my kid drools and gnaws on everything whether there’s a tooth coming or not
That’s the part that always tripped me up with my grandkids too. I remember thinking there’d be some obvious sign, but nope—sometimes it was just endless drool and crankiness for weeks before anything showed. I do wonder, did your little one ever get a fever or runny nose when teething? I’ve read mixed things about whether that’s even related, but it seemed to happen with our youngest. Maybe it’s just coincidence, but it always made me second-guess if it was teething or something else...
I always wondered about the fever thing too. My nephew got a low-grade fever every time a new tooth popped up, but my own kid never did—just drool and some mild fussiness. Did you notice any changes in their sleep or appetite during teething? For us, sleep always took a hit, but maybe that’s just how it goes with babies...
Teething is such a weird phase—sometimes you’re convinced every little thing is teething, then the tooth pops and you realize you were totally off. With my first, I swore every night of bad sleep was a new tooth coming in, but half the time it was just a growth spurt or something random. She never really got fevers either, just buckets of drool and a lot of gnawing on everything in sight (including my fingers, ouch).
Sleep definitely went downhill for us too, but appetite was all over the place. Some days she’d barely eat and just want to nurse nonstop, other times food was fine. I’ve heard some people say teething messes with tummies too, but honestly, it’s so hard to pin down what’s “normal” baby behavior and what’s teething. If there’s a real fever or they seem off in other ways, I usually check with the doc just to be safe. Otherwise, I kind of chalked it up to “just another day with a baby.”
I get where you're coming from, but I’m not totally convinced teething explains every rough patch. With my son, I kept blaming teething for his crankiness and weird sleep, but looking back, he only actually cut a tooth a couple of times when I thought it was happening constantly. The drool and chewing were there for months before anything showed up.
One thing I started doing was checking his gums—if they were swollen or I could see a little white bump, then I’d say it was probably teething. Otherwise, I tried not to overthink it. Appetite swings happened whether or not a tooth was coming in. As for the fever thing, our pediatrician said true fevers aren’t really a teething symptom, so if he spiked one, I’d look for something else going on.
I guess my question is: how do you actually tell the difference? Do you just wait for the tooth to pop out and then connect the dots, or is there something more concrete to look for? Sometimes it feels like we’re just guessing...
I guess my question is: how do you actually tell the difference? Do you just wait for the tooth to pop out and then connect the dots, or is there something more concrete to look for?
Honestly, I’m right there with you. With my daughter, I kept second-guessing myself—sometimes she’d be super drooly and cranky for days, but then... nothing. No tooth. Other times, a tooth would just show up out of nowhere after a totally normal week. I tried feeling her gums too, but half the time I couldn’t tell if they were actually swollen or just normal baby gums. The only thing that made sense was when I could see or feel that little sharp edge poking through. Otherwise, it really did feel like guessing and hoping for the best.
