While people were still in the spirit of holiday and celebrating the new year, my baby and I found ourselves being held down by sickness.
The festive period had us moving from one location to another; since I gave both families their first grandson and great-grandchild, it was my responsibility to make sure we visited them.
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The stress of the journey had nothing on us (we thought), until my baby started to vomit seriously a day after the new year; he vomited so much at night that I got very bothered.
Early the following morning, he started to vomit again, and we could not just wait; we immediately rushed him to the nearest hospital. When the doctor saw him, he said it was a discomfort that comes with teething.
I remember reading somewhere that normally teething shouldn't come with discomfort for a child except there is an underlying illness. The first few months and first few teeth didn't come with any sickness at all, and this made me believe in what I had read from the article.
However, a lot of experienced parents talk about how teething always comes with different forms of discomfort all the time. The doctor said the discomfort was caused by teething, but we later had to treat him for malaria too.
This experience has made me read more about teething and try to go through different articles about it for the sake of knowledge. Certainly, I will be sharing gained knowledge with you.
The first thing that caught my attention is that teething comes with its pain and discomfort for every child, so parents and caregivers must know this and look for ways to make this time more pleasurable and easy.
The process of teething is the teeth eruption that cuts through the gums. A baby is born with a full set of teeth hiding below their gums, and it takes some time and developmental process for the teeth to fully erupt. Most often, the first year of life, the teeth begin to gradually develop.
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The primary teeth, also known as baby teeth, usually erupt between the first 6-12 months of life, while the first molars begin to erupt between 13-19 months. Your baby should have a full set of teeth to display by the age of three. Most often ten below and ten above.
After the age of four, the jaws and facial bone of your baby begin to form, creating spaces between the primary teeth. This process is a natural one that gives room for the larger permanent teeth to now form.
I have heard some people ask questions about the necessity of a child's primary teeth if he or she would still lose them eventually. But there are certain roles that primary teeth play in the life of a child.
It gives the face a specific shape.
It makes it possible for space to be created for a permanent teeth eruption.
They help in the attainment of good nutrition.
It creates a healthy start to a permanent nutrition.
Most children while teething will drool a lot, as well as have sore gums. The point where teeth are about to erupt may be tender, sore, or red. You may notice your baby is beginning to bite on objects more than normal; fussiness, loss of appetite, and inability to sleep are other symptoms that a teething child may show.
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Research, however, shows that diarrhea, a high temperature that is over 100.4 degrees, rash, and vomiting are not symptoms that should accompany teething, so if a baby is experiencing any of these symptoms, a visit to the hospital is required.
Then, I found in another article that says most people confuse infection with teething symptoms because they both happen within the same age period in a child's life. Within 6-12 months, the child begins to lose some of the antibodies that were transferred by the mother at birth.
At this age also, the baby has started to move around and is now sucking on different objects, therefore giving room for exposure to infection.
How to make my baby's teething process easier and more stress-free is what I always have on my mind, and I am sure I speak for so many parents out there. So, here's what I found about that.
You can gently pat their gums with your finger, a cool spoon, or a neat washcloth. A clean teether to chew on will also help out a lot. Some time ago, someone told me to use a frozen teething ring, but I found out later that it's too hard for my baby, so I avoid it as much as possible.
The discomfort that accompanies teething is a thing most parents are not comfortable with; like I often say, why does my innocent baby need to go through so much pain just to have teeth? But that's the way it has been and will continue to be unless something changes. But don't worry, Mama or Papa, your baby will soon have a set of beautiful teeth to complement their cute face, and the pain will pass.
For Further Studies
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11055185/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0917239420300240
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3459270/
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/teeth-development-in-children
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3476083/
https://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12903-018-0619-y
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11179-teething-teething-syndrome
https://patient.info/childrens-health/teething
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