"Doctors say teething pain in babies is a myth. I'm calling B.S."

On this occasion, mothers know best.

An article out this week suggests that parents have been wrongly blaming common childhood teething for changes in their baby’s behaviour and says that in doing so, they’re missing the real reasons why their child is presenting the way they are.

Written by a mother herself, the piece describes teething as being somewhat of a crutch that many sleep deprived parents fall back on when searching for answers on why exactly their little angel has turned into the devil incarnate overnight.

While teething for most parents seems like, well, a bloody nightmare, doctors quoted within the article say that in truth, the symptoms commonly accompanying true teething are generally very mild and cause no great impact on the child what so ever. For example; in relation to teething pain, the article says that affected kids would be in constant discomfort, which is not generally observed to be true by most parents.

Basically the author concluded by saying that teething is often blamed by parents as part of a natural human response. We are presented with changing behaviours, sleep patterns and eating habits with no clear explanation and therefore set out to attribute them to something.

As a mother of two kids I have to say I completely disagree with this article. In fact, I call a huge B.S. on it.

Firstly, I would argue that everyone experiences pain and discomfort in a different way and children are no exception. Just because some studies have found no clear set of symptoms when it comes to teething, doesn't mean it's not occurring. Like any illness, some people will experience symptoms that others will not.

Watch the video where a doctor says, while teething causes pain, there is no scientific link to the symptoms associated with teething. Post continues after the video...

Furthermore, to say that children should be in constant discomfort when teething is perhaps naive and more descriptive perhaps of adults. Their little minds are constantly learning, changing and taking things in that often it can be easier to distract a poorly child than would be the case with an adult. To claim a child who is experiencing teething pain should be laying in bed sobbing all day is contradictory to a child's very nature. Even after surgery and heavy anesthetics my kids could still manage a smile and a laugh.

I'm a believer in pain medicine. I know not everyone is and that's cool but for me, if I see my child in pain or discomfort I'm going to use my available resources to make it better. Whenever I have observed one of my kids to be suffering from pain or temperatures (which I would attribute to teething) a dose of medicine has always helped. I would then question the articles statement that children are not really in pain with teething.

If they're not in pain, why does pain medication work?

Each time I have attributed my child's changing behaviours to teething, they always seem to get, shock, a tooth. The article claims that no set symptoms occur with teething but on each occasion that I can remember the dribbling, the red cheeks, the grumpy attitude and the night waking we have always been greeted by a new little chomper a few days later.

However, if you can't see a tooth straight away it doesn't always mean that it's not on the way. I was once told that teeth move up and down slightly in preparation for making their way through the skin. You can tell me that a sharp little tooth slowly breaking through the skin doesn't hurt.

So for once, I have to disagree with science and say that sometimes, mother's might just know best when it comes to their children.

Do you agree that most of the time it isn't teething but just your child acting up?

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