Maternal beliefs about infant teething

Abstract

Context and objective: Parents ascribe many symptoms to teething despite a lack of evidence to support such claims. A descriptive study of the perceptions of mothers on teething problems was conducted.

Methods: Information was obtained on a consecutive sample of 333 mothers from an urban slum in Lagos state, Nigeria drawn from different socioeconomic, educational and ethnic backgrounds on their perceptions on teething problems.

Results: The mean age of the mothers was 29.2 years and majority (52%) were in the 20 -29 year age group. Most of the mothers (95.2%) perceived teething to be associated with various symptoms while only 4.8% did not. The commonest problems reported were fever (90.3%) and diarrhoea (87.3%). There was no statistically significant association between perception of teething problems and education, age, and ethnic background. About half of the mothers viewed the symptoms as not serious and would not take the child to the hospital.

Conclusion: The beliefs and attitude of mothers about “teething” has serious implications for management of childhood fevers which may deserve urgent medical treatment. There is a need for early oral health education of mothers during the antenatal period to discourage the use of “teething as a ready explanation for childhood diseases.

Keywords: infant teething, maternal beliefs, Lagos, Nigeria

Journal of Community Medicine and Primary Health Care 2005, 17(1): 61-64