There are a handful of experiences that most parents of newborns are not looking forward to – sleep regressions, baby’s first fall or scrape, and teething. Most babies experience some degree of discomfort during the eruption of at least a few of their teeth, and soothing a miserable baby can be so heart-wrenching for parents. However, if you’d like to avoid giving your child over the counter painkillers and softer approaches like homeopathic teething pills are not sufficiently helpful, you may want to try acupressure and herbal therapy. Acupressure is used to redirect the energy of the body, reduce inflammation, and promote nervous system calming. Typically when a child is teething they can run a fever, become agitated, have redness and inflammation of the gums, and sometimes have a flushed face. These are all signs of inflammation and heat in the body and acupressure/acupuncture can help reduce them. Your acupuncturist will use specific points on the body that relate to the gums so as to reduce your baby’s gum pain. If your baby has had teething pain for more than a few hours, your baby is also likely very cranky, worked up, and agitated. Acupressure for babies is a massage-like therapy that focuses on balancing the body while calming the nervous system. Kids love coming in for the touch and the attention, and even if a baby comes in quite agitated they often feel better by the end of treatment. Herbal medicine can also be of great help during teething, both to reduce the heat and inflammation in the body and to calm the nervous system so your baby can get through the process with minimal fuss (and more joy!). These herbs come in glycerin-based liquid tinctures that are sweet tasting and easy to give to babies. Are you looking to learn more about whether acupuncture and herbal medicine is right for your teething baby? Give me a call and we can chat about your little one. Here's to your child's health!