3 Must-Have Teething Products When Baby Is Not Sleeping

When your baby is teething, it can lead to exhausting and frustrating days. Your baby might be irritable, fussy, and miserable. In addition, your baby might take short naps and start waking at night, too. In this post, I want to share 3 teething products to help your teething baby.

When Do Babies Start Teething?

Before we get to products to help your teething baby, I’d like to share a few basics about teething including when teething starts.

For most babies, teething starts around 6 months old. However, some babies start teething before 4 months old while others won’t cut their first tooth until after 12 months old.

As an example, my first son got his first tooth at 5 months old and his younger brother got his first tooth around 6-7 months old. My friend’s son, however, got his first tooth after 12 months old and they had weaned from breastfeeding!

In general, babies start getting teeth between 5 and 10 months of age and according to the American Dental Association, babies will have a full set of 20 teeth by the age of 3 years old.

Symptoms and Signs of Teething

There are a variety of symptoms and signs of teething for which you should look. They include the following:

• Drooling which can also cause a teething rash, a chapped, red chin from the drool
• Red and sore gums
• Diaper rash due to watery stools from swallowing so much extra saliva
• Diarrhea (from swallowing extra saliva)
• Refusal to feed (tender and sore gums make it tough to nurse and eat comfortably)
• Biting (your baby may chew on hands, toys, or – if you’re breastfeeding – on you!)
• Ear-pulling and/or cheek-rubbing
• Waking frequently at night
• More fussing/crying and irritability than usual
• Low-grade fever (99-100 degrees)

Why Don’t Babies Sleep While Teething?

While some babies will sleep normally while teeth are cutting through the gums, some babies will wake at night and/or take short naps. For the most part, this is primarily due to discomfort and pain from the tooth cutting through the gums. And, who can blame them?

In addition to pain and discomfort, teething babies often aren’t drinking as much milk or eating their solid foods. This can lead to general unhappiness and fussiness. Again, who can blame them? I’d be cranky, too!

If your baby isn’t sleeping and you’ve set up a bedtime routine, put them in a sleeping bag, and made sure they’re fed, you may need to give them a way to soothe their gums. Thankfully, there are things you can do to soothe a teething baby’s gums.

3 Must-Have Products to Help a Teething Baby

In addition to any pain reliever, your baby’s healthcare provider approves for your baby, there are products to help your baby soothe their aching gums. Bohemian Mama has excellent products that are also stylish, for example.

The Bohemian Mama flower teething bracelet is made from 100% non-toxic, food-grade silicone, are BPA and phthalate free, and easy to clean. They are very easy for small hands and fingers to grasp yet look so much more sophisticated than the toy teething toys out there! However, if the flower is not the type of look for you, their teethers such as the Elephant are cute for a baby.

If you don’t mind the colorful look, the Atom Teether was the winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award and a Hot Diggity Award. This type of toy is fantastic for tactile babies like my second son! Each arm, made from EVA and void from BPA or PVC, features clacking rings that rattle with every shake. This toy also meets the CPSC and European requirements for phthalates and can be used from birth.

The third and final product for you to consider is the Bohemian Mama Theo Turtle Circle Teether. Because of its unique design, this product can also help your baby sleep better. It is a rattle, crinkle paper, and a variety of fabrics to appeal to a tactile baby. It would be no surprise if your baby considers this teething toy their lovey at some point to help them self-soothe the night away!

No matter how old your baby is, we hope the teeth cut through quickly and your baby remains a happy and healthy infant!