Teething aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh that’s another one of those torture words! After several months of drools, biting and being out of sorts, two little white teeth have emerged and with it has came more lack of sleep, wailing sporadically throughout the night and one very cross baby.
Honestly I never remember it being this difficult first time round. There has been pretty much nothing I can do other than offer lots of cuddles and throughout the day, try to distract him playing with toys. Teething powders have not even taken the edge of the pain. Cameron absolutely detests the taste of bonjela, dentinox, anbesol and pretty much every other teething gel out there. Instead I just offer him cooled teething rings and until he took on the form of a vampire, I let him gnaw on my fingers and he actually enjoyed me massaging his gums, but now, unless I want to receive puncture wounds I have retired this activity. He has now moved onto trying to bite his sister and everything in site.
He gets nurofen and calpol regularly due to his other problems but I am not sure if it really does help when he is trying to get some sleep. He has been grabbing his head and pulling a lot at his ears, in saying that he had a bad cold and ear infection recently which resulted in strep throat and glue ear, however the Doctor has insisted (rolls eyes) that his ears are clearing up and that it is the teething.
I even went to great lengths to express some milk and put it in one of the nuk fresh lolly moulds to freeze in the hope he would find the ice cold lolly soothing, but he cries when his tongue touches it. I think he won’t take after his mummy for a love of ice-cream.
Now to add to the hilarity (not) of the situation, my 7 year old is teething badly with her big teeth so I have a double whammy. While she isn’t crying with the pain, instead she has took it upon herself to chew through three sets of headphones (all mine I might add!), an iPad charger, the arm of her jumper and her comforter which she has had since she was a baby and which cannot be replaced. I know, it’s a right sorry state of affairs but hey a large glass of wine has been the ticket. Not obviously for them I might add.
If you are going through the same scenario, I feel for you sister. It’s hard not to feel such pity for the wee things. Between the red and swollen gums, flushed cheeks and heavy drooling, biting and sucking everything in plain site really does make them feel irritable and unsettled. Cameron at times gets a little rash on his chin so I just try to make sure his face is dry as much as possible, which of course does mean running after him with a muslin cloth whilst he races across the floor in his walker at about 50mph (how did babies get so fast). If it is quite bad I usually rub a little vasoline or oilatum cream on his face which seems to clear it up within a day or so.
They say a baby’s first tooth usually arrives between five and seven months however Cameron is 9 months and only received his first two all within a day of each other. Teething carrys on until around they are two years old when they should have all their baby teeth so you have a couple of years before it all starts all over again as they start to get their big teeth, in which case I do urge you to hide every electrical appliance and chargers in sight….
That’s my cue to go chasing after him again, wish me luck ladies, feel free to send wine!
