How can you help your baby while he/she is teething?

Some babies can be miserable when they are teething. This will obviously lead to anxiety among parents. Symptoms of teething could be relieved by some simple measures in most of the babies. The main principles used to relieve pain while teething are ‘counter pressure’ and ‘cold’. You can try the following:

1. Teething rings (see pic): They work based on both the principles mentioned above. A teething ring can be placed in a refrigerator (not freezer) and given to the baby to chew. You need to clean them after each use.
2. You can rub the gums with cold clean wash cloth or with your clean fingers.
3. You can also give cold pureed food and cold vegetable cubes (of right size) to sooth your little one's gums.
4. If your baby is still distressed you can give an appropriate dose of paracetamol.
5. Do not use teething gel which contains anaesthetics. They numb the gums as well as the tongue and may interfere with swallowing. Chronic use of these gels may lead to other serious side effects.

If your child is still very miserable check with your doctor to make sure that the symptoms are not because of some other illness.