Teething Help

Every child is different when it comes to getting teeth.  Usually tooth pain comes before the actual tooth can be seen.  Here are some suggestions for helping your child with teething pain.

Teething Without Medication

• Teething rings.  There are tons out there.  You can freeze or just put them in the fridge.
• If your baby is old enough that he/she is eating finger foods, Biter biscuits or foods like pretzels can be nice. The baby just chews and chews on them.
• A frozen wash cloth can be used as well. The cold helps sooth and numb the gum pain, and the material helps cut the gum. Get it wet, freeze it for a bit, and then give it to the baby to chew on. You could even just wet one end so the whole thing wouldn’t be freezing and then wet.
• Your fingers and/or knuckles (at least until those first teeth come in!).
• Soothie pacifiers.  You can buy them in stores. They are teal-greenish in color (thought they do come in various colors) and soft all around. Here is a link: Soothie Pacifier
• I have heard from my sister-in-law that a Raz-Berry Teether from Right Start (it looks like a pacifier). RaZberry Teether works well.
• A teething feeder. There are several brands out there: Teething Feeders
• Foam alphabet pieces. Sassy Bathtime Fun Appliques – 84 Piece Set
• All of the toys made for teething. The number of toys made with some teether feature included is quite large. Run a search on Amazon for teething toys, and this is what you will find: Teething Toys. There are various teething rings, toy keys, teethers you freeze, teethers that vibrate…the list goes on. You can pick something you think suits your baby’s personality and playing style.

Teething With Medication

• Many people love baby Orajel. I used this with both Ella and Jack.  It seems to work right away but not too much in the long term.
• Teething Tablets. I did not try these with Ella, but after Jack had serious pain and was waking up once a night for a week with his molars, I decided to try them.  The night I did, he slept all through the night again.  My sister uses them as well and says they work great for her kids.
• Good old Tylenol.
• Motrin (Ibuprophen). This lasts longer than Tylenol, so many like to use it at night and Tylenol in the day. Motrin is also supposed to reduce swelling.

Teething Thoughts

• Your baby’s reaction to teething is going to be very individual. Some babies handle pain better than others, just like adults. Some get clingy, some get cranky, some (older babies and toddlers) get disobedient, some get teeth without you realizing teething was even happening.
• The reaction will also vary based on the tooth coming in. Pain tolerance can differ around the mouth. For example, usually the first two teeth are the front bottom and are usually the least amount of pain coming through and the molars are a lot more painful for kids.
• In others experiences, the pains preceding the first tooth seem to be worse. It is baby’s first time experiencing the pain. Like I mentioned before, every child is different.
• A lot of times, teeth come in pairs–one quickly follows the first. The first is usually worse.
• Molars are usually quite painful. They take a really, really long time to fully come in, so they can bother your child for a month or more when you include the pre-tooth pain and the time to break through completely.
• There is no sure answer on how long the pains will last.
• For some babies teething really isn’t a good experience in the least. It is worth your effort to find what works for your baby. Those teeth will keep coming for quite some time. Somewhere around the second birthday, they all get there. Some might be done earlier, and some later, but the whole teething process lasts a long time.
• For many Babywise babies, teething doesn’t really disrupt life. Granted some are better able to handle pain than others. BW points out that once they are old enough, you can give pain killer if the child needs it just before a nap and that will kick in before the transition and they should be fine. Ella and Jack  got several teeth in without me realizing they were teething.
• Teething might throw naps off and nighttime sleep for a while. It might be the culprit for missed sleep. Most BW children I have observed mostly show their teething when they are older and cutting molars. They suddenly are set-off into fits more easily and are less obedient. An inspection of the mouth will show new teeth approaching. Your baby will assuredly have her own reaction to teeth. Deal with them as best you can, but don’t stress if they cause disruptions. Be patient with your baby or toddler as she is experiencing pain and discomfort.  Ella never woke in the night with teeth pain that I can remember, but Jackson will wake up with a piercing scream in the middle of the night randomly and then I notice the next day or two after that a tooth came through.  He is otherwise a good sleeper at night, so I know if there is nighttime crying, it is most likely his teeth.  At night or naps I use pain meds and Orajel if I cannot get him to settle back down and fall back to sleep after a quick hold and diaper change etc.

**If you are unsure if your baby is teething or not, look for signs of drooling, red and swollen gums, and possibly a low fever.**

Sleep Disruptions: Rolling, Standing, Crawling, etc.

If your child’s sleep is being disrupted because a new skill is being learned, you are not alone. This can be frustrating for the parent, but there is little you can do.  Your baby has a new skill and wants to practice it over and over! You can find this occurring in the early months with rolling and standing up.

Here are a few tips:

• I know you are wondering how soon the disruption of rolling, sitting, standing, etc. will pass.  Well, your baby needs to physically be able to get himself back into the preferred sleeping position. So the question is do you continue to do it for him or require him to learn to do it? For me, this affected both my kids.  For Ella, it was about a week for rolling over.  With Jackson, it was almost 4 weeks for standing up (because he couldn’t get back down).  This seemed to only affect naps, not nighttime.  I went in and helped Jackson lay back down.  With Ella, I would go in and roll her back over. Some babies end up liking it better in the new position if you give them time to CIO and work it out on their own (or they get too exhausted and eventually fall asleep that way and figure out it is not so bad after all). So, if your baby is physically capable of getting back into position on his own, you might want to let him work it out. Otherwise, he might start to enjoy your visits :). But I would be sure this is something he is capable of and that it is something he can do without much effort or he might get too worked up to get there and never fall asleep.
• I would recommend to get through it quickly, is to practice a lot! Take time during waketimes to work on the skill with your baby. Do it on the floor and in the crib. Help him get the practice in during waketime so hopefully he won’t insist on it as much at nap time. Once he is capable, it won’t be such a novelty.
• You may have a problem with him practicing and then falling asleep late. He works on it, then he is overly tired and wakes up early from his nap because of it. In this case, you just need to accept the fact that it is happening. It WILL pass. Do the oh well thing and move on with the day. Pay special attention to sleep cues so your baby doesn’t get overly tired before the next nap.
• As your baby gets older and you know he can comprehend your language, you can go in and lay him down and tell him it is nap time and not playtime and to go to sleep. This might not work for all children, but it will for some.

Hang in there! It won’t last forever, but it is sure to repeat itself in another form! Just keep working on it and be patient. It WILL pass.