

Comforting a teething baby

Comforting or playing with your baby can distract them from any pain in their gums.

Gently rubbing their gums with a clean finger may also help.

Preventing teething rashes

If teething is making your baby dribble more than usual, gently wiping their face may help prevent a rash.

Caring for your baby's new teeth

You'll need to register your baby with a dentist when their teeth start coming through.

Find a dentist near you

Start brushing your baby's teeth with fluoride toothpaste as soon as their first milk tooth breaks through.

Find out how to look after your baby's teeth

Page last reviewed: 17 March 2022
Next review due: 17 March 2025

Safely Soothing Teething Pain and Sensory Needs in Babies and Older Children

Consider treating teething pain with a teething ring made of firm rubber (not frozen) or by rubbing the gums with a clean finger.

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Teething is normal but may be a painful experience for infants and toddlers. Too often, well-meaning parents and caregivers who want to ease a child’s pain turn to medications and products that could be harmful.

Soothing children’s gums with prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, homeopathic drugs, or teething jewelry marketed for relieving teething pain may seem like good options. But those products can be dangerous and can lead to serious injury or even death. This also applies to older children with special needs who may use teething jewelry for sensory stimulation.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends alternative ways for treating teething pain, including rubbing infants’ gums with a clean finger or providing a teething ring made of firm rubber to chew on. For children with sensory stimulation needs, parents and caregivers should talk to their child’s health care provider about safer options.

On average, children begin teething around 4 to 7 months, and have a total of 20 “baby teeth” by age 3. According to the AAP, occasional symptoms of teething include mild irritability, a low-level fever, drooling, and an urge to chew something hard.

The Risks of Teething Bracelets, Necklaces and Other Jewelry

Teething jewelry includes necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry worn by either an adult or child, used by parents and caregivers, and is marketed to relieve an infant’s teething pain. It may also be marketed for use by people with special needs, such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to provide sensory stimulation or redirect chewing on clothes or body parts.

The beads of the jewelry may be made with various materials such as amber, wood, marble, or silicone. Jewelry marketed for teething is not the same as teething rings or teethers, which are made of hard plastic or rubber and not wearable by an adult or child.

There are serious risks associated with using jewelry marketed for relieving teething pain such as choking, strangulation, injury to the mouth, and infection. Other concerns include potential injury to the mouth or infection if a piece of the jewelry irritates or pierces the child’s gums.

Teething Creams and Gels Also Have Risks

Parents and caregivers might also look to relieve a teething baby by rubbing numbing medications on the child’s gums. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns against using any sort of topical medication to treat teething pain in children, including prescription or OTC creams and gels, or homeopathic teething tablets. They offer little to no benefit and are associated with serious risk.

Benzocaine — a local anesthetic — is the active ingredient in several OTC oral health care products such as Anbesol, Baby Orajel, Cepacol, Chloraseptic, Hurricaine, Orabase, Orajel, and Topex. These products should not be used for teething because they can be dangerous and are not useful because they wash out of a baby’s mouth within minutes.

The use of benzocaine gels, sprays, ointments, solutions, and lozenges for mouth and gum pain can lead to a serious — and sometimes fatal — condition called methemoglobinemia, in which the oxygen-carrying capacity of red blood cells is greatly reduced.

Prescription and OTC benzocaine oral health care drug products are also widely used in adults. Doctors and dentists often use sprays containing benzocaine to numb the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat or to suppress the gag reflex during medical and surgical procedures, such as transesophageal echocardiograms, endoscopy, intubation, and feeding tube replacements. But benzocaine sprays are not FDA-approved for these uses.

Talk to your health care professional about using benzocaine and other local anesthetics, especially if you have heart disease; are elderly; are a smoker; or have breathing problems such as asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema. Those conditions put you at greater risk for complications relating to methemoglobinemia.

What You Can Do to Ease Teething Pain

If your child’s gums are swollen and tender, gently rub or massage the gums with your finger, or give your child a teething ring made of firm rubber to chew. Make sure the teething ring is not frozen. If the object is too hard, it can hurt your child’s gums. Parents should supervise their children so they don’t accidentally choke on the teething ring.

Parents and caregivers of children with special needs who may require sensory stimulation should talk to their child’s health care provider about safer options and treatment. Jewelry marketed for relieving teething pain and to provide sensory stimulation can lead to serious injuries, including strangulation and choking.

The FDA continues to closely monitor the use of teething jewelry and other teething pain relief products and is evaluating whether other actions are necessary to address the risks associated with these products, as part of its commitment to protecting public health – especially when it comes to the health and safety of children.

Consumers and health care professionals should notify the FDA of any adverse side effects when using drugs and devices the agency regulates, by reporting them online to MedWatch, the FDA’s safety information and adverse event reporting program, or by telephone at 1-800-FDA-1088.

How to relieve the pain of teething in a child

What is teething?

When teething in infants and children, the growing teeth begin to penetrate the underlying gum tissue and come out. Some children experience more severe pain, others less. Here are some signs and symptoms that can tell if your baby is teething:

The gums at the expected teething site become inflamed and swollen.
The baby's cheek on the teething side may be red and hot.
Children may constantly rub their ear on the side of teething.
The child begins to chew everything that comes to hand.
Increased salivation, which may cause irritation on the chin.
The child becomes irritable and shows other signs of discomfort such as restless sleep and refusal to eat.
At this time, children may periodically have a slight jump in temperature.

What is the average teething time for children?

The first tooth usually appears between 6 months and 1 year of age.

A baby is born with all 20 baby teeth already under the gum just waiting to erupt. And there is a clear pattern or order of teething. The front teeth (incisors) usually erupt first, and all subsequent teeth, upper and lower, appear one by one. The first molars at the end of the gums begin to appear around the age of 12-15 months, while the canines usually erupt by the age of one and a half years. All milk teeth usually appear by the age of three.

How to soothe the pain of teething

There are several ways to help your baby with teething so that this difficult period of his life is comfortable:

Chewing toys

You can purchase special chewing rings of a variety of shapes and materials designed for your baby in this period. These rings help to significantly reduce the discomfort in the child and help in the speedy appearance of the tooth.

You can also use chew toys (made from a special soft fabric) and various baby bottle nipples.

Proper nutrition

Cool water is the best option during teething, especially if the child drinks from a special baby cup. Drinking a chilled drink will somewhat soothe irritated and inflamed gums in the same way as drinking fruit purees or drinking yogurts in a cool form.

Creative distraction or special play

Try to distract your child with some creative activity from discomfort and pain in the mouth. Hug him, play with him, prepare a warm bath for him. If your baby is still breastfeeding, feed him.

Gum massage

If you gently massage your baby's gums with a clean finger, the pain will subside a little. It can also help the tooth erupt.

Skin protection

You can use a baby cream to reduce irritation of the chin skin. It is also necessary to change the bed linen of the child in a timely manner.

Dental gels

These preparations are available from many pharmaceutical companies. They may contain local anesthetic ingredients. Gels give a temporary result, as they are easily washed off with saliva.

Baby tooth gels contain ingredients with a high safety profile, some of which can be used as early as 5 months of age. It is recommended to follow the instructions for use and use only drugs that are registered for children of the appropriate age.

Medications

If your child has severe pain or fever, you can give him a children's medicine for such cases, which can help reduce fever and pain.

Seek medical attention if your child has a high fever, an unusually uncomfortable or painful condition that suggests more serious problems than teething symptoms.

Finally, don't forget that all children teeth naturally, so don't take your child's painful illnesses to heart at this difficult time for him (and his family).

How to help a child with teething

The appearance of a newborn in the family is an indescribable joy. Great relief comes when the period of infantile colic passes. And as soon as moms and dads relax and begin to enjoy life, a new problem appears - teething. And it all starts over...

In order to somehow help their baby, parents are ready to do anything: buy, put on teeth, cover up, drip, etc. During this period, advertising on TV fits very “successfully” - “Drops when teething”. Parents run to the pharmacy, give a miracle drug to the child, but there is no result. Another advertisement is "Teething Gels". More like a pharmacy. And there was no result, and no.

STOP! In this situation, you need to stop. Remember that people lived on the planet a long time ago. And children constantly face teething. Yes, sometimes it brings discomfort, both to the baby and to his whole family. But that's completely normal! You should be a little patient and you can forget about teething, like a bad dream.

Teething medicines

The first thing parents think about when faced with the problem of teething is how to help the baby? What funds to buy at the pharmacy? Let's deal with all their diversity.

Local anesthetic gels

There are currently 2 painkillers found in dental gels: benzocaine and lidocaine.

1. Benzocaine.

Benzocaine has been banned from use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The reason for the ban is toxicity and lack of safety. Benzocaine products can cause methemoglobinemia, the main symptoms of which are gray-brown skin, lips and nails, headache, shortness of breath, tachycardia, nausea, and even death.

These symptoms may appear minutes or hours after the use of benzocaine.

2. Lidocaine.

This drug can cause numbness in the throat and, consequently, a violation of the function of swallowing. If the dosage is not observed, there are violations of the cardiovascular system, convulsions, allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock and death.

Since 2014, lidocaine has been banned for use in children's teething by the US FDA.

Homeopathic gels

There seems to be nothing wrong with homeopathy - after all, there is no active substance in such preparations. And if children become calmer after them, then we can remember the placebo effect. They smeared the gums - the parents calmed down - the child calmed down.

However, there is still a catch. In 2016, a number of homeopathic dental medicines were recalled due to the discovery of a toxic concentration of belladonna in these products. As a result of the use of these drugs in children, convulsions, difficulty breathing, and lethargy occurred.

Herbal gels and anti-inflammatories

Theoretically, these drugs can be used, but we should not forget that they can be washed out of the oral cavity after a few minutes. From this it is clear that the effect of them will not last long at all and the child will begin to cry again. In this case, you need to remember about the likelihood of allergic reactions and individual intolerance.

What then to smear?

Nothing. The American and Canadian Dental Associations do not recommend any gels for use in children during teething.

How parents can help their child:

1. Give your child pre-chilled rubber or silicone teethers. If they contain liquid inside, they must be cooled in the refrigerator and not in the freezer. When cleaning teethers, do not boil them, as high temperatures can damage the plastic.

2. Offer your baby teething toys with a ribbed silicone or latex surface.

3. If the child has already learned to eat solid food, offer him chilled pieces of fruits and vegetables, as well as dried ones. This is a good way to distract the child from pain. The main thing is to be at this time next to the child and make sure that he does not choke.

4. Offer the breast more often (when breastfeeding). The baby calms down thanks to the action of several factors at once: massage of the gums, closeness to the mother and the calming effect of the milk itself.

5. Give chilled water from a cup or bottle (suitable for children over 6 months old).

6. Massage the gums of the crumbs with clean fingers or special silicone fingertips.

7. Just be there during this difficult period, hug, hold, stroke and try to distract more often.

8. In case of severe pain, give the baby painkillers (you need to consult a pediatrician!).