Teething is a painful process for babies and for their families. It can be excruciating to see your child in a lot of pain and can be difficult for you to manage his or her fussiness, low grade fever, constant drooling, difficulty sleeping, and frequent biting on things. Thankfully there are some at-home tips to help your little one through this process.
Most parents use chew toys, cold gel-based teething rings, cold washcloths, or teething crackers for their children. In difficult cases, some parents feel that they need to resort to using occasional painkillers when their child seems highly upset and in pain. Acupressure can be a great way to manage your baby’s teething pain. It is simple to learn and you can either use your fingers or a small household object (such as a bobby pin, the back end of a ballpoint pen or other small but not sharp item from your home) to stimulate the acupressure points.
There are three common points that you can use for your baby’s teething:
Second Space & Junction Valley
“Second Space” – this point is located on the edge of the index finger that’s closest to the thumb. Find the big knuckle where the index finger joins the hand – then move up the side of that finger just past the bulge of the knuckle, and that’s where you’ll find this point.
“Junction Valley” – this point is located on the hand in the triangle formed between the base of the index finger and the thumb. Press in the middle of this triangle – it should be pretty fleshy at that location. This point helps both with pain and with some of the agitation the pain is causing.
Inner Court
“Inner Court” – this point is located between the second and third toes, on the webbing just between the toes.
Together, regular use of these three points on your baby’s left and right sides during phases of teething will help release the pain and the agitation.
Is at-home acupressure not enough? Bring your child in for a full acupressure and health balancing appointment so that we can ease the agitation and pain and help your child more comfortably get through the teething process.
