304 – Teething

Season Intro and Teething Topic 0:00

Hi, welcome to season three of the Baby Manual podcast, The Holistic Mama's Handbook. This season we'll go through alternative and supportive care to help you take care of your little one when they're sick, but too young to take most medicines. I'm your host, a pediatrician and mom, and the author of The Baby manual and The holistic mama's handbook, Dr. Carol Keim. Hello, welcome to this week's episode of the Baby Manual Podcast. We're talking all about teething today. I'm super excited because this is something that comes up a lot and I get a lotta questions in the office about Teetting.

So symptoms of teeting, you've got your typical symptoms, it causes pain. Teeting's pretty uncomfortable and so you might notice that your baby is fussy or crying, that they're more clingy than usual, they want more snuggles, but they are crying more.

Common Teething Symptoms 0:48

It's a little harder to settle them down. And in older children, well, in younger babies when they're teething, when those front teeth are coming in, a lot of the time you'll see drooling because they get extra saliva production with teathing. And so the front tooth, it tends to just kind of drip out the from of their mouth and cause droel. With older childen, so when the get their two-year molars and sometimes age two and a half, three years, they are teeting, What happens is that extra saliva is at the back of their mouth and then they swallow it and that then goes through the intestines and causes this like slimy diarrhea.

So you might notice that your kid has like a little fussiness, low-grade fever and some diarrhea when they're two to three years old and they are teething with that. Also, older children will often chew on things. Even young ones will chew their fingers. The older ones chew teething toys. So the natural progression with tooth, we say that the average age of the first tooth is six months of age, but it can happen anytime in the 15 to 18 months. One in two thousand children are actually born with a tooth or get one in their first month of life.

Those are called neonatal teeth. And then some of them get their first tooth as late as 15 to 18 months, and anything in there is normal. So your child is never too young to be teething after, you know, I mean I guess there's at some point they're too old to teeting once all their teeth are in. The first teeth that come in are usually the bottom ones in the middle, but they can come any order. But typically it's those two bottom incisors in center, then the two top center incizers, and then two side incizors, so right next to those 2, And then those bottom 2. And so those 8 teeth in front are the first ones to come.

then they get their molars in after that. So it kind of skips some space and the molers will come in and after and then the canines will fill in in between. Now, your child typically will have about, on average, a tooth a month, but sometimes they can get four at the same time,

Teething Timeline and Tooth Order 2:53

and that's normal too. And it can be several months between teeth, then that is okay too, so teeth are kind of all over the place. If you're ever worried, you can always go to a pediatric dentist for x-rays, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing x rays because of the radiation. just because of a tooth thing, but you can always ask your dentist if they need that or if you have any other suggestions or any concerns, and dentists are excellent at that. Other signs of teething, so the low-grade fever that they get is typically less than 100.4, which is not even really fever.

Usually we just see sort of an elevated temperature between 99 and 100 point four degrees. But what's interesting is that teething can go along with infections. And so there's some argument in the medical community as to whether infections cause teeth to erupt or inflammation causes teeth, or if teathing itself causes inflammation and causes kids to be more susceptible to infections, but you may notice that your kid has a cold at the same time that they're teating and that's super common to see.

So if you go back to episode 210 from the last season, It's all about treatment for upper respiratory infections, for colds and congestion. So if there's a cold going along with it, you can check that episode out and that can be really helpful for other things that you could do for that. And then typically before teeth come out, you'll see something called eruption cysts or tooth buds. And they look just like little blisters on the gums. The bottom teeth, what I found is that they're usually kind of on inner side, like either the top or the inner of the gum.

They get the eruption more on front of gumbs or right on bottom edge of it. So from a Western standpoint, what we can do for teething pain, you can Tylenol or ibuprofen. Remember, ibipropen is for over age six months of age. Tylinol is acetaminophen or paracetamol outside the US. And that's for any age, that is okay to use. And remember that these are systemic treatments, so they will help kind of with pain all over the body, and they're not specific to that area. So you can kind decide if you feel like something systemic would be helpful, or you could do something more local, like aura gel or benzocaine.

One of the local anesthetic teething gels just works right on the gums right there.

Fever, Colds, and Eruption Cysts 5:15

Now, with acetaminophen or Tylenol, that lasts for four hours in the body. Ibuprofen lasts six hours. So, if your child's having trouble sleeping at night because of tooth pain, I usually do recommend ibupropen for that because that kind of helps them get through the night. Whereas, something like orogel or topical, ambisol, any of those benzocanes, Those really only last for like an hour or two. So if your child is having trouble eating because of pain, if you're baby's not nursing very well because they seem to be teething too much, or if they're biting your nipples, that might be a reason to use one of those topical treatments instead.

You can also do frozen washcloths. I love this one. You just make sure your wash cloth is really clean, that there's not any soap in it, so rinse it out a handful of times, wring it and then freeze it. And then they'll chew on it—it doesn't stay cold for very long, but just long enough to really help topically with that, and so you can do that before they eat something. They'll a lot of time suck the water out of it too, which is why it has to be really where you can get these kind of mesh teathers that are either like a mesh bag or a silicone one and you could put frozen fruit inside of it and close it up so that they can't get chunks out of and it just comes out through the mesh or through tiny holes in the silicone and its cold on their teeth and so, that can really help.

There's also teething toys. You know, I haven't mentioned this before I think in the podcast, but I have an email series for new moms. If you go to nervousnewmoms.com, you can sign up for that. And I had a list of teething toys that goes out in that email. Series of all the ones that I recommend.

Western Pain Relief Options 6:49

Some of my favorites, they do have ones. That have like a water or a gel inside that you. Can freeze or keep in. The fridge for children. But once their teeth are actually in, You don't want to be giving those ones because they might pop through it. And my very favorite one is the banana toothbrush. We use that a lot. It's just like a silicone toothbrush, it's got kind of silicone nubbies on one end and then the the Banana Peel is like where they can hold on to it and the other end of it also has some smaller nubs on it.

And it is just really nice and soft and children seem to really love it, so I love that thing for babies that are teething. There's a handful of other teathing toys that I list in my email series. From an acupuncture standpoint, there are acupunture and acu-pressure points on the hands and feet that can help with teething. And there were also herbal tinctures. Now, when you're getting an herbal Tincture for a baby, you want to make sure that it doesn't have alcohol in it. That should be a pediatric one for tooth pain.

But you can talk to your acuncturist or Chinese medicine practitioner about that. and they can recommend a good tincture that can help. We did this with my child and that seemed to help her quite a lot when she was teething with the first one. From a chiropractic standpoint. Chiropractic adjustments can also help with teeting pain. They can adjust the upper neck, remember very gently, only the pinkies, and or they could adjust skull bones with craniosacral therapy, which is also very, very gentle, no twisting or popping with a pediatric chirapractor.

And then there are soft tissue techniques that can help, where they'll turn your baby's head to the side and stroke down the neck, and that could help to move fluid and swelling out of the jaw and neck area. So that's called emphatic drainage or myofascial release, both of those can helps with that. From a nutrition and supplement standpoint, cold foods are great for teething. So I usually recommend things like yogurt, applesauce, mashed cold fruit, pureed baby foods, jello. These are all really good soft cold food.

Teething Toys and Cold Comforts 8:51

that won't hurt your baby's teeth as they're eating them but then also ironically you can get teething foods that are kind of crunchy like those teeting crackers which are made from rice flour they start off crispy and crunchy and they can feel nice on your You know, they do need a little bit of pressure against that to get those teeth to come out. So those teething crackers are just a bit abrasive at first, but then they immediately become soft and mushy. Teetting crackers or teathing foods that are made for that, those little like puffs also that they sell in the store, like those are awesome for kids that're teeting.

You want to increase calcium when your baby's teething because they need calcium to grow the teeth. So calcium is found in dairy and soy products and dark green veggies. And then also vitamin D, which helps the body to use the calcium that it absorbs. There's vitamin d in sunlight and also there are supplements for vitamin B. You can do vitamin drops for your babies as well. Magnesium is another thing that helps bones to grow and phosphorus. Magmesium in found in green veggies, nuts, and legumes.

Remember, young babies less than a year. Nuts are a big choking hazard, so be very careful giving nuts to your babies, but you can do nut butters. And then phosphorus is found and meat products. For young, babies you'll be doing pureed meats, for older ones you could do mashed up meats or even just regular meat for once they have their back teeth in. Vitamin A and vitamin C can also help with growing teeth. Vitamin a is found in eggs, dairy, and yellow and orange vegetables, like squashes and carrots.

And vitamin c is in citrus fruits and strawberries, especially in high concentrations. Fiber is also great for teething, partly because it helps prevent that diarrhea. The insoluble fiber keeps fluid in the gut and can help to solidify up those poops, but then also helps them to clear out nicely.

Alternative Therapies for Teething 10:41

then foods that have fiber in them like grains and fruit and vegetables can also help with the teeth as they're coming out as the child is chewing on those foods. So remember, once the front teeth are in, you just want to be really careful that your child isn't eating things that they can bite chunks off of and then choke on. Once the back molars are, in you have a lot more leeway in what they're able to eat. So keep an eye out for choking. It's a big deal. And then especially when kids are teething and they are just nomming on stuff all the time.

They can get chunks of food off and can accidentally choke. As a sort of side note, I highly recommend that everyone who has a baby takes an infant and child CPR class, partly so that you can tell the difference between choking and gagging, because gaging is a normal thing as children are learning to eat, but choking is not, and choking's very dangerous, then also you will know what to do if your baby is choking if you take a CPR All right, from a homeopathic standpoint, so I am very cautious with homeopathy remedies with teething because a few years back there was a recall on some of the Highlands teeting tablets because they actually contain dangerous levels of Belladonna in them and there were 10 babies who died because of it.

I have a hard time recommending anything homeopathic for teething, but there are homeopathy remedies, and if you speak to a certified classical homeapath, they may recommend some of those. And then from an aromatherapy standpoint, you can actually use essential oils outside of the baby's mouth, not in the babies mouth on their jawline. So for babies less than six months old, You can mix lavender and or chamomile oil into a carrier oil.

Nutrition, Supplements, and Choking Safety 12:22

And then you can put drops of that on the jawline and massage their jaws. From 6 to 24 months, you could use ginger oil and marjoram oil. If your baby is over a year old, You can dilute that ginger and put it topically on gum lines. And you also can use that diluted lavender chamomile or margarine oil topicaly on jaw line outside of the mouth. For children that are over two years of age, you can use diluted clove bud oil on the gums, topically. Remember, dilute it. I have instructions in the Holistic Mama's Handbook about diluting oils, but basically you wanna use the carrier oil like olive oil, almond oil coconut oil.

A spoonful of that per drop of aromatherapy oil sometimes up to half an ounce to an inch depending on your baby's age. And so that diluted oil can be placed topically on the gums. Clove is actually a local anesthetic as well. And that can numb the gum a little bit and can helpful before they're eating. But remember that if you put too much of it on and their tongue goes numb, then they might actually bite their tongues or they may have trouble eating or swallowing. So that could be dangerous aswell.

So if you are doing anything topically like that onto the gums, like the clove oil, you just want to use a very little bit. Just use it with caution. I hope this was really helpful for teething. Teetthing is something that is really difficult for a lot of parents. It really sucks when your kids are teeting and it can take many months. They can be teeing even for weeks to muzz before that tooth finally pops through. I talked about how inflammation does run along with teething, and using something anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen might slow down the teeth actually coming out.

So I wouldn't use that continuously. I would just say sort of a once in a while, if your baby's not sleeping or not eating, those are great times to use the ibiprofin or the acetaminophen.

Homeopathy and Aromatherapy Cautions 14:17

But acetamine is not anti inflammatory. It's just not as strong as ibaprofine. So sort of a toss-up about when to use those ones. Yeah, just use them occasionally, really just if your child really needs it for comfort. And some of these other holistic things can help a little bit more. Stay tuned, make sure you hit that subscribe button because next week we're going to be talking all about colic and reflux in babies. Remember, you can pre-order the Holistic Mama's Handbook at a discount before November 15th.

There's a link in the show notes, or you could just look on Amazon for Holistik Mama Handbooks. It's by me, Dr. Kaim. And there's also the Baby Manual, and I have a lot of information about teething in The Baby manual as well, that is available on amazon around the world. I have a link in my show notes as well for vitamins and supplements that you get 10% off if you go through that link. And I do get a commission for that. It's a whole bunch of different brands, all kinds of really good brands that are tested and are really, good.

I would recommend any of those. They don't have any ties to any particular brand of vitamins or supplements in particular.

Wrap-Up and Show Announcements 15:23

So there's just a bunch different options on there. If that would be helpful for you, you can find that in the show note aswell. Hope you have wonderful day and we'll talk to you next week. Thank you for listening to the Baby Manual Podcast. Please hit that subscribe button below so you don't miss the new episodes as they come out. I would also love it if you could leave me a review. You can also follow me on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook for quick tips and tricks that will make you feel like an expert.