Why is teething painful?

This is the worst aspect of teething. As each tooth appears it causes pain and discomfort as well as a whole host of other symptoms which include an upset stomach, runny nose, slight fever and irritability.

The main reason for this is the emergence of the milk teeth. Your baby's milk teeth break through the gums which is painful and this pain increases the nearer the tooth is to breaking through. Plus a baby's gums are soft and sensitive – far more sensitive than an adult's so the process will be more painful.

The gums will become swollen and tender to the touch.

The process starts with a small bump followed by the appearance of a small white bud which is a sign that the tooth is ready to come through. It pushes its way through the gums and settles into its rightful place.

As you might imagine some teeth emerge much easier than others. The first tooth is usually the most painful but the last set of teeth or second set of molars is just as painful. The molars are often more painful due to their squat chunky appearance and the fact that they are the largest of all the milk teeth so tend to cause the most pain.

The only teeth which are as painful are the wisdom teeth but these do not appear until later on in puberty.

The extent of the pain varies between babies: each baby will experience a different level of pain so you may be lucky in that your baby only has a minor amount of pain but on the other hand your baby may have a miserable time.

Your baby might experience some light bleeding as a result of the teeth breaking through but this is not usually the case.

Your baby will experience teething symptoms before a tooth breaks through but these soon die down again only to reappear before the next tooth and so on.

Teething pain is discussed further in a separate article.