There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from a baby who won’t stop crying and won’t be soothed, and teething is very often the reason behind it. The good news is that teething pain, while genuinely uncomfortable for your baby, responds well to a handful of simple, well-established remedies, most of which don’t need anything more than what’s already in your kitchen or bathroom cabinet.
At Babymore, we hear from a lot of tired parents in exactly this position, often wondering when this stage even started, so here’s a clear, age-by-age guide to what actually helps, grounded in NHS and NCT guidance rather than guesswork.
Teething pain typically lasts around 3 to 8 days per tooth, with discomfort usually strongest in the day or two before it breaks through. The safest, most consistently recommended relief methods are a clean finger or cool, damp cloth to massage the gums, a teething ring chilled in the fridge (never the freezer), and, for babies old enough, sugar-free infant paracetamol from 2 months old or ibuprofen from 3 months old, following the dosing on the packaging or your pharmacist’s advice.
Teething gels have limited evidence behind them and should only be used if specifically designed for young children, and homeopathic teething products are not recommended by the NHS due to inconsistent licensing and safety concerns.
For any single tooth, discomfort typically builds over 3 to 4 days before it breaks through the gum, and can continue for a further few days afterward while the area settles. Most individual episodes resolve within about a week. If pain or fussiness is dragging on for considerably longer than this, or seems constant rather than coming in a distinct few-day burst, it’s worth checking with your GP or health visitor, since it may not be teething alone driving it. We cover the full teething timeline, tooth by tooth, in our guide on how long does teething last, if you’re trying to work out where you are in the bigger picture.
Fussiness tends to track closely with the physical discomfort itself, so you can generally expect a similarly short window, a handful of days around when a tooth is actively erupting, rather than weeks of ongoing crankiness. That said, fussiness can sometimes linger a little longer than the physical soreness itself, particularly if disrupted sleep from a rough night or two has left your baby generally more tired and less resilient than usual.
So when does teething pain stop? Pain from an individual tooth generally eases once that tooth has broken through the gum surface, since most of the discomfort comes from the pressure and inflammation of the tooth working its way up, not the tooth itself once it’s visible. It’s common for a very short window of continued tenderness immediately after a tooth appears, but this usually settles within a day or two.
A clean finger, gently rubbed over sore gums, is one of the simplest and safest relief methods available at any age. A teething ring chilled in the fridge, never the freezer, since a frozen ring can damage delicate gums, works on the same principle, with the added cold providing some numbing relief. A cool, damp washcloth serves the same purpose if you don’t have a teething ring to hand. Keeping a few of these options within reach of the cot itself makes a real difference at 2am; our guide on managing teething and your baby’s cot covers how to set this up practically.
Once your baby is 6 months or older and weaning, offering something like a chilled piece of cucumber or a peeled, chilled slice of soft fruit under supervision can give the same chewing relief as a teething toy, alongside genuine sensory variety. Always supervise closely for choking risk with any food-based teether.
For babies who need more than gum massage and a teether, sugar-free infant paracetamol can be given from 2 months old, and ibuprofen from 3 months old, provided your baby weighs more than 5kg. Always use the correct strength and dose for your baby’s age, checking the packaging carefully or asking your pharmacist if you’re unsure, and if your baby has asthma, get advice from a GP or pharmacist before giving ibuprofen specifically.
NHS guidance is clear that there’s a genuine lack of evidence that teething gels are effective, and recommends trying teething rings or simple pain relief medicine first. If you do choose to use one, make sure it’s specifically designed for young children rather than a general oral pain relief gel, which isn’t suitable for babies, and only use gels available from a pharmacy under a pharmacist’s advice.
Homeopathic teething products are not recommended, since some unlicensed versions sold online have been linked to serious side effects. Teething necklaces are also worth avoiding or using only with genuine caution, since they can pose a choking or strangulation risk if they don’t break apart easily under pressure. It’s also worth being clear on what teething pain does not typically involve: a genuine fever over 38°C isn’t a normal teething symptom, something we cover in more detail in our guide on whether teething can cause a mild fever.
If you’re wondering how to help a teething 3 month old, three months sits right at the earlier end of typical teething onset, so symptoms at this stage are often mild and more about early gum sensitivity than an imminent tooth. Gentle gum massage with a clean finger and a chilled teething ring are usually enough at this age. Sugar-free infant paracetamol is an option from 2 months old if your baby seems genuinely uncomfortable, though it’s always worth checking with your pharmacist or GP first if you’re unsure.
Beyond gum massage and a chilled teether, some of the simplest teething 3 month old remedies are also the most overlooked: keeping your baby’s chin dry to prevent drool rash and offering extra comfort and cuddles goes a long way at this age, since the discomfort is often milder than what comes with molars later on.
Six months is when teething most commonly begins in earnest, often with the lower front incisors, and 6 month old teething pain is usually the first real test of your relief routine. The same core methods apply, gum massage, a chilled teething ring, and paracetamol or ibuprofen if needed, and this is also the age from which chilled, supervised food-based teethers become an option once weaning has started.
At 5 months, many babies are just approaching the more typical teething window, so symptoms may still be relatively mild. The same 5 month old teething remedies, gum massage and a chilled teether, work well here too, and it’s a reasonable age to start keeping infant paracetamol on hand in case discomfort ramps up as a first tooth gets closer.
By 15 months, 15 month old teething pain is often linked to molars, which tend to cause more noticeable pain than the earlier front teeth, since they’re larger and push through more gum tissue. At this age, your toddler can usually point to or show you where it hurts, which makes targeted gum massage easier, and chilled, safe foods to chew on become a more practical option alongside a teething ring. With more teeth now visible, this is also a good stage to make sure you’re keeping up with proper care for them; our guide on looking after your baby’s teeth after teething covers the basics.
Understanding when teething pain starts in babies helps set expectations early: some babies show early teething signs, mild drooling, occasional gnawing, slightly swollen gums, as early as 2 to 3 months, well before six months, which is the more typical age for a first tooth. These early signs don’t necessarily mean a tooth is imminent; they can simply be the very start of a longer runway toward that first tooth appearing. We cover this early window in more detail in our guide on early signs of teething in babies.
This is genuinely one of the hardest moments of the teething stage, and it’s worth having a clear sequence to work through rather than feeling like you’re guessing. Start with gum massage and a chilled teether, since these are safe to try repeatedly. If your baby is old enough and it’s been long enough since the last dose, appropriately dosed infant paracetamol or ibuprofen can help take the edge off.
A calm, dimly lit environment and extra holding or rocking can help even when the physical discomfort itself hasn’t fully eased. If crying is inconsolable, unusually intense, or paired with a fever over 38°C, vomiting, or diarrhoea, these aren’t typical teething symptoms and warrant contacting your GP or health visitor rather than assuming it’s teething alone, a distinction we cover in more depth in our guide on whether diarrhoea is normal during teething.
A gentle, gliding motion can also help settle a distressed baby without needing to pick them up every time; our Air Motion Gliding Crib responds to a baby’s own small movements with a soothing glide that some parents find genuinely helpful during a particularly rough teething stretch.
Teething pain is uncomfortable but genuinely short-lived for each individual tooth, and the safest relief methods, gum massage, a chilled teether, and appropriately dosed pain relief when needed, cover the vast majority of what most babies need to get through it. Knowing what’s normal at each age, and when something falls outside that pattern, makes the harder days easier to manage.
For more on recognising the earliest signs before pain sets in, our guide on early signs of teething by age is worth a read, our guide on natural teething remedies for babies covers gentler options in more depth, and if your teething baby has started chewing on furniture as well as their usual teethers
This article is intended as general information and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always check dosing with the product packaging or a pharmacist, and speak to your GP or health visitor if you’re concerned about your baby’s symptoms.
