Can a 7 week old baby be teething. What are the signs of teething in young infants. How to soothe a teething baby at night. Is it safe to use teething gels for young babies. When should you consult a doctor for teething symptoms.

Understanding Early Teething in Infants

While it’s uncommon, some babies may start teething as early as 7 weeks old. Early teething can be a challenging experience for both infants and parents. Understanding the process and recognizing the signs can help you provide the best care for your baby during this developmental stage.

Is it possible for a 7-week-old baby to be teething? Yes, although rare, some infants may begin teething at this young age. Most babies start teething between 4 and 7 months, but every child develops at their own pace. If you suspect your 7-week-old is teething, it’s essential to monitor their symptoms closely and consult with your pediatrician for guidance.

Recognizing Teething Symptoms in Young Infants

Identifying teething symptoms in very young babies can be challenging, as they may overlap with other developmental issues. However, there are several common signs to watch for:

• Red and swollen gums
• Flushed cheeks or face
• Excessive drooling
• Increased biting or sucking behaviors
• Ear rubbing on the same side as an erupting tooth
• Disrupted sleep patterns
• Changes in feeding habits
• Increased irritability and fussiness

Are these symptoms always indicative of teething? Not necessarily. Some babies may experience all of these symptoms, while others may show only a few or none at all. It’s important to remember that each child’s teething experience is unique.

Soothing Techniques for Teething Discomfort

When your baby is experiencing teething pain, especially during the night, there are several soothing techniques you can try:

1. Gently massage your baby’s gums with a clean finger
2. Offer a chilled (not frozen) teething ring or damp washcloth
3. Provide cold water in a bottle or sippy cup
4. Maintain a consistent bedtime routine
5. Offer extra cuddles and comfort

How effective are these soothing techniques? While their effectiveness may vary from baby to baby, many parents find these methods helpful in providing relief and comfort to their teething infants.

The Safety of Teething Gels and Alternative Remedies

When considering teething gels or alternative remedies for your 7-week-old, it’s crucial to prioritize safety. Teething gels can provide temporary numbing relief, but their effectiveness is limited due to saliva washing them away quickly.

Is it safe to use teething gels on a 7-week-old baby? It’s essential to consult with your pediatrician before using any teething gel on a baby under two months old. Always choose products specifically designed for infants and follow the instructions carefully.

Alternative remedies such as homeopathic powders or amber necklaces lack scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness. Moreover, amber necklaces pose a choking hazard and should be avoided.

Pain Relief Options for Teething Infants

In cases of severe discomfort, some parents consider using over-the-counter pain relievers. However, it’s crucial to approach this option with caution, especially for very young infants.

Can you give infant paracetamol to a 7-week-old for teething pain? Before administering any medication to a baby this young, it’s imperative to consult with your pediatrician. They can provide guidance on appropriate dosages and whether pain relief medication is necessary or advisable for your infant’s specific situation.

Important Considerations for Pain Relief:

• Always confirm the correct dosage based on your baby’s weight and age
• Never exceed the recommended dose or frequency
• Use medication only when other soothing methods have been ineffective
• Monitor your baby closely for any adverse reactions

Managing Sleep Disruptions During Teething

Teething can significantly impact your baby’s sleep patterns, leading to increased nighttime waking and difficulty settling. Maintaining a consistent bedtime routine becomes even more critical during this period.

How can you help your teething baby sleep better at night? Consider these strategies:

• Stick to your established bedtime routine as much as possible
• Offer comfort and reassurance without creating new sleep dependencies
• Use white noise or gentle lullabies to create a soothing sleep environment
• Ensure the room temperature is comfortable for sleep
• Consider adjusting nap times to accommodate nighttime sleep disruptions

Remember, consistency is key. Once teething symptoms subside, return to your baby’s normal sleep routine promptly to prevent long-term sleep issues.

When to Consult a Healthcare Professional

While teething is a normal part of development, there are instances when you should seek medical advice, especially for a 7-week-old baby experiencing symptoms.

When should you consult a doctor about your baby’s teething symptoms? Contact your pediatrician if:

• Your baby develops a high fever (over 101°F or 38.3°C)
• Symptoms persist for an extended period without relief
• Your baby shows signs of dehydration or refuses to eat
• You notice any unusual rashes or swelling
• Your baby seems to be in severe pain that’s not alleviated by typical soothing methods

It’s important to rule out other potential health issues, such as ear infections, which can sometimes be mistaken for teething symptoms in young infants.

Understanding the Teething Timeline

While teething at 7 weeks is possible, it’s helpful to understand the typical teething timeline to put your baby’s experience into perspective.

Average Teething Milestones:

• 4-7 months: First teeth (usually bottom front) may appear
• 8-12 months: Top front teeth often emerge
• 9-16 months: Top and bottom teeth beside the front teeth erupt
• 13-19 months: First molars typically appear
• 16-23 months: Canine teeth often emerge
• 23-33 months: Second molars usually come in

How long does the teething process typically last? The entire teething process, from the first tooth to the last, can span about two years. However, the most intense periods of discomfort often occur during the emergence of the first few teeth and molars.

Remember that every baby is unique, and these timelines are just averages. Some babies may teeth earlier or later, and the order of tooth emergence can vary.

Nutrition and Teething: Supporting Your Baby’s Health

Teething can sometimes affect a baby’s eating habits, which is particularly concerning for very young infants like 7-week-olds who rely entirely on breast milk or formula for nutrition.

How can you ensure your teething baby gets proper nutrition? Consider these strategies:

• Offer more frequent, shorter feeding sessions if your baby is uncomfortable
• Try different feeding positions that may put less pressure on sore gums
• For bottle-fed babies, experiment with different nipple flows
• Keep track of wet diapers to ensure adequate hydration
• Consult with your pediatrician if feeding problems persist

For exclusively breastfed babies, continue to nurse on demand. Breast milk provides both nutrition and comfort, which can be especially soothing during teething.

The Role of Oral Hygiene in Early Teething

Even before the first tooth emerges, it’s important to start good oral hygiene habits. This is particularly true if your 7-week-old is showing signs of early teething.

How should you care for your teething baby’s gums and emerging teeth? Follow these guidelines:

• Gently wipe your baby’s gums with a soft, damp cloth after feedings
• Once teeth emerge, use an infant toothbrush with soft bristles
• Don’t use toothpaste until your baby is at least 6 months old
• Avoid putting your baby to bed with a bottle to prevent tooth decay
• Schedule your baby’s first dental visit by their first birthday or within 6 months of the first tooth appearing

Establishing good oral hygiene habits early can set the foundation for lifelong dental health.

Emotional Support for Parents of Teething Infants

Caring for a teething baby, especially one as young as 7 weeks, can be emotionally and physically draining for parents. It’s important to recognize the challenges and seek support when needed.

Strategies for Parental Self-Care During Teething:

• Take turns with your partner or a trusted caregiver for nighttime soothing
• Rest when your baby rests, even if it’s just for short periods
• Stay hydrated and maintain a balanced diet to support your own health
• Connect with other parents for support and advice
• Practice stress-reduction techniques like deep breathing or gentle exercise
• Don’t hesitate to ask for help from family or friends

Remember, taking care of yourself is crucial for providing the best care for your teething baby. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed at times, and seeking support is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Preparing for Future Teething Episodes

If your 7-week-old is indeed teething early, it’s wise to prepare for future teething episodes as well. Each new tooth can bring its own set of challenges, but being prepared can help make the process smoother.

Tips for Future Teething Preparedness:

• Keep a variety of teething toys on hand to find what works best for your baby
• Stock up on bibs and burp cloths to manage increased drooling
• Have infant pain relievers available, but always consult your pediatrician before use
• Consider keeping a teething diary to track patterns and what soothes your baby best
• Stay informed about dental development milestones
• Maintain regular check-ups with your pediatrician to monitor overall health and development

By being proactive and prepared, you can help make the teething process more manageable for both you and your baby as they continue to grow and develop.

My baby is teething at night. How can I soothe her?

In this article

• How can I help my baby cope with teething pain at night?
• Why does teething hurt?
• How can I soothe sore gums during the night?
• Should I use teething gels or alternative remedies?
• Can I give my baby infant paracetamol?
• How long does teething last?

How can I help my baby cope with teething pain at night?

During the day, your baby’s regular activities will help distract her from the discomfort of teething. At night, the lack of distractions may make the pain more noticeable and your baby may start to get upset.

Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether your baby’s unsettled behaviour during the night is actually due to teething.

If your baby is teething, you may notice some of these signs, although not every baby will get every symptom:

• red and swollen gums
• red, flushed cheeks or face
• heavy dribbling
• gum-rubbing, biting or sucking
• rubbing her ear on the same side as an erupting tooth
• being sleepless at night and during daytime naps
• not feeding as well
• being irritable and unsettled (NICE 2014, NHS2016a)

If you think your baby is waking regularly due to teething, try to keep to her usual bedtime routine. If you change your approach, for example, staying longer with her while she settles, she may start to depend on your presence to be able to fall asleep.

If she cries out for you during the night you’ll need to go to her, to work out whether or not she’s in pain. Use your instincts to decide whether to pick her up to comfort her or whether reassuring words and strokes are enough to soothe her back to sleep.

If your baby’s sleep carries on being disrupted after her teething symptoms have gone, get back to her old routine as quickly as possible. A few nights of perseverance should soon get you back on track.

Why does teething hurt?

As your baby’s tooth emerges, the gum around it may be inflamed, swollen and sore. It’s thought this is what causes the pain.

Your baby’s mouth will generally be much more sensitive at this time. You may find that your baby rejects your breast or her bottle during her usual night feeds. Try not to worry if she does; she’s likely to catch up on her feeds when she’s feeling better.

Some babies may prefer more frequent feeds to help them cope with teething pain, often for shorter periods (LLLGB 2017). So you may find your sleep is more interrupted than normal during a bout of teething.

How can I soothe sore gums during the night?

Simply rubbing a clean finger over sore gums can temporarily numb the pain (NICE 2014). Giving your baby something clean and cool to bite on may relieve the pressure on her gums and provide a welcome distraction from any pain (NHS 2016b, NICE 2014).

Anything cold will be soothing and numb her gums, so keep teethers in the fridge or give your baby a well-chilled, damp flannel to bite on when she wakes with teething pain. Make sure you stay with her and don’t leave anything she could choke on in her cot.

Don’t give your baby anything from the freezer, as it could hurt her gums (NHS 2016b). Cold water in a bottle or, if she prefers, a feeding cup, may also help to calm her gums.

There will be times, however, when your baby will reject all of these offerings. This is when a soothing cuddle is the best therapy you can supply.

Should I use teething gels or alternative remedies?

Teething gels can soothe your baby’s gums by numbing them a little, although the effect is only temporary and the gel is often moved immediately by your baby’s tongue or saliva (NICE 2014).

There isn’t much evidence that gels are effective, although lots of parents say they help (NICE, 2014). If you want to use a teething gel make sure you buy one specially for babies and follow the instructions (NHS 2016b).

If your baby’s teething before two months, check with your GP or pharmacist before giving her teething gel or other remedies (NHS2016b).

How do I soothe my teething baby?

Our health visitor reveals the most common signs of teething and how you can help ease your baby’s distress.More baby videos

Some parents use homeopathic or herbal powders or granules, which you pour into your baby’s mouth. There’s no medical evidence that these work (NHS 2018, NICE 2014). If you do try one, check that the brand you are buying is sugar-free.

In some parts of Europe, it’s traditional for teething babies to wear amber necklaces, anklets or bracelets to ease pain. However, these can pose a serious strangling or choking risk if they get caught on something (Markman 2009)

Can I give my baby infant paracetamol?

Before giving your baby painkillers to ease teething pain, first make sure that her pain isn’t caused by something else. It’s easy to mistake an ear infection for teething (NICE 2014). If your baby has a high temperature you should take her to see a doctor.

If your baby is very distressed, you can give her the correct dose of infant paracetamol or infant ibuprofen. Always check the instructions on the packet, or ask your pharmacist or doctor if you are unsure. Never give your baby paracetamol and ibuprofen at the same time or keep switching between the two unless advised by a doctor (NHS2017b).

Your baby will probably be teething on-and-off for some time, so try to avoid giving her medicines too often.

How long does teething last?

There’s no set date when your baby’s first tooth will arrive. Every child is different. She may be troubled for just a few nights before a tooth emerges, or she may display all the symptoms of teething for weeks, with nothing to show for it.

Take comfort in the fact that it may become easier to distract your baby as she gets older. So the first few teeth are likely to be the worst. Once your baby learns that putting a teething ring in her mouth may help to reduce teething pain, she may even be able to soothe herself.

Now you know a bit more about teething, find out which of your baby’s teeth are likely to appear first.

References

BNF for Children.2018. Emollients. British National Formulary for Children

LLLGB. 2017. Breastfeeding and teething. www.laleche.org.uk [Accessed July 2018]

Markman L. 2009. Teething: facts and fiction. Pediatr. Rev. 2;30;e59-e64 [Accessed July 2018]

NHS. 2018. Homeopathy. NHS Choices, Health A-Z [Accessed July 2018]

NHS.2017a. Medicines for babies and toddlers. NHS Choices, Health A-Z [Accessed July 2018]

NHS. 2016a. Baby teething symptoms. NHS Choices, Health A-Z [Accessed July 2018]

NHS. 2016b. Tips for helping your teething baby. NHS Choices, Health A-Z [Accessed July 2018]

NHS.2017b. Can I give my child paracetamol and ibuprofen at the same time? NHS Choices, Common health questionsNCT. nd. Teething. National Childbirth Trust [Accessed July 2018]

NICE. 2014. Teething. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Clinical Knowledge Summaries [Accessed July 2018]

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Teething symptoms in babies are not as bad as parents think.

Teething is just one of the many, many things that make babies cry.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

When my daughter was 7 months old, she abruptly stopped sleeping through the night. She was up every couple of hours, crying and demanding comfort. Teething, I thought. It was around the right time for her first teeth to emerge. But weeks went by, and I saw no teeth, and the middle-of-the-night disruptions continued. I morphed into a mom-zombie, surviving on caffeine and chocolate.

When it came time for me to bring her to the pediatrician for a routine visit, I described our ongoing nocturnal woes. The doctor looked at her gums. “She’s not teething,” he said, and she was perfectly healthy. I didn’t believe him and made him check again. I mean, she had to be teething—there had to be a real, physiological explanation for my forced descent into the ninth circle of hell. Right? “Nope,” he said. “So what’s going on, then?” I demanded. He smiled and replied, “It looks like she’s been sleep training you. ” He was lucky to escape without a mom-zombie bite.

I’ve been trying to think of a more eloquent way to say this, but I can’t, so: Teething sucks. We as parents know that teeth are going to appear, but we never know exactly when or what symptoms will precede them. Plus, babies are a roller coaster of evolving behaviors anyway, so when little Anna suddenly becomes a train wreck, we have no idea whether it’s because a tooth is coming or because she’s sick or because, well, she’s 10 months old. As confused, sleep-deprived parents, we desperately need explanations for our infants’ strange developments, and teething is a convenient crutch—but it’s one that we may rely on too often. The fact is that no symptom reliably predicts the eruption of a tooth because babies react differently. The one fact experts seem to agree on—but that many parents, including myself, are reluctant to accept—is that true teething symptoms are generally pretty mild.

Let’s start with the oft-cited claim that teething causes excruciating pain because a tooth is “stabbing” through the gum. “That’s one of those myths,” explains Clay Jones, a pediatric and newborn hospitalist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, who wrote about teething for the popular blog Science-Based Medicine. “What happens is that the gums remodel—they move out of the way as the tooth emerges.” After all, Jones says, gums don’t bleed when kids teethe. A 2003 study documented a statistically significant increase in one inflammatory marker during infant teething, but the rest of the markers the study tested, called cytokines, didn’t change much. “A baby might be in pain or having some degree of discomfort, but I think that a significant amount of pain is not likely or plausible,” Jones says.

com/_components/slate-paragraph/instances/cq-article-b887b0bcd33f860f0d4e0b4429b5464d-component-5@published”>Indeed, if teething caused tremendous pain, one would expect kids to have consistent symptoms—but they don’t. In one of the most carefully conducted studies on teething that’s ever been done, researchers in Brazil sent dentists into the homes of 47 babies every day for eight months. They took the babies’ temperatures, checked their gums, and interviewed the parents about their infants’ behaviors. The study found that teething was associated with sleep disturbances, drooling, rashes, runny noses, diarrhea, appetite loss, irritability, and slight rises in temperature (not clinical fevers). But the interesting thing is that these symptoms consistently occurred only on the day that a child’s tooth erupted and one day after. No symptoms regularly occurred in the days before the tooth appeared.

Another study relied on parents who were employees of the Cleveland Clinic to report the timing of their babies’ tooth eruptions, their temperatures, and other symptoms. It found that biting, drooling, gum-rubbing, irritability, and sucking tended to be more common up to four days before a tooth appeared and for as long as three days afterward. More serious symptoms, such as sleep awakenings, decreased appetite for solid foods, facial rashes, and slightly elevated temperatures (but not above 102 degrees), were more likely to occur one or two days before or on the same days a tooth came through. But this study found no really serious symptoms associated with teething—no diarrhea, vomiting, high fevers, or reductions in the overall duration of sleep.

Importantly, the researchers found that so-called teething symptoms frequently occurred in nonteething infants, too—it’s just that they were more likely to happen when the infants were teething. They also found that no specific symptom occurred in more than 35 percent of teething infants. In other words, nonteething kids often seem like they’re teething, and teething kids don’t all have the same symptoms. What a nightmare for parents. “Despite hundreds of thousands of data points,” explains study co-author Michael Macknin, a Cleveland Clinic pediatrician, “we could not determine when a child was teething before a tooth appeared.” The one thing Macknin could say for sure based on his data was that “a baby who drools or is fussy for weeks before a tooth eruption is not having symptoms due to teething.” My doctor was right, then. Those several sleepless weeks did not have anything to do with teething because the emergence of a tooth simply does not take that long.

So why, then, does teething seem like the worst thing ever? In part, it’s an artifact of the difficult psychology of parenting. Babies rapidly change; they go through difficult periods; they get sick a lot. Yet they can never tell us what’s wrong, so we have to guess at the causes. And what’s something that happens a lot in infancy that we can blame everything on? Oh! Teething. “It’s the nature of being a human—when we’re faced with nonspecific symptoms like fussiness and drooling and changes in sleep, we want to peg it on something,” Jones says. This is not a new thing. Centuries ago, teething was thought to be associated with worm infestations. In 1839, more than 5,000 deaths were attributed to teething. And sadly, some traditional African healers still pull out tooth buds in teething babies—without anesthesia—in an effort to cure them of what they think are “tooth worms.”

There’s another factor that contributes to the widespread belief that teething causes nasty symptoms, and that’s confirmation bias. Let’s say your baby gets diarrhea for a few days. You think, “He’s teething!” But days go by, and he gets better, and no tooth emerges. You conveniently forget the fact that you were wrong. A few months later, he gets diarrhea again, you think he’s teething again, and a tooth does appear. This time you conclude you were right—and you’re much more likely to remember your success and conclude that diarrhea has something to do with teething. In other words, when it comes to the accuracy of our parental diagnoses, “we forget the misses and remember the hits,” Jones explains. Chances are, though, that even the second bout of diarrhea was caused by something other than teething—but because teething happens so frequently, symptoms of other conditions often coincide with the appearance of new teeth, and the two seem related.

Remember that Brazilian study I mentioned—the one in which they got dentists to record things about babies for eight months straight? Well, one week after they finished the study, the researchers went back to the mothers and interviewed them about their babies’ teething symptoms. They found that the moms were likely to report fevers as a symptom of their babies’ teething even when their babies never had fevers during teething. The moms were also likely to have forgotten about milder teething symptoms, such as drooling. The researchers speculate that these mistakes are probably due to memory bias—new parents can’t remember everything!—and because of “the widespread belief that teething can cause fever.” In other words, because we have come to believe and expect that teething causes serious symptoms, we may be more likely to think our own kids had such symptoms even when they didn’t. “There’s so much force behind the concepts of teething passed down from grandmothers to moms and society in general to moms,” Jones explains. “It’s reinforced over and over again, so much so that it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re going to look for these symptoms and then blame them on teething.”

This brings us to an important point: If your kid is having serious symptoms, don’t shrug them off as being related to teething. I made this mistake last week: My now-9-month-old daughter was extremely fussy, and I assumed she was teething. (When will I learn?) The next day, she awoke with a fever of 103 degrees, and I realized she was actually sick. One study found that out of 50 kids who had been experiencing symptoms that their parents or doctors had initially attributed to teething, 48 of them actually had other conditions—one, in fact, had meningitis. So if your baby has diarrhea, is vomiting, has a high fever, or is inconsolable, you should contact your doctor instead of giving her a teething ring.

Speaking of treatments: Since teething is so hard to predict, parents should be careful about administering teething remedies—especially ones that aren’t risk-free. Parents tend to think of Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil (ibuprofen) as completely safe, but overdoses occur and can be very dangerous. The American Academy of Pediatrics also warns against the use of topical teething gels containing lidocaine or benzocaine because they can cause local reactions and rare but serious side effects including seizures and brain injuries. Amber teething necklaces can cause choking and strangulation, and there’s little reason to think they work. And homeopathic teething tablets, such as those made by Hyland’s, are also likely to be a waste of money. If you think your baby is teething, experts agree that the safest remedy is a refrigerated—not frozen—teething ring for her to gnaw on. (Even frozen bagels, my sources said, are a bad idea because they can be choking hazards. Argh!)

I know, I know—as a parent, you don’t want to hear this. You want answers and solutions. But one of the reasons we want so terribly to understand and label what happens with our kids is because, on some level, we believe that with understanding comes control.