When do babies start teething?

The NHS describes most babies starting to teethe at around six months, with a normal range that is unusually wide: some are born with a tooth, some reach their first birthday with none, and the NHS describes neither early nor late as a sign of anything being wrong.

What follows is the NHS's description of what teething tends to look like and what it says helps, alongside ACT Health's guidance on when brushing starts. It is a general picture rather than a description of your own baby, and the person who knows your baby is your child health nurse, GP or paediatrician.

When the first teeth arrive

Around six months is the middle of the range in the NHS's description, and both ends of it are wide. A baby born with a tooth already through is inside the range. So is a baby with nothing at all at twelve months. The NHS describes early or late arrival as not a sign of anything being wrong.

What teething looks like

It varies from baby to baby. Some go through it untroubled and there is very little to notice. Others show sore, red gums, a slightly raised temperature, one flushed cheek, a rash from dribbling, more dribble than usual, rubbing at an ear, gnawing, fretfulness and disrupted sleep.

The NHS describes the combination as the giveaway, rather than any one sign on its own.

Temperature, and the line at 38°C

The NHS describes teething as able to raise a baby's temperature slightly, and puts that under 38°C. It describes a temperature of 38°C or above as a fever with another cause rather than teething. See your doctor about a fever the way you normally would.

The NHS also describes there being no evidence that teething causes diarrhoea.

What the NHS describes as helping

The NHS describes gently rubbing the gums with a clean finger, and comfort and distraction. For a baby over six months who has already started solids, the NHS describes something safe to chew, such as a piece of soft melon, with someone watching.

When brushing starts, and why there is no toothpaste yet

ACT Health's Baby Personal Health Record Book, the blue book, describes brushing starting as soon as that first tooth appears, with a child-sized soft brush.

It describes no toothpaste before eighteen months, and gives the reason: a baby that age cannot yet spit it out. Brushing without toothpaste is the routine the book recommends for those months, not a shortcut. That is the Australian guidance.

Where Wriggler fits

Wriggler has no part in any of it, and the list above is the NHS's and ACT Health's rather than Wriggler's. Teething is not something a tracker can confirm.

What Wriggler's free tracking records is the ordinary shape of a day: when a nap started, when it ended, when a feed happened. Whether a rough stretch of nights was teething or something else is a question for the people who know your baby.