Is your baby waking a lot at night because of teething?

It's common for parents to worry about teething!

Once your baby is more than a few months old, you might notice that people are very quick to blame any dialled up baby behaviour, or biting, or fever, or a respiratory tract infection, or gastroenteritis, on teething!

Most cultures throughout human history have had rituals of care associated with infant teething, which spans from sometime after three months to perhaps 36 months of age - with the eruption of 20 primary teeth in all. Rituals of care matter, in all parts of our lives.

Teething doesn't cause pain, disrupted sleep, or illness

But there's no reason to think that teething causes pain or fever, and no reason to think that teething results in a pattern of fragmented sleep at night.

If your little one has developed excessive night waking, it is most likely because her body clock settings are disrupted. If she is dialling up a lot when you're home during the day, it is likely that her need for rich and changing sensory motor nourishment outside the home is increasing.

Here is what the research does tell us about teething.

Teething doesn't cause fevers. Teeth erupt intermittently over quite a long period of time, during which infants are likely to be randomly exposed to viruses!
There's no reason to think that teething gels improve an infant's experience of teething, and they shouldn't be used. Some teething products and gels contain salicylates, sucrose, alcohol or lidocaine, which are potentially harmful.
Paracetamol or ibuprofen shouldn't be used for teething, since teething doesn't cause what we think of medically as pain. (If your baby has a fever, this is due to an upper respiratory tract infection or some other infection. Even so, we need to use paracetamol or ibuprofen sparingly with fever, most often at bedtime and in the night, because fever is the way your baby's immune system activates to deal with the infection. If you're concerned or your little one has ongoing feverd or a health issue, please see your GP.)

Sensory motor nourishment is the best way to help any discomfort you think your baby might be experiencing with teething

If you are worried about your baby's teething, it's ok to offer her a cold, non-toxic ring or other safe teething product to chew on if you wish. (That provides a minor form of ensory motor stimulation in itself, and might be of interest to your baby at least for a short time.)

Rich and changing sensory motor nourishment acts at what's referred to as the the nervous system's 'neural gate' to block or turn down any unpleasant discomfort signals which might be travelling up the spinal cord (- this is true of outright pain experience, too). This is how diverse sensory motor stimulation turns down the volume of discomfort experiences.

So really, the best way to deal with any concerns you have about your small child's teething is to continue your ordinary life with your little one outside the home, engaged in activities that you both enjoy!

Selected references

Garima J, Mathur VP, Tewari N, et al. Global prevalence of teething problems in infants and children-A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2025;35(3):608-624. doi:10.1111/ipd.13272

Kahn M, Lucchini M, Oster E. Does teething disrupt infant sleep? A longitudinal auto-videosomnography study. Journal of Pedatrics. 2025;279:114461. doi:114410.111016/j.jpeds.112025.114461.

Monaghan N. Teeting products may be harmful to health. British Dentistry Journal. 2019;227(6):485-487.

Nemezio MA, De Oliveira C, Romualdo PC. Association between fever and primary tooth eruption: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry. 2017;10(3):293-298.

Pereira TS, da Silva CA, Quirino ECS, et al. Parental beliefs in and attitudes toward teething signs and symptoms: A systematic review. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2023;33(6):577-584. doi:10.1111/ipd.13071

Teoh L, Moses GM. Are teething gels safe or even necessary for our children? A review of the safety, efficacy and use of topical lidocaine teething gels. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2020;56(4):502-505.