Gurning and clenching jaw - does this mean my 17 week old is teething?

[themothership]

Hello, some advice required from you more experienced mums!

My 17 week old dd has been gurning and clenching her jaw for about a week now but its getting more and more pronouced. She did have a swollen cheek over the weekend but that seems to have gone down. She's been very upset this evening, and there was a lot of gurning and clenching this afternoon. I know it's early at 17 weeks but could she be teething? I can see the teeth below the gums but I know symptoms can appear upto 2 months before the teeth cut through - I hope she's not going to be in as much pain as she was this afternoon for that long!

Bump

Please help - we were going to move her to her own room tomorrow and from her moses basket into the cotbed - dh has even taken time off in case it all goes mental, so if she's teething then we obviously don't want to rock the boat as she'll have enough going on as it is.

I'm not one of the more experienced mums i'm afraid (hence the name), but i'm sure my ds is teething as well. He's sooooo dribbly at the moment, which i'm told is one of the signs. Not that this will help, but i'll interested in the response you get too, as could do with some advice myself

Hi Newmumhelp

Doesn't look like I'm going to get any other replies! Still really difficult to figure out what's going on - I haven't come across anything else about babies gurning and clenching their jaws, so have no idea what else it could be. Re: the drooling - I read somewhere that this isn't actually a sign of teething, but the saliva glands maturing around the same time where the baby begins to put things into its mouth (body's defences gearing up for more germs) - just happens to coincide with when teething might start too. My dd has been drooling since she was about 2 months, although at the time I thought it might be teething too. Hope this helps.

Hi themothership and newmumhelp,
ds is 18 weeks and I'm in the same position as you. Thanks for the info about drooling as was a bit worried when ds sudenly started drooling at 8 weeks. Thought it might be early teething. He doesn't just drool, he seems to love making spitty bubbles and squelchy noises when he's bored and has had to wear a bib to prevent soaking his chest. I get worried when I don't see other babies his age in bibs.

Could be teething but I think it's also just what they do at that age. I've a 16.5 weeks' old one drooling away. Remember asking hv if it was teething when my first daughter was doing same at similar age. She didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months.

Hi all!
My son has been gurning for ages (he is nearly 8 months old) but no sign of any teeth yet. I think they must all do weird things in the first year.
I have also read that excessive drooling is due to the maturing salivary glands.
I'm a first time mum too so not an awful lot of help.

Hi, thanks everyone for your replies. It's good to know that other babies are gurning etc. too - I'd never heard of it, and wasn't sure what to make of it when my dd started doing it a week ago - found that and the clenched jaw alot more disturbing than the drool (not her most attractive face). Will see whether it turns into anything else, but it sounds like it's just something some babies do.