Symptoms of teething infants vary from baby to baby. Some babies make it through teething without so much as a hiccup while others find it intolerable and scream for what seems like the middle months of their first year.
The first sign of teething is usually a little but of irritability. This may be grumpiness at meals, grumpiness at bedtime, and for a select few, overall dissatisfaction with life in general. Whenever babies go through a significant change in their body or their life, they are almost always most affected in the evening and around bedtime. You may experience a baby who out of the blue doesn’t want to lay down, who wakes in the middle of the night, and who thinks sleeping is an optional past time. This can effectively wear a parent down to their bitter ends of survival techniques by the end of the first week. Life may go from a bowl of cherries right down to the splendor of creamed spinach which is why it is important to figure out if perhaps your little one is experiencing the teething pain.
Some babies experience fevers, usually mild and occurring more in the later hours of the day. Of course, the symptoms of teething infants can appear very similar to the symptoms of infants with ear infections or a mild discomfort or illness. If a fever is present, but it is low grade and fluctuates with the hours of the day, it is most likely teething related and is nothing to worry about. While it is okay to give a child a fever reducer in the event of an uncomfortable fever, never give aspirin to a child with a fever. In the event of certain illnesses mistaken for teething, this can induce a serious illness known as Rye’s syndrome.
Diarrhea is one of the more unpleasant symptoms of teething infants, especially after very little sleep piled on top of that frustrating feeling that everything you are doing isn’t creating a helpful situation but irritating everyone in the household, especially your teething little one. While some physicians don’t completely agree with this theory, many believe that the diarrhea comes from the baby swallowing 2 to 3 times the normal amount of saliva which is produced when teething. Perhaps this is not entirely accurate, but it does make sense.
A lot of this extra saliva however is going to make it out of their mouth. Babies who are teething become drooling spigots nearly comparable to a Saint Bernard. The excessive drool tends to chap the sensitive facial skin including their chins, cheeks, lips, and sometimes their hands if they wipe enough of it away. Simply applying a little baby approved ointment can help take care of this discomforting phenomenon.
Some teething infants develop a perpetually runny nose. No one is really clear on why or how this is related to teething, but it seems to be common enough to make the list of teething symptoms. It is not recommended to give a child who is cutting teeth a decongestant to clear up the runny nose. An annoying symptom, yes, but dousing a baby with medication is not a healthy management tool.
Tender gums are a naturally occurring consequence of teething. Some babies actually develop bruised gums, which can be horrifying as a new parent. This is generally nothing to worry about, however if call to your child’s pediatrician is helpful to calm your concerns, by all means. In very rare cases, bruising of the gums can signify tooth problems that will have to be dealt with later on in life, usually in regards to the formation of the teeth and the requirement of braces or the pulling of extra teeth.
One of the more disconcerting symptoms of teething infants includes blood. Where some teeth are ready to squeeze through the gum line, a small cyst may form in response to the pressure. As the tooth breaks through the surface of the gum, the cyst pops, bleeds a bit, and then makes way to show the surface of a brand new shining white tooth just creeping into sight.
Mouth pain is difficult to deal with regardless of age. When your teeth hurt, your whole body can be affected and things can get miserable. Adults with mouth pain are placed on narcotic pain relievers, given compresses, and are instructed on multiple methods to relieve the pain. Babies get some liquid over the counter medication and a frozen waffle. Not that I’m suggesting drugging babies through their teething periods, but I am suggesting that when dealing with the symptoms of teething infants, the adults in the world show them ample grace and tons of patience, and freeze their waffle with an extra dose of love.