When do babies start teething?

Author: Heidi Holvoet, PhD

When do babies start teething? You will find typical ages for each tooth below in the baby teething chart.

Remember that these are average ages. Development is very individual and any tooth can be very early or very late compared to the averages. The teething chart does remain helpful though to give you an idea of when you can expect the first signs of teething.

Note that teething symptoms can occur as much as 3 or 4 months before the actual cutting of the tooth.

Baby teething chart

The chart below tells you which tooth to expect at different ages. There are 20 baby or milk teeth to come out. The shown ages are for the cutting through, when you actually can see the tip of the tooth.

The 'winner', the very first tooth to come out, usually is one of the bottom central incisors. On average that will be around six months, but it can just as well be at 4 months ... or at 8 months old.

Having the first tooth at 12 months or in the second year, is also still normal.

After the bottom central incisor(s), there will typically be a top central incisor or a bottom lateral one. And so on ...

So ... when will MY baby start teething?

Well, typically, you can see the first signs from about 12 weeks (3 months). That would be in preparation for the first tooth at 6 months. But it can also start a couple of weeks, or even a year, later.

Then there will be periods where nothing much is happening, and then it will start over again for the next tooth, or teeth ... In any case it is important to understand that sleeping is highly affected by teething pains. It is often when lying down quietly that baby feel all the more uncomfortable and finds it extra difficult to settle.