Parents are just making it all up about teething
Your baby is miserable. He has bright red cheeks, feels flushed and hot and his nappies are revolting. You know that he must be teething - right? Not according to one expert who says that parents are just imagining the symptoms.
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onsultant Paediatric Dental Surgeon at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Kirsten Fitzgerald, said that when it comes to babies' teething problems:
"people's imaginations have got the better of them."
She went on to claim that:
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"Teething is a simple, gentle and benign process but it has come to mean so much more. It’s a normal process, just like growing nails or hair.
Despite the phrase, there is no cutting or piercing."
She explained any symptoms as generally being the result of infection. This period when they grow new teeth coincides, she says, with a time when they are at increased exposure to outside infection.
Kirsten also warned that parents who focus too much on the imagined symptoms of teething could be missing more serious conditions that require treatment.
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