why does everyone assume he's teething?

[curious&eager]

It seems that every time my DS puts anything in his mouth people say, "Oh, he's teething." Don't babies put everything in their mouths? He's pretty happy and content. He just likes to chew on everything. He's just four months old and I'm pretty sure he'd be a bit more grumpy if he were teething.

My mom is so convinced that he's teething that she's going to by him a special teething ring. I have one at my house, but I haven't used it yet and we are far away from there.

I was just wondering, don't all babies chew on everything, teething or not?

[Blueone]

I think most people assume that once they are 4 months old they are teething. My son puts everything in his mouth, but he's also drooling a ton and fussy. His lower gums were also swollen.

Maybe they just want to join with you over teething. Who knows. I wouldn't assume that unless they were fussy and drooling in addition to putting things in their mouth.

[ann_of_loxley]

My son is four and still mouths things lmao.
I think most babies actually start teething quite soon - they just don't get teeth when they teethe. Teeth can shift and move around under the gums way before they show themselves and that = teething. My son started teething at 11 weeks, but didn't get a tooth until 6 months (almost spot on! lol).
But as I said, he still mouths things. And yeah...all babies do. The mouth is a sensitive place - thats how they learn about thing as well as touching them!

I really only ever assume another baby is teething when they are fussy, whingy, crying, and drooling a lot! lmao. I remember 'teething' was the answer to everything from about 3 months until he got all his teeth shortly after he turned two! lmao

[Everrgreen]

Oh this drives me nuts! Anytime he chews on anything or if he fusses at all, I get the "oh he's teething" comments. There are a million reasons he could be fussy, why is it always teething? Ugh!