Hey there, parent! It’s been a while, but we’re happy to see you here today. Your little one’s beginning to explore the world and discover new changes in their bodies, such as learning their senses and teething. While you learn from your family and research methods to soothe teething pain in infants, here are the six mistakes to avoid making with teething babies.

1. Letting Babies Chew on Furniture

If you’ve noticed small indents in your living room or the baby’s furniture, there’s a good chance they’re teething and finding ways to soothe their tired gums. As your baby teethes, they will find whatever they can to help numb the pain of growing points. It’s best to keep an eye on what they grab and find better alternatives.

How To Avoid Damaged Furniture

Babies prop themselves up inside the crib by holding onto the railing. When they do this, they may notice that the surface is firm and decide to bite on it to relieve teething pain. It’s never a good idea to allow your baby to chew on their furniture, as the equipment could come from an environment where manufacturers used toxins.

Your best solution to avoid damaged furniture is to attach railing guards to the crib explicitly designed for gumming babies. A railing guard helps protect the wood underneath and prevents the baby from ingesting chipped pieces.

You should also consider these ideas to protect all the furniture in the house

• Teething rings
• Pacifiers
• Silicon toys.
• A crib without lead paint.

Make sure that your prevention method helps protect your furniture and your child. If you haven’t changed the fixtures, you should do so! By swapping out older stuff for non-toxic baby furniture, you create a better environment for the child. Your baby won’t become sick.

2. Thinking That Drool Means Teeth Are Coming In

You may not know the signs of a teething infant. Some babies may whine, and other infants might not sleep well. Drooling is a symptom of teething, but don’t pass it off as teething just yet.

What Drooling Could Also Mean

Say your infant’s on the floor crawling around and placing toys in their mouth. You might think it’s a sign of teething because of the line of dribble that follows after removing the toy from their mouth, but it’s them exploring a new world of senses. Babies place things in their mouths to explore texture and taste.

If the baby doesn’t wince or show discomfort between every object they place in their mouths, they aren’t teething. You can still check for teething by inspecting their gums with your finger, but if the baby doesn’t cry or seem in pain, you don’t need to relieve your infant.

3. Using Adult Medication for Teeth Pain

No matter how much a parent thinks it’s OK to give a baby adult medication, it’s still unsafe and unclear how a child may react. Just like you wouldn’t feed a baby things from different food groups right away because of possible allergies, you wouldn’t do the same with medicine. Consult your doctor for remedies to ease swollen gums.

Use These Remedies Instead

If you want to help relax your baby’s gums, try a cold object. Don’t use icepacks since they’re frozen. Frozen items aren’t ideal because they worsen the pain when pressed against the outside of the mouth. Instead, place a spoon or teething ring in the fridge for at least ten minutes to get it cool enough for the baby to use.

You could also massage the baby’s gums. You only need a clean finger or dampened gauze to relax the gums. If it helps, you could buy a teething mitt that fits the baby’s hand and lets them chew for as long as they want.

If you need to do anything over the counter, avoid homeopathic teething tablets because they contain too much of the ingredient belladonna, which causes seizures and breathing problems. Instead, stick to the common child-friendly pain medications currently on the market.

4. Believing Too Early That the Baby’s Ready for Solid Foods

One familiar misconception parents believe is that when babies start developing their teeth, they’re ready for solid foods. This belief is false; here’s why—your baby won’t be ready for solids until they can rasie their head. For a baby to swallow food, they need to be upright; if they’re not and you attempt to give them regular food, they develop tongue-extrusion reflux.

Tongue-extrusion reflux happens when a child sticks their tongue out when it comes into contact with a portion of solid food. The tongue sticks out and drops the food from the mouth, which prevents choking.

When To Know if Your Baby’s Ready for Solids

Every child’s development differs, but most can start eating solid food after six months. Trying to feed your child solids earlier than that is not good unless your doctor notices significant progress in the baby’s development.

Overall, these are the signs to know if your baby’s ready for solids:

• Your infant sits upright and can balance their head on their own.
• They can lift things to their mouth.
• They know how to grasp small objects.
• They know how to move the food from the front to the back of their tongue.

5. Not Knowing the Actual Symptoms of Teething

Although diarrhea’s a common symptom of teething, you shouldn’t rule anything else out without tracking other symptoms or going in for a doctor’s appointment. If your child doesn’t have other symptoms but has signs of other ailments, it’s best to take them in for a check-up.

Doctors can help determine what’s causing your baby to be sick and how to treat the symptoms. Don’t just pass it off as teething.

What the Symptoms Are

Every child experiences different teething symptoms, but the most common ones are:

• Sore and red gums
• A mild fever
• A face rash
• Irritability
• Persistent coughing

6. Deciding It’s Time To Wean the Baby

Just like feeding infant solids, it could sometimes be too early to wean a baby from breastfeeding. While your baby teethes, it won’t create too many problems. However, if they aren’t latching on correctly, you may need to adjust their resting position.

Why You Shouldn’t Wean So Soon

Weaning is a stage that’s difficult for the parent and child. However, just because your baby has teeth doesn’t mean you should wean them. It’s alright to continue breastfeeding a baby, even with teeth. Work with your doctor to find a good time to start weaning.

After reading the mistakes to avoid with a teething baby, start setting a plan with your doctor on what to do when your child starts to show teething signs.

In the meantime, find out why a sustainable nursery is essential to a healthier environment for you and your infant. While Simply Nursery knows teething’s difficult for you and your baby, do know that our nursery equipment’s made sustainably and protects your infant.