Babies often experience fever that may be related to ‘growing pains’ (a series of growth), including when they are teething. Most parents believe that fever is the sign of teething. Well, this is not entirely true and is a myth!

When teething, babies or toddlers would feel uncomfortable especially in their gums. This would affect them for days and even month. This discomfort would make them cranky. Teething may cause rise of temperature in your babies. But the fever is not the only sign of teething.

Here are some common signs of teething that you may need to understand:

•Decrease appetite

Teething may cause decreased appetite in your little tots as they feel uncomfortable. In some cases, toddlers may reject food and drinks altogether. This is caused by gums inflammation during the teething.

•Drooling

Other prominent sign of toddlers teething is drooling. This is caused by increased muscle movement in the mouth when teething which also increase the production of saliva.

•Crankiness or crying

Teething usually would make babies or toddlers cranky and give them difficulty sleeping well at night. Pain and discomfort especially in their gums area would make them cry especially at night. This is due to accelerated rate of teeth growing process at night.

•Swollen gum

You may see this when your toddlers open their mouth. The gums may be swollen and there is redness around the area where teeth are growing. You may actually see the teeth seedling.

•Teething

Teeth growing and trying to break through the gum may also cause ‘itchy’ sensation causing your toddlers to often put their hands into their mouth and biting things they could find around them.

So, what actually causes fever in teething?

When teething, toddlers may experience raise in body temperature. But this won’t cause high fever. Most would have a slight fever no higher than 38-degree Celsius.

The fever experienced by you toddlers is not caused by the teething. The fever is caused by bacteria or fever. When teething, your little ones may put a lot of unclean things into their mouth, which causes whatever bacteria or viruses on those things to enter their mouth and cause infection.

If this happens, you need to manage your children’s fever properly. For fever management at home, you can choose to have anti-pyretic or fever medication which contains paracetamol (acetaminophen) such as Tempra – trusted for decades in reducing fever in children, available in various flavors that your children would like.

Source (adapted):

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/can-teething-cause-fever

https://www.babycenter.com/health/teething-and-tooth-care/teething-signs-and-symptoms_10357437