Child Health
6 Simple Ways to Soothe a Teething Baby
Teething is challenging for babies and parents; try cold toys, gum massage, nutritious ice pops, food sticks, and drool management.
Last Updated on June 1, 2024 by Daily News Staff
(Family Features) There’s nothing cuter than those first toothy grins, but cutting teeth is a tough business. When a baby is teething, parents often spend long days and nights trying to soothe their little one’s discomfort.
Teething affects babies differently; some may not be bothered at all, while others only have trouble with some teeth. Swollen, red gums are an obvious sign that teething is the culprit for your baby’s sudden unrest. Some other common symptoms you may not immediately associate with teething include unusual irritability, increased drooling, a low-grade fever, flushed cheeks, rash, rubbing the face, pulling on the ear, chewing or gnawing on toys and loose bowel movements.
Each stage of a baby’s development presents unique challenges. Since no two babies are the same, finding the perfect approach to ease your child’s experience can take trial and error.
Begin a smoother teething journey for your family with these ideas from Malina Malkani, doctor and nutritionist, on behalf of Plum Organics.
Cold Teething Toys and Household Items
When teething, babies often look for counterpressure that’s soothing on sore gums, which they can get by chomping down on a harder surface. Cool temperatures also help provide teething relief. Soothing options including silicone toothbrushes, silicone (gel-free) teething rings or toys, or even a clean silicone cooking utensil from the kitchen can be placed in the freezer. Offer the item to your baby for chewing and mouthing, or gently hold it to the gums to help ease the pain.
Gum Massage
Using a clean finger, gently massage your baby’s gums. The little bumps you may feel forming beneath the gumline are the tips of baby teeth making their way to the surface.
Nutritious Ice Pops
Offering cold foods or liquids is another way to provide chilled relief. Breast milk or formula ice pops can be soothing on teething gums. Silicone nipple pouches work well as ice pop molds for infants. For teething babies under 6 months, fill the molds with breast milk or formula, or for toddlers, try freezing nutritious purees.
Freezing purees into teething ice pop molds offers babies two types of teething relief (counterpressure and cool temperature) while providing nutrients and exposure to new flavors. Some nutritious suggestions for purees to freeze include avocado or fruit blends like Plum Organics’ Stage 2 organic baby food pouches, which contain blends of pure fruit and veggies in flavors like Apple, Plum, Berry and Barley or Apple, Blackberry and Coconut Cream.
Food Sticks
For babies who are teething but have not yet had a tooth erupt, try handing over a cold, large, peeled, raw carrot. Refrigerated harder foods provide the cool temperatures and counterpressure babies often crave during bouts of teething, as well as exposure to new flavors and textures, but in a form that won’t break off into smaller pieces that would increase risk of choking.
Manage Drool
During bouts of teething, a baby’s lips, chin and cheeks can easily become raw and chapped from excess saliva and teething-related drool. Keep these areas as dry and protected as possible, especially when it’s cold out. It may help to apply a thin layer of ointment to further protect the skin.
Pain Treatment
After trying all other options, if baby still seems to be in teething-related pain, talk to your pediatrician about whether over-the-counter pain medications are an option, and if so, what dosage to use for your baby. Most experts do not recommend using numbing gels containing benzocaine, which are unsafe for infants and not likely to help with teething pain.
Find more ideas to help navigate teething and all of your baby’s developmental stages at plumorganics.com.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images
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Plum Organics
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Last Updated on October 31, 2025 by Daily News Staff
Become a Halloween Hero
(Family Features) If you participated in trick-or-treat adventures as a child, you’re part of a long tradition for millions of children. This year, you can teach your own children or grandchildren what it means to become a Halloween hero. As the longest running youth engagement campaign in the U.S., Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has taught generations about the power they have to make a difference for the world’s children.
The program got its start in 1950 when a handful of kids in Philadelphia collected change in milk cartons ($17 that first year) to help children in post-World War II Europe. Over the years, the campaign grew into millions of children bringing little orange boxes with them on Halloween night to collect coins while trick-or-treating. Generations later, kids have raised nearly $200 million for lifesaving programs for children around the world, providing health care, nutrition, emergency relief and more. In honor of its 75th year, a month-long initiative is engaging partners and supporters with multiple options for giving. “For 75 years, the little orange box has inspired generations to turn Halloween into something bigger,” said Shelley Diamond, chief marketing officer, UNICEF USA. “Today, whether through online fundraisers or family friendly activities, we encourage the young – and the young at heart – to put some meaning in their Halloweening all October long.” Donations go to critical, flexible funding that can be used to help children when and where they need it most. The majority of funding goes directly to programs that provide children with essentials like safe water, education and vaccinations against deadly childhood diseases. Funding makes a meaningful difference in everyday lives. Each $1 donation could provide a school or community with 30 pencils or two bars of soap. Every $5 can provide water for a child for a full year or ensure five more children can be vaccinated against measles. An $8 donation, less than most fast-food meals, could provide a package of 25 diagnostic tests for malaria. Along with funding critical programs in 157 countries and territories, donations support UNICEF’s humanitarian supply network, which rushes essentials like emergency nutrition, blankets or medicine where they’re needed, often within 24 hours of a disaster or crisis. Visit unicefusa.org/TOT75 to learn how you and the impressionable little ones in your life can participate all month long. Discover more from Daily News
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How School Meals Lift Students Up for Success
School Meals: Food insecurity affects 1 in 5 children in the U.S., with over 13 million living in food-insecure homes. Rising food prices and economic instability contribute to this crisis, hindering educational engagement. Access to nutritious school meals is crucial for academic success, supported by adults who recognize the link between nutrition and learning.
Last Updated on October 8, 2025 by Daily News Staff
How School Meals Lift Students Up for Success
(Family Features) Food insecurity among children in the United States is a critical but often silent crisis that afflicts millions of young lives. In fact, 1 in 5 kids face hunger or food insecurity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and data from Feeding America shows more than 13 million children in the United States live in “food insecure” homes.
Among the factors fueling this epidemic of child hunger are rising food prices and economic instability, which continue to strain families across the country. Lack of nutritious food is also a major reason students miss school or struggle to stay engaged.
“Child hunger is more than a nutrition issue – it’s a quiet crisis that robs children of their ability to focus, learn and thrive in the classroom,” said GENYOUth CEO Ann Marie Krautheim, MA, RD, LD. “Every child deserves to be nourished, supported and ready to succeed, and the solution starts with a commitment to our nation’s schools.”
American adults agree, according to GENYOUth’s second annual “Youth Hunger & School Meals” survey. Nearly 9 in 10 (86%) believe going to school hungry severely hinders a child’s ability to focus in the classroom. Nearly all respondents (97%) recognize the broader impact of food insecurity on a student’s overall school experience, including low energy or fatigue (84%), difficulty concentrating (78%) and declining academic performance (62%).
What’s more, they connect food insecurity with a range of physical and emotional challenges, including frequent complaints like headaches and stomachaches (68%) as well as heightened levels of anxiety and stress, and lowered self-esteem.
School Meals are Critical to Learning
American adults overwhelmingly believe the solution to hunger in the classroom starts with access to healthy school meals. More than 9 in 10 agree students who eat breakfast regularly perform better in school while most recognize starting the day on a full stomach gives kids an academic edge including better attendance and classroom participation.
There is also strong support for making school breakfast a standard part of the school day, not an optional add-on. For nearly 7 in 10, this is a priority.
Rallying Support to Ensure All Children Thrive
School meals, relied upon by 30 million students for a significant portion of their daily nutrition, according to the School Nutrition Association, provide the milk, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean protein students need to thrive.
Nutrition security emphasizes both quality and quantity in food intake, highlighting the critical importance of consistent access to healthy options. Innovative approaches like Grab and Go, Breakfast in the Classroom and Second Chance Breakfast have proven highly effective in expanding access to and participation in nutritious school meals.
“In our survey, it is encouraging to see that so many Americans recognize the link between school meals and student success,” Krautheim said. “To unlock every child’s ability to learn and succeed, we must uplift school meals with innovative solutions and rally support from parents and community leaders. Let’s work together to make sure every child is nourished and ready to thrive.”
To learn more and access the complete survey results, visit GENYOUthnow.org.
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Hepatitis B shot for newborns has nearly eliminated childhood infections with this virus in the US
The hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, recommended since 1991, has significantly reduced U.S. childhood infections. Current CDC guidelines might change, potentially delaying vaccination, putting infants at risk. Vaccination at birth is crucial to prevent chronic infections and severe health outcomes.
Hepatitis B shot for newborns has nearly eliminated childhood infections with this virus in the US
David Higgins, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Before the United States began vaccinating all infants at birth with the hepatitis B vaccine in 1991, around 18,000 children every year contracted the virus before their 10th birthday – about half of them at birth. About 90% of that subset developed a chronic infection.
In the U.S., 1 in 4 children chronically infected with hepatitis B will die prematurely from cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Today, fewer than 1,000 U.S. children or adolescents contract the virus every year – a 95% drop. Fewer than 20 babies are reported infected at birth.
I am a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist who studies vaccine delivery and policy. Vaccinating babies for hepatitis B at birth remains one of the clearest, most evidence-based ways to keep American children free of this lifelong, deadly infection.
On Sept. 18, 2025, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent panel of experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, debated changing the recommendation. According to the proposed language of the vote, infants whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B would still receive the vaccine at birth. Infants whose mothers do not test positive for hepatitis B would get the vaccine at 1 month of age, though parents would have the choice for them to receive it earlier. On Sept. 19, however, the committee tabled the vote, delaying it to the next committee meeting, scheduled for Oct. 22-23.
Although such a proposed change sounds small, it is not based on any new evidence. It would undo more than three decades of a prevention strategy that has nearly eliminated early childhood hepatitis B in the U.S.
While the committee regularly reviews vaccine guidance, nothing is business as usual about this meeting. In June 2025, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disbanded the entire committee and handpicked new members. The committee has long-standing procedures to evaluate the evidence supporting the risks and benefits of a given vaccine, as well as other parameters of its use. But in this case, these procedures are not being followed.
Why the CDC adopted universal hepatitis B shots
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects liver cells, causing inflammation and damage. In adults, it is spread through blood and bodily fluids, which can happen through unprotected sex, contaminated needles or contact with open cuts or sores of someone who is carrying it.
The hepatitis B vaccine has been available since the early 1980s. Before 1991, public health guidance recommended giving newborns and young children the hepatitis B vaccine only if they were at high risk of being infected – for example, if they were born to a mother infected with hepatitis B or living in a household with someone known to have hepatitis B.
That targeted plan failed. Tens of thousands of children were still infected each year.
Some newborns were exposed when their mothers weren’t properly screened or if their mothers got infected late in pregnancy. Children also became infected through household contacts or in child care settings by exposures as ordinary as shared toothbrushes or a bite that breaks the skin. Because hepatitis B can survive for a week on household surfaces, and many carriers are unaware they are infected, even babies and toddlers of uninfected mothers remained at risk.
Recognizing these gaps, in 1991 the CDC recommended hepatitis B vaccination for every child starting at birth, regardless of maternal risk.
Vaccinating at birth
The greatest danger for infants contracting hepatitis B is at birth, when contact with a mother’s blood can transmit the virus. Without preventive treatment or vaccination, 70% to 90% of infants born to infected mothers will become infected themselves, and 90% of those infections will become chronic. The infection in these children silently damages their liver, potentially leading to liver cancer and death.
About 80% of parents choose to follow the CDC’s guidance and vaccinate their babies at birth. If the CDC’s recommendations change to delaying the first dose to 1 month old, it would leave babies unprotected during this most vulnerable window, when infection is most likely to lead to chronic infection and silently damage the liver.
The hepatitis B vaccines used in the U.S. have an outstanding safety record. The only confirmed risk is an allergic reaction called anaphylaxis that occurs in roughly 1 in 600,000 doses, and no child has died from such a reaction. Extensive studies show no link to other serious conditions.
The current recommendations are designed to protect every child, including those who slip through gaps in maternal screening or encounter the virus in everyday life. A reversion to the ineffective risk-based approach threatens to erode this critical safety net.
David Higgins, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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