Grinding teeth is a normal sign of anxiety or stress in adults, but what does it mean when you hear your baby with his or her brand new pearly whites grinding together? While this might be the most heart wrenching noise for those of you who have been nothing but excited to see teeth in your little one’s mouth, there has to be a reason for it.
Experts don’t know for sure what is the exact cause for teeth grinding, but even though babies have little to worry about, they can still experience tension, pain and anxiety from earaches or teething. While you’d rather see them munch down on a teething toy, they don’t exactly understand the meaning of “no, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Another reason for grinding could that the infants teeth don’t line up right and could cause them to be trying to line them up properly. It rare cases, allergies or even pinworms (Pinworms are small, white worms (Enterobius vermicularis) that infest the intestines. The worms, which look like quarter-inch-long pieces of dental floss, can be seen wiggling around the anus and in the stool. – www.babycenter.com) might sometimes be the culprit.
Babies’ grinding their teeth isn’t necessarily the norm, but it’s not abnormal either. A study has shown that nearly 38% of all babies will grind their teeth. While most won’t see their child doing it until they are closer to 3 years old, it can happen at any age after the child has enough teeth to grind.
Most of the time, the awful grinding that you can only imagine doing the worst damage possible, is actually not doing any damage at all. It’s likely, your baby or toddler is just going through a phase and will subside shortly. However, bringing it up to your child’s pediatrician couldn’t hurt to get a second opinion to make sure there isn’t a deeper cause for the grinding. You could even bring your baby down to a dentist, but even they might not have much concern in treating your child unless it was their permanent teeth, which don’t usually come in until the age of 5 or 6.
The only solutions to help with the subsiding of this bad habit are to try and relax your baby when he or she starts grinding. Try soothing with a warm bath, a baby massage or even distracting with some of his or her favorite toys. In the case that your baby is known to be teething, and the grinding is a probably reaction to the pain, Tylenol or Motrin (if over 6 months old) would be a good way to alleviate some of the pain. Teething tablets are a non medicated remedy that also has been known to work, which can be found at your local pharmacy or grocery store.
As with all habits you’re little one picks up, it will most likely pass within a short amount of time. The grinding is more painful to your ears and heart then it is to your baby. So, all you can hope for is a short phase of grinding.
