3 Top Tips to Help Baby Sleep While Teething
So, you’ve just gotten into the swing of caring for your new baby and routines are starting to settle, but at around 3 months in your baby is irritable, drooling, chewing on anything in sight and crying through the night, leaving you both even more exhausted than usual. Welcome to teething…
Teething can be a trying time for any parent, not to mention very distressing for your little one. Babies tend to feel their teething pain more acutely at night, once they no longer have daytime distractions to fill their minds and their bodies are already fatigued from the day’s activities.
Nighttime can be challenging, but it’s important to do your best to maintain sleep training. Remember, teething can last a couple of years, so it’s important to try to stick to good habits early on. As the first few teeth are usually the worst, by the time the rest start coming in you’ll have built up a bedtime teething routine that will help to keep baby’s sleep regular, too.
Try the following methods to tackle teething pain and sleep regularity in one:
- Check Temperatures
Your baby’s temperature might be slightly higher from exerting all that energy on cutting teeth! Check the temperature of the room to make sure it’s not too cold or too hot and stuffy. Remember, a slight temperature is normal but a fever is not a symptom of teething, so if your child is running a fever, contact your physician.
- Gum Massages
Try a gentle gum massage by inserting your (clean!) fingers into your baby’s mouth and applying a bit of pressure to their gums - you can dip your fingers in cold water beforehand for extra cooling relief. Watch out if your baby starts gnawing on your fingers though! It might make them feel a little better in the short term, but can stop your baby from learning to self-settle.
- Encourage Self Settling
One tried and true method for teething pain relief and better sleep habits is using a teether. Make sure you get one with lots of different bumps so that it can get into all those hard to reach spots in your baby’s mouth, such as our Mini Monkey Teether, which has loads of textures for a fussy baby to explore. Or, alternatively, if your baby is still very young and can’t get their hands around a teething ring, try out our Flat Face Teether, developed to be lightweight and easy to hold for even the tiniest of hands. You can pop it in the fridge to keep it cool to provide that extra relief.
Teething rings are a classic soothing method because they allow your child to relieve their own pain, which in turn will also help to keep up sleep routines. Try giving your baby their cooled teether early in the evening so that they can nibble away and then settle themselves to sleep. Check out our extensive range of teethers to find what’s just right for your child - and let us know how you get on by leaving us a review!