Teething

Teething is the process by which an infant's first deciduous (baby) teeth erupt through the gums. Teething normally begins between the sixth and eighth months of life. Once your baby's first tooth arrives, another new one will appear about every month. Although the rate and order of emerging teeth is different for different children, the two middle teeth on the bottom tend to erupt first, followed by the lower teeth that surround them, and then the upper two middle teeth. The molars are the last to appear. Eruption continues until the child's complete set of twenty baby teeth has appeared, usually by the age of thirty months.

A child's permanent teeth begin to come in at the age of six or seven years. As a permanent tooth emerges, the baby tooth it is replacing is nudged out. Fortunately, emerging permanent teeth do not create the same irritation and discomfort that babies experience when teething (with the exception of the last set of molars, also known as wisdom teeth, which usually erupt sometime in the late teen or early adult years).

Signs of teething include sore, inflamed gums, a low-grade temperature, drooling, a fondness for biting on hard objects, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and, often, loss of appetite. Teething is also sometimes accompanied by a tendency toward increased nasal congestion, which can lead to colds or ear infections. The pain, discomfort, and inflamed gums a teething child experiences result from the pressure that is exerted against the gum tissue as the crown of a tooth breaks through the membranes. A baby's cheeks may become red and chapped as a result of much drooling. Your infant may chew or suck her fingers, or seek an object to bite and chew on. A teething baby is easily irritated and more restless than usual, sometimes awakening as often as once an hour through the night.

Supplements and herbs

• Clove oil acts as a natural anesthetic. It has a pleasant taste and quickly eases sore gums. However, it should be used in moderation, as excessive amounts can cause blistering. So that it is not too strong for your baby, blend 1 drop of clove oil with 1 to 2 tablespoons of safflower oil. With your fingertip or a cotton swab, massage the mixture onto your child's sore gums.
• Licorice root powder can be made into a paste that is very soothing to inflamed gums. Mix a small amount (about 1/8 teaspoon) with enough water to make a paste and gently pat the mixture onto your baby's gums.

Homeopathy

The remedy can be taken in the 12c or 30c every two hours, or even every half hour as symptoms dictate. Results are usually swift and long-lasting. Calc phos or Calc carb can be taken occasionally (weekly or monthly if needed) in the 200c as an overall aid to bone and tissue metabolism.

• Belladonna
  Sudden symptoms. Throbbing pain, mouth is hot and dry. Burning hot, red face, eyes. Hot head, cold feet. Headaches, bores head into pillow.
  Grinding teeth, gumboil. High fevers, convulsions. Desires lemons.
  Biting, striking at others. Intense fears: ghosts, dark. Jerks during sleep.
  Worse: noises, touch, jarring, motion, lying down, drafts. Better: pressure.
• Calc carb
  Slow and difficult teething. Swollen gums and mouth. Grinds gums.
  Pain worse with cold air or hot food. Restlessness, crying out at night.
  Colic, watery diarrhea. Distension, gas, nausea, vomiting. Rattling chest.
  Flabby, soft child. Sweating of head and neck. Chilly; cold, damp feet.
  Sour smell of stool, sweat, vomit. Late in walking, talking. Many colds.
  Desires eggs, indigestible things. Worse: cold, damp, washing, milk.
• Calc phos
  Tearing, boring toothache. Gums painful and inflamed, or pale looking.
  Convulsions during teething, without fever. Cold swelling of gums.
  Late teething. Soft teeth, decay quickly, easily. Diarrhea. Weight loss.
  Scrawny child. Peevish, fretful, restless. Weak, thin neck. Swollen glands.
  Worse: night, warm or cold things in mouth, chewing, cold, damp, drafts.
• Chamomilla
  Intense teething pain. Swollen, inflamed, tender gums. Face flushed on one side, hot head. Hot, sticky sweats. Painful colic, grass green diarrhea.
  Irritable, whining, angry tantrums; wants things, then refuses them.
  Very sensitive to pain, least touch or wrong word. Wants to be carried.
  Worse: 9 p.m.-12 a.m., heat in mouth, hot room. Better: cold in mouth.
• Podophyllum
  Difficult teething. Tooth pain better biting gums together. Grinding of gums in sleep. Perspiration of head during sleep, with cold face.
  Diarrhea with teething; green, watery gushing stools, without pain, gurgling bowels and hot, glowing cheeks. Worse: early a.m., hot weather.
• Staphysagria
  Difficult teething. Sharp, stabbing pains. Gums pale white, very tender, swollen, bleeding, burning, weak. Early decay of new teeth, turn black.
  Child sensitive mentally and physically, winces and shrinks from every wry look or harsh word. Screams in pain. Pot-bellied, urging to stool.
  Worse: after anger, eating, touch, cold drinks, night. Better: warmth, rest.