How can I tell my baby is teething if I don't see any visual clues?

There is no set pattern on when a baby will begin teething, how long it will take and how painful it will be. For one baby teething might happen overnight with no pain, while other child might have to go through  a drawn out and painful experiences. You may sometimes see visual indications such as lumps in the gun for several weeks, while sometimes there may be no visible clue at all  until the tooth actually appears.

Here are some possible symptoms to watch for if you don't see any visual clues: 

• The need to gnaw. The pressure of an emerging tooth beneath the gum may be relieved by counter pressure, so teething babies often want to chomp on thing. The chewing instinct may also be a response to the odd sensation that something's going on in there.
• Puffy gum. Before a new tooth erupts, it can cause a red, swollen, bruised looking ares on a baby's gum.
• Excessive drooling. Increased spittle can herald a new tooth but it's also a normal developmental stage of infancy, so don't assume that drooling means teething.
• Fussiness, (especially at night). Tooth eruption, when the tooth moves through the bone and gum tends to come in stages, with more activity at night than during the day, so your baby may be more irritable then
• Ear pulling. while it can also be a sign of an ear infection, tugging can be a  symptom of teething. The pain from the jaw gets transferred to the ear canal.
• A change in eating habits. Babies who are eating solids may want to nurse or bottle feed more because a spoon irritates their inflamed gum. Others may do the opposite, eating more than usual because the counter pressure feels good.

This information was adapted from www. parenting.com