Teething and illnessThe symptoms of teething are now known to be extremely mild. But because babies start to lose the immunity inherited from their mothers at around six months old, they coincidentally tend to pick up a lot of new infections around the time that teething commences. Because of this, teething has had an extremely bad press over the centuries. Indeed, during the nineteenth century, babies’ gums were cut to assist teething, and as recently as the 1930s, teething was still thought to cause death! Even in our grandparents' time, diarrhoea, vomiting, eczema, bronchitis, febrile convulsions and squints were attributed to teething. We now know that none of these conditions are caused by teething. Unfortunately, many parents still delay taking their babies to the doctor because they attribute symptoms like high temperatures and prolonged screaming fits to teething. One study found that of 50 babies admitted to hospital for symptoms put down to teething, 48 were found to have another illness. So if you think your baby is ill, do check with your doctor. Where to next?
|
