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Do babies sleep more when teething? The answer to this question is quite debatable. People believe babies sleep more when teething, but experts never confirmed that question; there is no technical evidence.
So for experts, Do babies sleep more when teething? NO. But from the parent’s and pediatrician’s point of view, they believe that babies sleep more when teething.
A lot is going on when the teething process starts; babies’ behavior changes a lot during this phase. So let’s understand when and what babies go through in the teething phase.
So today’s article will answer why Do babies sleep more when teething. Teething schedule, symptoms, and when to seek doctors.
The Baby Teething Schedule
To answer the question about do babies sleep more when teething, firstly, we need to understand the teething schedule of babies. In general, babies have 20 teeth in their month under the gums when they are born. So these teeth slowly come out, which generally happens till age three.
The teething process causes a lot of movement in the gums; this movement causes a lot of pain and distress to babies. The table below mentions the age when teething occurs or how it occurs at what age, so it may help you answer the question, “do babies sleep more when teething?”
The following table shows the teething schedule of babies in general, and the schedule may differ for many babies as every baby has different growth. However, the table below talks about the teething schedule of babies on average. Sometimes the order mentioned below may differ, and there is nothing to worry about.
6 to 10 Months | The two bottom teeth in the center start coming out. These are the central incisors. |
8 to 12 Months | The central incisors at the top part of the gums start to come out. |
9 to 16 Months | The lateral incisors, in the opposite manner, start to erupt. |
13 to 19 Months | Both sets of molars Start to appear |
How Is Teething Related To Sleep?
Do babies sleep more when teething? Let’s look into the sleeping cycle in general (including adults) while we are in some pain or our body is under severe stress or changes.
Talking about changes or pain in adults, when we are injured or recovering from a disease, at that time, we realize that the first thing that is affected is sleep. You may have observed at that time you would either sleep a lot or, at some stage, you felt you had insomnia.
The same thing happens with babies, and, commonly, the sleeping cycle of babies can be disrupted completely. Not only does the teething affect the babies, but the changes in their sleep schedule due to irritation and pain cause many problems.
Do Babies Sleep More When Teething?
Do babies sleep more when teething? Yes, according to many surveys, it is observed that babies do sleep more when teething. There are many reasons why babies tend to sleep more. Let’s know the reasons in more detail to know when and why do babies sleep more when teething.
One of the most common reasons is that babies bear a lot of pain when the teething process starts, which leads to fever. Sometimes babies do not go through fever, but thus the pain is so much that they experience chills, meaning that they may develop fever symptoms; at that period, they tend to sleep more.
So these are the most common reasons why do babies sleep more when teething, but sometimes babies tend to sleep more without developing any symptoms and getting a fever; in that case, you need to take your baby to the pediatrician.
Teething Symptoms
Teething Symptoms develop in most babies, but there are some cases where babies never show any of the symptoms; they would experience some pain but no symptoms at all.
The most common symptoms include babies chewing some solid object; that’s the reason products like Teethers exist. The soft and chewable toy helps the baby eliminate the continuous itching around the gums.
Along with chewing solid objects, babies get cranky and irritated quickly. You may observe that while sleeping, babies drool. Drooling is also considered one of the symptoms of Teething.
In many cases, it is observed that babies have swollen gums, and they experience a lot of pain because of swollen gums. Along with swollen gums comes sensitivity which increases irritation. Babies bear a lot from itchy-like feelings, wanting to chew something every now and then to swollen gums.
So, Do Babies sleep more when teething? Maybe Yes.
I’m saying ‘Maybe’ because, during teething, they experience a lot during this period. As I’ve mentioned above, they generally wake up and cry during teething. So to avoid that, never change their sleep schedule, which may worsen the situation.
Methods To Relieve Discomfort
So, during the teething period, Do Babies sleep more when teething? Possibly Yes, so what do we have for babies to get relief from such a phase? We have some methods or remedies for your babies. It may help your baby to get rid of gum pains too.
The first and most common remedy is the use of ice. You can put some ice cubes in a cloth and apply them to the gums; if ice and cloth don’t help, you can take the help of ice cream, a cold spoon, or cold jelly, anything cold and not harmful for babies.
The next is a method or practice you must do regularly; it is not a remedy at all. When babies go through teething, they drool a lot; during this drooling, babies’ skin could be irritated. You can clean or wipe their droll; for that, you have to wake up at a regular interval during midnight to clean their face.
During teething, babies often feel itchy at the gums and want to take bites at everything. So what you can do is you can buy a teether or buy some veggies like carrots and cucumbers. Instead, you can feed them veggies if your baby eats veggies without throwing any tantrums as it has good health benefits and as teether is plastic after all and has some harmful chemicals on its surface.
If your baby is not comfortable with ice or any cold things, what you can do is apply pressure on the sore region of the gums. Ya, it may seem weird, but it does work; applying pressure doesn’t mean you have to press the gums harder; you just have to be gentle and slowly apply little pressure, or it will hurt them.
Till now, We have talked about methods for relieving Discomfort, but it is recommended for parents to take care of the dental health of babies because for your question Do babies sleep more when teething? Yes, they do, but it doesn’t mean every time the reason for their oversleeping is teething.
So how to take care of babies’ dental health? If your baby has teeth, You can clean your baby’s teeth with a thin bristle brush specially made for babies. If your baby doesn’t have teeth, you can clean their gums with a cotton cloth or cotton ball.
When To See The Doctor?
So that’s all about why do babies sleep more when teething, and, commonly, they oversleep during their teething phase. But it doesn’t indicate that they oversleep only because of teething. You have to get confirmation from your doctor or pediatrician.
Generally, the pain from teething starts before a day to twice from when the teeth start to grow out, and the pain lasts mostly for a day or two, but if it lasts for more than a week, you need to visit the doctor.
Cessation | Do Babies Sleep More When Teething
So that is all about did babies sleep more when teething? I hope we have solved most of your queries. Many babies have different issues, and it is not compulsory for your baby to go through all of these problems; your baby may show few of these symptoms or none.
That chain goes for all of us for any disease, from babies to adults. I hope you have cleared most of your doubts. Still, if you observe some other symptoms, visit your pediatrician. If you want to share your experience and how you handled the teething phase for your baby, do share with us in the comment section. Do check out our website; till then, stay tuned with us!