Motherhood Lessons: Surviving Teething: Baby’s First Teeth
What a week it has been…and it is only Wednesday! Baby teething is no joke, but Reid has been handling it like a champ. We noticed a few weeks ago that the buds on his lower gums were trying to make their way to the surface and sure enough they made their debut the end of last week!
For months now, Drew and I have said “oh, he must be teething” whenever he gets fussy–but it wasn’t until now that it was true. We scheduled family pictures for the middle of this month as we thought the fall leaves would be the prettiest (with this weather, the leaves still haven’t really started to change around here–but the pictures are going to turn out great regardless!). I was determined to get a “gummy” smile of Reid as one of my biggest regrets was not getting newborn pictures taken. But alas, the little white buds started emerging just days before photo day. Luckily, they hadn’t broken the surface yet so I think we should get at least one “gummy” smile!!
As I am brand new at this whole teething thing, I asked a lot of moms (and dads) how they survived teething and what tricks worked for them. All and all, we all have the same desire to reduce pain for our children (and lets be honest, to make our lives a little more easy!).
Top things I learned about teething:
- After the age of 6 months, my doctor told me we can use Advil/Motrin which can help even more to reduce the swelling and inflammation that comes with teething. I used this at night because unlike Tylenol that only lasts 4 hours, Advil lasts 6 hours which allowed Reid to sleep longer without pain!
Pain free is the best! - Teething toys actually work (and other hard plastic toys work well too!). I bought a couple special teething toys for Reid and put them in the fridge so that they would be cooler on his gums. He really likes his Nuby keys and Sofie (the most expensive chew toy ever). But the most surprising toy that he liked was a bucket of hard shaped toys from Fisher Price. He loves the hard surface and edges on his gums.
Loves his teething toys - A lot of people say that wet washcloths in the fridge do wonders. I found that Reid got really wet and he was sensitive to the cold, so these didn’t work great for us but I know lots of people swear by the simple solution.
- Punkin Butt: this was the strangest suggestion that I got, but hey whatever works! I ordered this off of Amazon, but have yet to use it as Reid seems to be doing better since his teeth broke the surface. I am definitely going to try it when he gets other teeth to see how it works. The owner of my favorite children’s boutique told me about it and said that it sounded odd but worked for her son! Apparently it has cloves in it that helps soothe the gums.
- Snuggling is the best medicine. Teething is rough, you feel so bad that your little one is in pain and that he isn’t feeling like himself–but it will pass. As Reid wasn’t his normal cheerful/smiley self, I rocked him and snuggled with him as much as I could. The middle of the night wakings are hard to handle, but I just reminded myself that a little extra LOVE is something that I could definitely do to ease the pain 🙂
Morning sleeping in our bed was necessary!
Gone forever is Reid’s sweet toothless smile but his two little nubs look pretty cute too! I am happy to report that we survived and that he is not in pain anymore. I certainly am not looking forward to teething ahead, but now I will be better prepared thanks to some advice from other parents!
