There has been some serious teething happening in the Baum household. I'm talking, wake-my-child-who-has-slept-through-the-night-since-6-weeks-old up at night teething. It is horrid. Truly, I think this is the hardest thing we've had to deal with so far (I know, she's made it pretty easy on us and I shouldn't complain, but I just hate it when she doesn't feel well!). Lilly is chewing on everything in sight, drooling buckets, and some days is just pitiful in general as a result. I know the teeth are there, I can see the white underneath her gums (I wanted to get a picture, but it is hard enough for me to even get a look at it, forget trying to get a picture of it) and I can feel how hard her gums are - I am just waiting for the little suckers to break through. Unfortunately for us, the good doctor said that the fact that we can see and feel them means absolutely nothing - they could break through in days, weeks or months (please Lord not months, I beg you).
As usual, I've done some research on the matter, and between my research and discussions with Steph and Jen, I think I've come up with a pretty good list of teething necessities to share. So, Moms who are going through this or will soon (or really anyone who cares), here's my list of must-haves:
1. Infant Tylenol AND Infant Advil. I don't think they actually make Tylenol anymore - there was a recall earlier in the year - but any infant acetaminophen will do. You need to have both on hand because on bad days, while you can only give your child each medicine every 4 hours, you can actually alternate them every 2 (i.e. Tylenol at 8, Advil at 10, Tylenol at 12, Advil at 2, etc.). I don't do this with Lilly every day, but if there are days (or nights) where she is just miserable this seems to help, especially when she's running a low grade fever due to aforementioned un-sprouted teeth. Make sure you check with your pediatrician on dosage, especially for the Infant Tylenol if you have it (confusing dosage complaints were the source of the voluntary recall).
Do yourself a favor and GET SOME. Steph originally told me about these, and right after she did several other girlfriends recommended them as well. Hyland's' makes homeopathic remedies, and these things are seriously miraculous - they work almost immediately. As I said before, Lilly has been waking up some in the middle of the night. I normally let her fuss for a few minutes because sometimes she'll put herself back to sleep, but other times I can tell her mouth is hurting because she will start gnawing on her hands and crying. A lot of times, I was getting her up and giving her Tylenol or Advil and then letting her nurse to help soothe her and put her back to sleep. However, after this happened for several nights in a row, I worried that she was going to get used to me letting her nurse in the middle of the night and think it was OK. The next time it happened, I went into her room, never picked her up - just flipped her from her stomach to her back, gave her Tylenol and Hyland's teething tablets and she immediately stopped crying, rolled back over and was back asleep in less than 5 minutes. To say it was amazing is an understatement. You can find Hyland's at your nearest drug store.
While I'm on the subject of teething gel, I should probably mention that we threw out all of our infant Orajel. You can read about the facts behind our decision here (and here if you want it in plain English). This is obviously a personal choice for each family, but in the interest of full disclosure I thought I'd mention it.
4. Amber teething necklace.
This is the one we bought for L, per Steph's recommendation. Allegedly, the amber helps ease the pain of teething. Steph and I both asked our pediatricians about this, and the answer was pretty much the same: they can't speak to the science behind it, but they see enough mothers that swear by these things that it couldn't hurt to try. So try, we will! We just got ours in the mail yesterday, but I'll report back on whether I notice a difference. Here are a few pics I snagged of Lilly Bean modeling hers today (I realize that her socks don't match her outfit, Daddy dressed her this morning - ha!):
Lilly really didn't even notice the necklace, just went about her normal business. Remember to take these off, though, for sleeping.
This is another homeopathic remedy that was recommended by Jen, for use in conjunction with the Hyland's tablets - they are drops. We haven't used these yet, because we've had a few good days in a row since the weekend and haven't needed much of anything, but I have them on hand and will try them if/when needed.
We LOVE these and use them often. Lilly loves the feel of something cold on her gums, but she doesn't really love the frozen teethers and teething rings because they make her hands cold, so unless I hold them for her, she's not really interested. The mesh feeders are perfect because the bottom part is easy for her to hold (and it isn't cold). A lot of people put ice cubes in these. I've been cutting up some of the frozen fruit cubes I have stored and putting those in there, or her new favorite, frozen blueberries:
I put blueberries in at the recommendation of Dr. V, and am so glad I did. Lilly LOVES them and they are far less messy than pears/peaches/apples/etc.
I think that's about it for my must-haves. In terms of teething toys, I'm sure it varies by child, but the ones that Lilly can't get enough of are:
When I was pregnant, someone once likened sophie to "crack for babies" and said we HAD to have her. Whoever told me that was not kidding! We have both the teether shown above as well as the full-size version of Sophie, which squeaks, but L seems to like gnawing on the one pictured above best.
L likes the strawberry teether because it vibrates when she bites down (also comes in the shape of a grape, if you prefer).
I guess it's good that she likes this one, we're teaching good oral health while relieving teething pain, yes? :-)
Lilly really will chew on anything she can get her hands on - the ottoman, clothes, my hair if she can get hold of it - I think she just gets relief from chewing, but the toys shown above seem to be her favorites.
I think that's it on the teething front for now. Do any of my Mommy friends have suggestions for anything that I should add to my must-have list that I've left off or that I don't know about? Suggestions are always appreciated!
Sarah
