Feeding a Teething Baby

What teething does to a meal

Sore gums change what a baby wants to do with food rather than whether they want food at all. Many babies eat less for a day or two around a tooth, refuse a spoon while accepting something they can bite on, or want more milk and fewer solids. None of that is a problem in itself.

The NHS's own framing of appetite is the useful backstop: there will be days when your baby eats more, days when they eat less, and days when they reject everything, and this is perfectly normal. It asks you to think about what your baby eats over a week rather than in a meal.

What the NHS suggests offering

The NHS treats the chewing urge as something to feed rather than something to stop. If your baby is six months or older and is weaning or has been weaned, it says you can give them healthy things to chew on, such as raw fruit and vegetables, and notes that soft fruit like melon can soothe gums. It adds the standard condition: always watch when your baby is eating, in case they choke.

Cold works. Chilled cucumber batons, cold pieces of ripe pear or melon, and yoghurt straight from the fridge give the same relief as a chilled teething ring while also being food.

The NHS also says teething rings can be cooled first in the fridge, with the instructions telling you how long, and is explicit that you must never put a teething ring in the freezer, because it could damage your baby's gums if it becomes frozen. A frozen piece of food carries the same objection and should be thawed to cold rather than hard.

Preparing it safely, because raw and firm is a choking question

Raw fruit and vegetables are exactly the foods that need preparation. The NHS's guidance on preparing food safely asks you to cut vegetables like carrots, peppers, cucumber and celery into narrow batons, and for very young children to grate, mash, steam or simmer firm fruit and vegetables instead. Melon and apple should be cut into slices rather than small chunks. Hard pips and stones always come out, and removing the skin on fruit and vegetables makes them easier to swallow.

The HSE's finger food definition is the sizing rule to use alongside that: a piece big enough for your baby to hold in their fist with a bit sticking out, roughly the size of your own finger, soft, with skin, seeds, pits and bones removed.

A hard raw carrot given to a baby to gnaw is not a teething aid, it is a choking hazard. A chilled cucumber baton with the skin removed is the version of the same idea that the guidance actually supports, offered with you sitting there.

The one food the NHS singles out to avoid

Rusks. The NHS says it is best to avoid them, because nearly all brands contain some sugar, and asks you to avoid any food containing lots of sugar because it can cause tooth decay even if your child only has a few teeth.

That is worth taking seriously precisely because the product is marketed for this purpose. A baby gnawing on something sweet for twenty minutes is holding sugar against emerging teeth for twenty minutes, which is the worst possible combination of exposure and duration.

Softer versions of what they already eat

Where firm food is being refused, the simplest fix is to soften the same meal rather than change the menu. Cook vegetables longer. Mash instead of chopping. Add a little more liquid to a familiar food. Offer yoghurt, well-cooked pasta, soft cooked potato or sweet potato, or porridge, all of which the HSE lists among suitable weaning foods.

This is a temporary accommodation rather than a retreat. The general rule that babies should keep meeting new textures still holds, and a week of softer food around a tooth does not undo that.

Milk goes up, and that is fine for a few days

Many teething babies want more milk and less food. Over a few days that costs nothing. If it runs for weeks, the balance needs correcting, because milk cannot cover a baby's iron needs after six months. The HSE's swaps for a child refusing food are useful here: get protein and iron in through purées, stews, minced meat, lentils, eggs and smooth nut butters if the usual forms are being rejected.

Comfort measures around the meal

The NHS suggests comforting or playing with your baby to distract them from gum pain, and says gently rubbing their gums with a clean finger may help. It also mentions sugar-free painkilling medicine as an option for a baby in pain, naming paracetamol from two months and ibuprofen from three months, with the instruction to always follow the directions that come with the medicine and to speak to a GP or pharmacist if you are unsure. It says children under sixteen should not have aspirin.

On teething gels it is lukewarm, saying there is a lack of evidence that they are effective and recommending teething rings or simple sugar-free painkillers first. It says general oral pain relief gels are not suitable for children, and that homeopathic products are not recommended.

Wiping a dribbly face gently helps prevent the rash that otherwise turns up, which is a small thing that makes the next meal less uncomfortable.

When it is not teething

Teething is blamed for a great deal that it does not cause. A baby who is off their food for more than a few days, who has a fever, who is unusually sleepy or floppy, who has diarrhoea or vomiting, or who has fewer wet nappies, is unwell rather than teething, and needs assessing on those terms.

The clue is usually pattern. Teething discomfort comes and goes, tends to be worse in the evening, and does not stop a baby drinking. Illness is more continuous and takes the drinking with it.

Teeth that have arrived need looking after

The NHS asks you to register your baby with a dentist when their teeth start coming through, and to start brushing with fluoride toothpaste as soon as the first milk tooth breaks through. That matters more during a teething phase than at any other time, because this is exactly when sugar-containing comfort foods tend to creep in.

When to ask

Speak to a health visitor, public health nurse or GP if your baby is refusing food and drink for more than a day or two, if they have a fever or seem unwell rather than uncomfortable, if wet nappies have dropped off, or if weight gain has slowed. Ask a pharmacist before giving any medicine, and follow the instructions that come with it.