Can babies have teething biscuits?

The verdict

No, and the NHS says so in plain words: it's best to avoid rusks because nearly all brands contain some sugar. The same logic covers teething biscuits, teething wafers and teething rusks, which are the same product under different names.

This is not a food safety warning in the sense of contamination or toxins. It is a dental one, plus a choking one, and the combination is what makes teething biscuits a poor idea specifically for the job they are sold to do.

Why sugar plus gnawing is the worst combination

Tooth decay is driven by how long sugars stay in contact with teeth, not just how much is eaten. A biscuit swallowed in thirty seconds is one exposure. A biscuit designed to be gnawed slowly for twenty minutes while a baby soothes their gums is a sustained bath.

The NHS point is that this matters even very early: avoid any foods that contain lots of sugar, as this can cause tooth decay even if your child only has a few teeth. Newly erupted teeth have thinner, less mineralised enamel than adult teeth and are more vulnerable, not less.

Add that babies under 12 months do not need sugar at all, and that they do not need snacks between meals, and the case for a sugary biscuit given between meals to a teething baby collapses on both counts.

The label often reads better than the product

Many teething biscuits carry no added sugar labelling while listing fruit juice concentrate, fruit puree, malt extract, molasses or honey solids among the ingredients. Those are free sugars for the purposes of tooth decay, whatever the front of the pack says. And honey in any form is a hard no under 12 months for a separate reason entirely.

The choking problem

Teething biscuits are made firm so they can be gnawed. What they do as they soften is the issue. A biscuit that has been sucked and chewed at one edge can release a piece the size of a fingertip, hard on one side and slick on the other, and that fragment can go straight back.

This risk is highest in exactly the situation teething biscuits are sold for: a baby chewing for a long time, often while a parent does something else. NHS guidance is to always watch when your baby is eating in case they choke, and Australian guidance is to make sure a baby who can crawl or walk sits down to eat. A biscuit handed over in a pram or a car seat breaks both.

What to use instead

Teething rings

The NHS says teething rings give a baby something to chew safely and may ease discomfort. Cooling one in the fridge can help. Never put one in the freezer: the NHS says it could damage your baby's gums if it gets frozen, and the AAP makes the same point, that teethers you freeze tend to get too hard and can cause more harm than good.

Never tie a teething ring, or anything else, around a baby's neck.

Real food

For a baby of 6 months or older who is weaning, the NHS suggests healthy things to chew on such as raw fruit and vegetables, and notes soft fruit like melon can soothe gums. A chilled cucumber baton, a strip of cold soft pear, a piece of chilled melon, all supervised, do the cooling and gnawing job without sugar.

The HSE's finger food list is the same idea: soft cooked vegetable sticks, soft fruit, toast fingers, unsalted rice or corn cakes with a topping, hard-boiled egg.

Gum massage and pain relief

Rubbing the gums with a clean finger is recommended by both the NHS and the AAP and costs nothing. Where a baby is genuinely in pain, sugar-free infant paracetamol from 2 months, or ibuprofen from 3 months, is the NHS's stated option, following the instructions with the medicine.

The products to avoid outright

Teething gels: the NHS says there is a lack of evidence that they are effective and recommends teething rings or sugar-free painkillers first; the AAP says never use them to numb the gums because in rare cases they can poison babies' blood cells and keep them from carrying oxygen. General oral pain relief gels for adults are not suitable for children at all.

Homeopathic teething tablets: the AAP states they provide no benefit and in some cases have been made with potentially harmful toxins.

Amber teething necklaces: the AAP says they do nothing at all to relieve pain and have caused cases of choking and strangulation. Nothing should be left around a baby's neck.

Where guidance differs

There is no meaningful disagreement. The UK names rusks and advises against them on sugar grounds. Ireland does not name teething biscuits but steers parents firmly towards real finger foods and away from commercial baby snack products. The US does not name them either, and its teething page is built around gum massage and firm rubber rings.

What no authority does is recommend them. If you are looking for the country where teething biscuits are endorsed, it does not exist.

If your baby has been having them

Nothing needs undoing, and no harm has been established from a period of occasional teething biscuits. Switch to a firm teething ring, chilled soft fruit or vegetable batons, and gum rubbing.

Start cleaning teeth as soon as the first one appears, twice a day with a smear of fluoride toothpaste, and get your baby registered with a dentist. That does more for the teeth than anything on the biscuit aisle.

If your baby has a fever, diarrhoea, is off their feeds or seems genuinely unwell, do not put it down to teething. Teething causes sore gums, dribbling and chewing; it does not cause illness, and treating illness as teething is how things get missed.