Nobody told us teething could be stressful for parents. Yup, it is really especially when those tiny teeth are about to erupt from our baby’s gums. They get so fussy and irritable. As much as we want to help them, we can only do so much like give them cold teethers and paracetamol to ease the pain. So here are several of the usual symptoms to watch out for to know that your baby is teething. All babies are different. Some symptoms never appear. It can be one, two, or all. These usually start to appear from 3 months to 7 months. Some probably later.

• Irritability
• Wants to always bite and view on something
• When you see your baby scratching or rubbing his/ her face
• When baby keeps pulling his/her ears
• Drooling
• Having a hard time sleeping
• Facial rash
• Loose bowel
• Doesn’t want to eat
• low-grade fever

How can you help baby  go through teething? Well, here are some things we did that worked for us.

• Rub a clean finger over his/ her gums. Sometimes we let them chew on our fingers. It was effective! Make sure your fingers are clean.
• We clean and chill these and give it to our teething baby one at a time – medicine droppers (yup, they loved chewing on the rubber ends), rubber teethers (with and without water inside), and we freeze wet (make sure you use clean drinking water) cold washcloth (make sure it’s not a face towel because they can eat the cloth particles when they chew on them).
• Apply teething gels – you can buy in leading drug stores nationwide or in Healthy Options (call first to make sure it’s available).
• When all else still doesn’t work, we give the right dose of paracetamol. Always works!

How to take care of baby’s gums and teeth?

It’s a normal practice for most moms today to take care even the gums of their babies even without the teeth yet. Clean baby’s gums and tongue everyday. How? Here are some things we did. No need to use toothpaste just yet:

• Use a rubber gum cleaner to clean your baby’s gums and tongue. You can buy these rubber gum cleaners that you put on your finger to maneuver them better when you clean the gums and tongue in department stores, leading drug stores, and baby shops  nationwide.
• Use your finger wrapped in wet medical gauze if you have at home. Dispose after.
• You may use you fingers wrapper in wash cloth too
• There are also gum wipes available in baby shops

We also started brushing their teeth once they’re out. Since they eat solid food already,bacteria builds up faster. Brush twice a day with a small toothbrush and gently. Use a toothpaste that can be swallowed by babies. We prefer gel-type infant and toddler toothpaste since they’re easier to spread and it’s stickier so even when the baby moves, the gel stays in place (from experience) as compared to organic toothpastes that are grainy. Here are our favorites and also our babies like them too (photo credits to the brands):

Thank goodness for all the new inventions today and the old ways to help soothe a teething baby and to help keep their gums and teeth clean and well. So moms and dads, relax (easy to say, hard to do I know), your baby will be fine. They’re just having a little discomfort when they experience teething. Also, just give lots of hugs and cuddles to make them feel comfortable. Also, be patient and be consistent on cleaning and brushing their teeth twice a day since it already builds a habit for the children early on. They’ll get used to  cleaning their teeth and it will be a good habit to develop while growing up- proper hygiene and care for oneself.

Check out these oral care products from:

• Cudsly.com: click here
• Lazada.com: Click here and here

Here’s a guide on when to expect baby teeth to erupt and the rest of the timeline.