Teething Tips

My first kid was the love of my life!  She was adorable and perfect.  I wanted her to stay little forever.  But she didn't.  At 2 months old she began to cut teeth.  I was prepared for the worse.  I'd heard horror story after horror story.  But it all went so well.  There was some drooling and a slight temp at one point, but for the most part she did great.  I was starting to think that people made this whole teething thing out to be a whole lot worse than it really is!  Until I had "thing 2".......   WOW!

By a year old she still didn't have a tooth in her head!  I took her to the doc to make sure there was something in there.  I was starting to wonder how much baby dentures cost!   Finally, at 14 months old she began to get a tooth.  I was relieved.  That night I realized that she was getting 2 teeth.  That was ok with me.  At her age she needed more than one tooth.  That was a long night for me, in fact, that was a long 2 weeks.  To make a long story short, she got 8 teeth in 14 days!

I wanted to die. She wasn't too happy either.  At that point I was ready to take her to the dentist and have them all extracted.  I mean, who cares how much baby dentures cost??  It would have been worth it to me.  She had every symptom in the book.  She went through so many clothes due to overflowing diapers that I eventually just let her go with just a diaper, and kept her confined to an area that was protected by towels.  Just thinking about it all makes my head hurt! 

Here are a few of the things that I did for her:

1. Frozen bananas...let her chew away
2. Frozen, whole, wheat bagels...same thing.  
3. A whole, fresh, peeled carrot...not the baby carrots or cut carrots.  We don't want them to choke. 
4. I took a frozen wash cloth and my finger and massaged her gums a little to help relieve some of the pressure. 
5. She liked anything cold.  Cold pudding, cold jello, cold applesauce...anything to kinda numb her up.
6. Of coarse, you have the teething rings and things, but I thought a baby tooth brush worked even better.
7. To protect the chin area from drooling, which can cause chaffing, you can use petroleum jelly or zinc ointment.  Most diaper rash ointment has zinc in it, or you can get zinc oxide.

I just read that Witch Hazel is good for teething babies.  (I wish I had known this about 5 years sooner.)   Witch Hazel helps with swelling and pain.  You just rub a tiny bit on the gums.  There's a few different types of witch hazel, so be sure you are administering the right kind.  Also, be careful of allergies.  It is very uncommon for anyone to be allergic to witch hazel, but as with any herb, we must be careful. And I do know 2 people that are allergic to it.

 "Thing 2"...working on her 6 year molars now, but with much less drama!! 

Thank goodness!!