As grown ups, we don’t remember the pain that comes with teething, until you have kids of your own. And while we don’t feel the pain ourselves, we have to help our babies get through this tough time. We don’t have all the answers, but here are some of the things we did to get through teething.
Bethany:
Claire was pretty late in getting her first teeth. She got her first 2 about a week before her first birthday. She was a little cranky and her appetite was off in the weeks leading up to the teeth breaking through, but nothing too bad. She really loved chewing on a teether toy that had a stuffed elephant in the middle of a soft plastic ring. (I think she liked the different textures.)
The night before they popped through, she was in pain and crying a lot. She also had a fever and couldn’t get any sleep, so we gave her Tylenol. This helped her get some sleep and in the morning she had 2 new little teeth showing through! We were excited to see them, but both said how much we would miss her “gummy” smile.
After the first 2 teeth took so long to come, we weren’t sure what to expect with the others. The next few came in fairly quickly and she didn’t seem too bothered by them. But when her molars started coming through, she was in a lot of pain. She didn’t want anything to do with teething toys, cold foods, or any of the other tricks we tried. She got a fever with each tooth too. Luckily, they each came pretty quickly.
Joey’s teeth came in much earlier than Claire’s did. I thought since hers were so late that his would be late too. He got his first tooth at 4 months. I was still nursing him at the time, so that was... um.. interesting. Truthfully, it hurt! Those new little teeth are sharp, and that is a very sensitive area. (Sorry for the TMI...)
His teeth came in one right after the other. By the time he was 8 months old, he had 9 teeth. Now, at 1 year, he has 14 teeth. He’s already had his first dental check-up and even the pediatric dentist was surprised that he had that many teeth at his age.
Other than the first few teeth, he hasn’t been bothered by them though. He never got drooly, or chewed on teethers. He didn’t get a fever or really complain much about them either. It’s funny how different kids can be, and this is just another example.
Nicole:
From birth until about 4 months, our daughter cried CONSTANTLY. She was very colicky so we had gotten used to hearing her cry all the time (although no matter how used to it we got, it was ALWAYS torture!). So when the crying finally abated and she started sleeping more, we were so worried we would lose the battle all over again when she started sprouting her little teeth!
Well weren’t we surprised to find one day in her 5th month that her two bottom teeth had sprouted! We had no clue she was even getting teeth and here they were! The top four and bottom four came in with little to no fuss. At around 11 months she started getting her molars and that’s when she started showing some signs of fussiness. She got a couple fevers, tugged at her ears like crazy, hardly ate, and got the pinkest apple cheeks I’d ever seen. What we used most for during the day medicinally were Hyland’s teething tablets. She would stop tugging her ears as much and she was able to eat a bit. When she got fevers, we would use Tylenol because it was the only thing to bring her fever down. She also LOVED cold wet washcloths. We would soak a washcloth in water and stick it in the fridge and she sucked on it like crazy! Sometimes we would use popsicles or frozen fruit after dinner to help sooth her before bedtime. But for the most part, she was a pretty easy teether.
Our son was a TOTALLY different story. He was a pretty good sleeper, didn’t fuss much, and didn’t show signs of any teeth until he was close to a year old. And when they started to sprout BOY did we know about it. He was cranky for days, constant fevers and red cheeks, and I’m surprised he didn’t tug his ears right off! A friend of mine from the UK ended up having her sister bring something called Bonjela over from England and that was a miracle! My mom also got the Orajel swabs that have the medicine in them already and those were also fantastic. Again, Tylenol was basically the only thing to keep the fevers down. He also had zero interest in any teething toys or washcloths. He just liked to throw himself little pity parties about it! He still only has the top four and bottom two so I’m a little nervous about him sprouting his molars, who knows what will happen then!
Everyone has different ways of soothing their babies when they’re in pain. But it’s always nice to know there are other people going through the same thing and to bounce ideas off each other!
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