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Both of my babies have been teething lately. Degen just cut another tooth last week (only six more to go. Then he starts losing them…). Maggie is chewing on everything in reach and wanting to chew on anything she can see.
I just Googled "teething blog" to see if I could find any new ideas on how to pacify my kids and was surprised to find that a big chunk of the links I got were for people referencing "teething problems" with some new business project. I had no idea that teething is business jargon, though it makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything referencing babies that was actually helpful.
When kids are teething they get extra drooly, cranky, chew on their hands and/or anything they can get their hands on, cry for no good reason, and sometimes get a runny nose and a little fever. Some medical research says that none of the above really exists, that it's all in my head (and the head of every other parent who ever lived). I've never found a doctor or parent who believes the research, though, so I'm not going to commit myself on those grounds.
My favorite remedies so far are as follows:
- Anbesol (or Orajel or any of those baby topical pain killers)–works perfectly, but you can only use it about four times a day and it only works for about ten minutes. I pretty much only use it when the baby is in a lot of pain and I'm waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.
- Infant Tylenol (check with your doctor or the nurse next door or the pharmacist where you buy it on the dosage)–this usually helps the baby feel better for a few hours
- Cold teething rings–I've heard that you shouldn't put these in the freezer, so just keep a stash in your refrigerator. Sometimes these work, sometimes they don't.
- Yesterday my daughter found a lot of relief from chewing on a big piece of zucchini, with close supervision to make sure she didn't chew a piece off and choke on it. Degen used to do the same thing with carrots.
- Chewing on parent's fingers. My kids like to hold my thumb in their fist and chew on it. Make sure your hand is relatively clean, and don't do this if you have a huge aversion to saliva. Actually, if you have a huge aversion to saliva, you should probably do it just so you can get over it quickly because you're going to have to deal with it if you're going to have kids.
- Rub baby's gums with your fingers. Be careful to avoid teeth that have already arrived.
- Now that Degen's older, he likes to chew on his toothbrushes. We have a few around so that we can always find one.
That's about all I know, except to try and make sure everyone gets enough sleep so that you can survive the process more gracefully. Let me know if you have any other tried-and-true remedies for teething–I'd love to hear them.
My mom tells me that the teeth go up and down as they're growing in, so you notice the baby teething a long time before they actually get teeth, then you get a little break while they recede a bit, then it comes back again and the process repeats until the tooth cuts through the gums.
