One of the most frequently read articles on Oral Answers over the past year is an article that I wrote back in January called What A Baby’s Gums Look Like While Teething.
That article only showed pictures of the two lower teeth coming in. I figured that it would also be helpful to show what the upper two teeth look like while coming in.
Also, since all babies are different, I figured it might be helpful to see pictures of a different teething baby.
Melissa, an avid photographer, did an excellent job of documenting her son’s teething experience.
Her son Logan is now four years old and has all of his baby teeth. Melissa generously allowed me to use her photos in this article to show what his teeth looked like as they came through his gums and how he made it through the teething stage.
How A Baby’s Teeth Look As They Cut Through The Gums
Here’s a picture of Logan’s two upper front teeth as they came poking through the gums:
Here’s a slightly different angle of the same picture:
Here’s a photo of Logan 8 days after the two above pictures were taken:
Melissa says that Logan’s teething lasted about one week per set of teeth that came in (teeth usually come into the mouth in pairs.)
How to Help Your Baby Survive Teething
There are many things that you can do to help your baby survive the teething process — I don’t mean survive literally, as modern science has shown that babies don’t die from teething!
Melissa states the following about how she helped Logan make it through his difficult teething experience:
“Since he did have one set come in right after another, it was hard to tell when he wasn’t teething minus the spike of a fever right before his teeth would come in. We constantly kept a bib on him to help soak up the drool. He had eczema and the drool made it worse, so I used a clear diaper rash ointment down his chin, neck and chest to protect that area and treat and prevent the rash from getting worse. Logan liked small, plastic, water filled teething rings that you put in the refrigerator. He also liked cold, wet wash cloths to chew on. Apples helped for some of his teeth, but he didn’t like them every time. We tried Orajel, but he didn’t really like it that much. It did seem to help when he would let us get it in there.
Mostly, he liked chewing on our fingers. It could hurt us, but at a certain point you will do anything to give your little one some relief. Baby Tylenol for the fevers and night time pain helped once in a while, but if you have a baby who is constantly teething, like Logan, you can’t exactly keep them hopped up on Tylenol. Hyland’s has a teething pill that is natural that really helped Logan and I highly recommend. I also nursed Logan until he was 12 months old, and I think that helped. He never bit me, but it seemed to sooth him somehow.”
Here’s a link to the Hyland’s Teething Tablets that Melissa mentioned. They seem to have pretty good reviews on Amazon – I wish I’d known about them with our first child!
Here’s a few photos that show Logan easing his teething pain with plastic teething rings, a toy he ripped off his bouncer, and an apple:
Just as a comparison, here’s two photos that show Logan teething as a baby, then again as a toddler. It seems like he didn’t mind it as much once he got a little big older.
You and Your Baby Will Make It Through Teething
I remember when our oldest son was teething for the first time, my wife and I had no idea what to do. He was extremely irritable. At the time, I was going to school full time and my wife was working full time. We were both exhausted and I vividly remember one night we were both up with our son and my wife ran out to go get some Orajel (which we’ve since learned more about).
Those days are far behind us and we now have a couple of kids with full sets of teeth. In retrospect, teething was just one small part of their infancy. Although it was uncomfortable for them at the time, it really is just a distant memory now.
Near the end of her email to me, Melissa said:
“Time has a way of making you forget some of the little parts of their childhood.”
Teething will be over before you know it, and you and your baby will both make it through just fine!
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about teething, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!