Helping your baby get through teething

When your little one is in pain it’s the worst time for any parent.Whether it’s teething or tummy ache,every instinct for a parent is to take the pain away, but unfortunately it’s not always that easy.

One of the unavoidable traumas of early childhood is teething.Some babies sail through this process with barely a whimper, but for others it results in long sleepless nights that seem to go on forever for both parent and child. It can also mean seemingly endless days where nothing you do is right. Often teething can result in loss of appetite and a raised temperature as well.

Generally teething starts at around 6 months. All babies are different though: some are born with their first teeth, others won’t start teething until they’re a year old. There’s no ‘right’ time and it won’t cause your baby any harm if they start early or late.

So what can you do to help your little one? First and foremost, lots of cuddles and comfort will help your baby. Also, before going down the medicinal route it’s worth trying some of the traditional remedies. For example, chewing or biting can provide relief so a teething ring may help. To make this technique even more effective it’s worth putting the teething ring in the fridge to chill it beforehand. Also if your baby is old enough you could try offering something hard to chew on for example, raw fruit, raw vegetable batons or a breadstick. Always supervise your baby when they’re eating in case they choke.

We did a quick (and highly unscientific!) poll here to see what remedies people in the office have used for teething. One idea that cropped up was to have a bowl full of ice and water to hand and two dummies (if your baby uses one). Then if they wake in the night you can pop one dummy in the icy water to chill it, then give that to the baby and chill the spare dummy. You can then switch the two repeatedly until the baby calms down, all the while giving them a much needed cuddle. It worked for my colleague anyway!

If you find that the home remedies don’t help your little one then there are products out there that can help. <a href="http://www.axismedicare.co.uk/">Teething gels</a> often contain a mild anaesthetic which will relieve your baby’s discomfort. Calgel is for babies over 3 months old and contains both the anaesthetic properties and also a mild antiseptic that kills the bacteria that might otherwise infect sore skin in the mouth.

Of course, there’s also the traditional infant <a href="http://www.axismedicare.co.uk/">painkilling medicine</a> Generally in the form of an oral suspension, medicines like Calpol are paracetamol-based and can treat both the pain and the high temperature associated with teething.

Article Source: http://www.compensationsecrets.co.uk/