Teething and Fever: What Parents Need to Know

For many babies and children, teething can cause many uncomfortable symptoms. Whether or not it can cause a fever remains a debate in the medical community, although regardless of the cause, both fevers and teething can make children and their family miserable.

General Consensus

• Most doctors agree that teething does not cause fevers--that a fever may indicate a more serious health problem that should be checked by a health professional. At the same time, many mothers argue that their children get a fever prior to cutting each tooth, and upon being checked by a doctor nothing else is wrong.

What Dr. Sears Says

• World-renowned pediatrician Dr. Bill Sears says that a low-grade fever could be caused from inflamed gum tissue during teething. He does concur, however, that a high-grade fever is the sign of another problem that needs to be checked out.

Common Teething Symptoms

• There are other very common symptoms of teething, including excessive drooling, chewing or biting, irritability and fussiness, refusing food and a sudden change in sleep patterns.

Providing Relief

• There are many ways to help provide relief to teething children, such as a cold, wet washcloth, a teething ring, teething biscuits, Tylenol, homeopathic teething tablets or drops or even just a warm, soothing bath.

Warning

• Regardless of what you think the cause is, if your baby's temperature reaches over 101 degrees F (over 100.4 degrees F in a baby under three-months-old), call your pediatrician right away.