Seeing as I’ve (and Myla of course) been through the sprout of six teeth now I think it’s only right I share the experience.
As adults, tooth aches/sores are one of the most painful things so imagine what baby must be going through when their first tooth starts to push through! They don’t know what to expect and it’s a new thing so I’ve found that being patient and understanding is so important. It’ll help your tolerance during the hardest of times. I’m saying this as though I had a lot of patience through the teething troubles – I didn’t. I tried every trick under the sun to try and soothe Myla’s teething and get her to some sort of comfort. She’s actually been a trooper through her teething periods and my hubby swears by the amber beads she wears. Since the first two teeth she’s been using her bottom teeth to bite the top gums – not sure if she should be doing this but fair play if it relieves the pain or breaks the gum to get the teeth out quicker, I’m gonna let it happen!
Dad feature [In most of my posts, I’ll be getting my Hubby to Dad blog for a small section – it’ll be a small snippet of his take on whatever the topic is. p.s. he’s a dentist too]
Look for signs of teething: swollen gums (hot and inflamed), red cheeks and more dribbling than usual
If you choose to use teething gel, rub it on the inside of the gum area where teeth are coming through
Brushing the area helps the gum to break for teeth to come through – also you should start to brush babies teeth twice daily as soon as they get the first ones through
Here’s what worked for us:
Amber bead necklace: I got this from Amazon (well I actually got anklets by mistake so I just fastened them together to make a necklace). The way these are supposed to work is that Baltic amber contains a natural analgesic so when baby wears it and her body heats, its absorbed into the skin and soothes the pain. Magical. I’m not 100% sure that this is what’s working for us, but I’m too scared to not keep it on her now!
Muslin cloth dipped in camomile tea and frozen: Definite winner! I got this tip from @justchillmama. This worked amazingly in the summer. I haven’t used it for this second set as I think it might be too cold right now.
Teething gel: I used baby Bonjela which is great for numbing the pain a little before feeding times.
Freezable teething toys: a must have (really anything that you can stick in the freezer and it stays cold for baby to chew on). Make sure it’s a little “defrosted”/chewable so that baby can get the most out of it. When choosing a freezable teething toy, consider what the right size for your baby is bitesize wise and what will they be able to hold.
Calpol: for during the nights
A couple of other things I tried are teething granules; these are great for short term relief but didn’t last long at all. Milk popsicle in the ice mould – these were very messy and rather than bite with her gums Myla licked these so they didn’t really do the trick.
Really and truly you can’t avoid this phase and there isn’t much you can do. Distractions during the day helps – lots of playing, outdoors, singing, dancing and lots of cuddle at night 🙂
~X~