My daughter is 18 months old at the time of posting this article. Until two weeks ago, she had only four teeth and though one more tooth bud was visible for many weeks, no tooth appeared. She started teething pretty late. And every tooth took over a month or two to appear. It felt like a really slow motion thing. Needless to say, I was very worried as a mom.

I ended up reading up articles after articles, researching every nook and corner of the internet. Though everything I read said that we should not be worried and that some babies start teething late, being an over-read mom, I was not completely satisfied.

There were more reasons to my worries though (yeah, I am justifying this :))

Firstly, my baby wasn’t able to eat a lot of things because she didn’t have more than four teeth, or so I thought was the reason. This worry was put to rest later by her pediatrician who said the gums of babies at this age are enough to help them chew all that they should be eating. Secondly, I have a chronic illness and few other medical conditions. I really needed to wean my baby off breast milk since a few months so that I could start taking my meds and care much better for her. But until she started eating well, I didn’t want to stop feeding her (at the time of this post, I am still feeding her). Also, she completely refused everything from cow/buffalo milk to formula. Hence, I was worried about her calcium intake. All these factors combined, her delayed teething was a concern for me until a week ago. That’s when she has started eating a little better. And even taking sips of cow’s milk (a little colder with a dash of some flavour like cashew powder, jaggery or very little powdered sugar). Her fifth teeth is a bit visible now.

The point being, I really wasted days worrying unnecessarily. So, if you are in my shoes, seriously do not worry unless absolutely no teeth appear at this stage of your child’s growth. That’s when you have a word with the pediatrician, and trust me things will get better. Every single thing I read mentioned this, but I still kept worrying. Every baby is different, so give it time and enjoy the beautiful stages of your child’s development. A friend’s daughter had no teeth until her first birthday and after a few months several teeth started appearing one after the other. Some kids I know had eight teeth by their one and a half birthday, some only two. So, when everyone says don’t compare kids, it is sane advice.

Teeth will appear, sooner or later. Kids will start eating well, sooner or later. Some kids eat more, some less. My baby hardly eats anything for a day or two barring a few fruit or roti bites during the day, and halwa, her favourite, along with a lot of breastmilk. And then, on some days, she eats really well all through the day.

So, it’s okay. Don’t worry too much about teething. If you are still concerned and crazy-worried-when-not-necessary mom like me, please have a word with the baby’s doctor and trust me, you’ll feel much better. Before you know, the day will come when you’ll be telling your kid about tooth fairies 🙂

Happy parenting.

Toothy smile 🙂