Teething

Usually teeth start to erupt at the age of six to eight months. But the literature describes cases of children being born with two or even four baby teeth (the happy mothers of these children probably breastfed them with pleasure). But there are also cases when the first teeth appeared after the age of one year. Most likely, these are signs of rickets, one of the syndromes of which is a violation of the formation and improvement of bone tissue as a result of a violation of phosphorus-calcium metabolism.

But we are considering a healthy child, so we will assume that teeth should appear at approximately six to eight months of age.

Usually, the appearance of the first incisors at six to seven months is relatively painless. But each child experiences it differently.

In most children, the gums where the teeth are erupting will look swollen, reddened, and slightly loosened. At this time, the child is restless, capricious, scratches his gums, and pulls everything into his mouth. Saliva secretion increases. During the period of teething, children often get sick with acute respiratory infections. This happens because the immune system is somewhat weakened.

If your child is suffering from what is happening to him, you must help him. To do this, you need to relieve the pain and speed up the teething.

There are special baby teething gels that contain a local anesthetic ("Kalgel"). You will also need special teething rings, which can be bought at a pharmacy. Before use, the teething ring should be cooled (but not frozen). The finely lumpy surface and plasticity of the teething ring provide a gum massage when chewing, and the cold relieves pain. If you cannot find a teething ring, it is not a problem. Give your child soft toys to chew on, rings, a wooden spoon, or your finger, finally (don't worry - he won't bite it off). You can give your baby a crust of bread. Often, when teething, children have a fever and diarrhea may occur. The fever may be a consequence of either an acute respiratory infection or damage and decay of cells and tissues of the inflamed gum.

As for loose stools, this is a consequence of the same weakened immunity. In addition, by this age, the child's number of antibodies received from the mother in utero decreases. And since he is almost weaned from the breast, he receives less and less of them with milk. And the bacteria that enter the body (or the body's own bacteria that become active) cause diarrhea.