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the mommyhood memos: oh teething, we will conquer you! or not. but we will try.

Friday, January 7, 2011

oh teething, we will conquer you! or not. but we will try.


We have now successfully made it through seven rounds of teething from the time Levi was four months old… and we have five teeth to show for it.

How does that work, you ask?

Two starts (with an edge poking through and everything) that proceeded to move back up and disappear… only to again come in (to stay) later. For one of those, it came in a week later… For the other, it came through two months down the road after two separate agonizing weeks of drama.

Can we all say “frustrating” together now???

Word.

But now with a few rounds under our belt, I’m a little less intimidated by the teething process… and a little more able to roll with the punches.

Have we mastered it? By no means.

But we can (usually) see it coming now.

The only problem, with my little guy at least, is that it looks a bit different each time. But with some careful observation (and many a prayer under my breath) I’m proud to say that I'm learning the ropes.

It seems with Levi’s bottom teeth – they come in without much pomp and circumstance: maybe a few fussy days and a little interrupted sleep.

And then there’s the top teeth: runny nose and cold, fever, crying at the drop of a hat, too many night wakings to count, loss of appetite, Crankiness with a capital “C”, unusual daytime sleep patterns… and the list goes on. And on.

For whatever reason, it seems Levi’s top teeth cause a lot more drama than the bottom ones. And those rounds of teething are the doozies. The latest for example:





{Poor little bubba. Not only was he miserable… But mama insisted on taking photos of the misery too. What can I say? I was learning how to use our new camera. And for the record, he's better now. I'm not posting about current misery... These photos are from last month.}

As difficult as teething is for everybody, of course I'm so glad that Levi is developing normally - teething and all. (Let's not forget to count our blessings here folks.) 

And now, some of the things I’ve found that help with teething:

1. The perfect teether. I know, sounds like a given, right? But we have this one little blue fish… and I’m telling you, it’s magic. Levi can happily chew on that thing a billion times longer than anything else that could possibly hold his attention at this age. LOVE the fish. (Who knew that $4.95 would equal $1M when it comes to finding the perfect teether?!) If you experiment and offer a few options, then you're bound to find the winner for your little chomper.

2. A cold (frozen) washcloth. Take a clean washcloth, roll it in a tube, tie the ends together, dampen it, and freeze. I guess it’s the combination of the cloth and cold that does the trick.

3. A clean, peeled carrot. It needs to be a big enough carrot so that they can’t bite little pieces off (chocking hazard)… But give bubs a cold carrot to chomp on--and presto--some good, natural relief right there folks. The yummy carrot flavor is a nice little bonus and helps keep bubs interested a bit longer.

4. Mesh feeders with frozen fruit. Levi loves holding and chewing on those little mesh feeders filled with fruit. I pop one in the freezer until it’s semi-frozen and then let him chomp away. (I use it in the highchair – it’s messsssssy! But oh so fun.)

5. Pain reliever drops. I know, duh. (What does mommy want when she has a headache? And why would it be any different for a hurting baby?!) Using a small dose of infant pain reliever does wonders. As long as you follow your doctor’s orders, the instructions on the box, and your mother’s instinct, infant pain reliever will be your friend and help you get through those few long nights. Even better, it will help your precious baby get through those long nights. Let's not forget they they suffer even more than we do.

Dear friends, this list is by no means exhaustive. That would be boring. And pretentious. I’m just listing some of my top tricks so that you can fill in the blanks. What has helped you and your little ones get through teething?

set on conquering,







adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2010 
do not reproduce without written permission

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8 Comments:

At January 8, 2011 at 12:54 AM , Blogger Casey Martinez said...

I think the top teeth were harder on my little one too for some reason. We used celery a lot and that seemed to make her happy and lots of tylenol...oh and the sophie giraffe...gotta keep up with the trends, haha. :0. Hope he gets through it soon!! It's not fun to see them miserable!

 
At January 8, 2011 at 1:32 AM , Blogger Natalie said...

Really? The carrot works? Thanks for the tip and I'm gonna try it out! Both of the twins are teething, and life is hell.

 
At January 8, 2011 at 7:20 AM , Blogger Carol said...

Poor lil guy! My little is cutting all four of her incisors? The pointy teeth or fangs....it's awful, but the good news is that we are almost done with teething! Only the 2 year molars are left! She loves to eat crushed ice, I think it numbs her pain.

 
At January 8, 2011 at 9:59 AM , Blogger Gretchen said...

Jemma is at the very start of the teething journey. Yikes! I just ordered a amber teething necklace as our first mode of attack, we'll see how it goes!

 
At January 8, 2011 at 10:45 AM , Blogger cooperl788 said...

Poor guy! I have to say, Georgia has (so far) come through all the teething with very little fuss. Most of the time, it's just a few days of whining and then a few teeth pop through. But for those really fussy days, one thing we used that worked really well was the Hyland's Teething Tabs, though I think they may have gotten recalled. They're homeopathic, and we used to give them to her around the clock for pain.

 
At January 8, 2011 at 4:51 PM , Blogger Jhen.Stark said...

Ah, teething... the never ending battle for the comfort of your little one! We definitely use just about ALL of these, except the carrot! NEVER tried that!

 
At January 11, 2011 at 10:05 AM , Blogger Becky said...

I believe my little guy has started teething. What gave it away was that he kept pulling off and crying while breastfeeding, it just started happening one day a few weeks ago and he had never done this before. My lactation consultant help me figure out that teething was the culprit...now nursing sessions are a pain in the butt when they used to be our magic cure for any kind of fussiness...he wont nurse to sleep anymore and it makes me sad. Did teething change nursing for you and your son at all? If you have any advice in that area I would be more than happy to take it!

 
At January 11, 2011 at 4:00 PM , Blogger Lisa Hz said...

i was a bit lucky i guess that my little boy never experience bad teething journey. but the tips is good! will definitely recommends this entry to my friend. her baby keeps on whining for almost 1 month now!

 

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