TEETHING IN CHILDREN

[Drsumitra]

Teething in children usually begins by six months of age and by the age of around three years; complete set of primary teeth develops. This time period may bring a lot of uneasiness for a child.

Signs of Teething
Generally, the child suffers from pain and discomfort accompanied with little inflammation of the gums. Other accompanying symptoms may include anxiety, irritability and twitching of gums. Some babies also suffer from mildly elevated temperature and some changes in the drolling habits.
Primary signs include swollen gums, instinct to chew and gnaw with increased irritability.
Causes
Usually a weaker child suffers from more problems than a healthy child. Children with weaker gastro-intestinal system, vitamin and calcium deficiency and lack of mother’s feed have increased tendency to suffer from such teething ailments.
Babies with a weaker gastro-intestinal system tend to suffer from diarrhoea, increased desire to eat indigestible things (mud, clay, chalk etc). However, they should be prevented from doing such things and should be kept under vigilance by the parents.
Babies with a weaker nervous system may tend to suffer from anxiety, irritability, loud cries and even convulsions. Parents must handle such children calmly and try to devote as much time as possible with the child.
Treatment
A tooth pierces the gum before coming out, so it may be a difficult condition for a child with a harder gum. Therefore, it is very important to relax the gums during the period of teething.
Parents may use some of the natural ways to make teething easy like softening the gums by massaging the painful part with honey or olive oil. Also, soft and easily digestible food such as porridge should be given to the baby and mother’s feed should be encouraged.
Children also find relief in their symptoms by pressing their gums against some hard and cool objects (rubber balls, plastic blocks etc). Certain hard objects like carrot, sugarcane or clean rubber ball may be given to the child for chewing, as during this time there is increased urge to chew and gnaw.
In case of acute pain or any violent condition of the child, pediatrician’s guidance must be seeked immediately.