Things to Feed a Teething Baby
Teething is a milestone in every baby's life, beginning around 4 to 6 months and continuing up to and beyond 2 years, until all 20 baby teeth have come in. Teething can cause fussiness and may lead to refusal of food if it irritates the infant's gums. Parents can offer certain foods that make teething less painful for babies and help to ensure that they are still receiving a balanced diet.
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Pureed Baby Foods
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Jarred baby food is soft and mushy, allowing babies to eat it without much chewing. Even older babies can eat jarred food when teething if they are having a tough time chewing harder foods. Parents can also puree fruits and vegetables at home by cooking them until soft and blending them with a small amount of water in a blender. Pureed foods can be served to babies either warm or cold, but cold food may be more soothing on a teething baby's gums.
Teething Cookies
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Teething cookies can be found in most grocery stores for either babies or toddlers. Teething cookies are hard but turn mushy when combined with a baby's saliva. This provides infants with some relief, while avoiding the risk of choking on hard pieces of food. Most infant teething cookies contain minimal amounts of sugar and no preservatives.
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Cooked Vegetables
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Parents can boil or steam vegetables until they are soft and serve them to babies in pieces that are large and easy to grip. Cooking until soft makes it easy for babies to eat vegetables with minimal pain. This ensures that infants are still receiving sufficient nutrients during a fussy time.
Cold Drinks
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Cold drinks can soothe even the fussiest baby during a teething period. The ideal choice of drinks for babies above 6 months of age is water, although some parents offer a small amount of fruit juice mixed with water. Infants above 12 months may prefer cold whole milk. Mothers who are breastfeeding can offer the breast more often to teething babies, as breastfeeding provides essential nutrients, along with comfort that can calm a baby in pain.
Ice
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Some parents allow their baby to chew on small pieces of ice, but ice can easily slip down the throat and be a choking hazard. Freezing a wet washcloth and allowing the baby to chew it can provide temporary numbing relief to a baby's sore gums. Some baby stores also sell flavored ice pops designed for teething infants.
Frozen Treats
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Parents may wish to freeze large cubes of melon or pieces of bagel and then allow the teething infant to chew on the frozen pieces. This can carry the risk of choking, so it is recommended that the pieces first be placed into a mesh feeding bag. Mesh feeding bags can be purchased in many large department stores that carry baby items.
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References
- Photo Credit baby bites a teething toy, close-up image by Alexander Gorelik from Fotolia.com
