When a toddler first begins to get teeth, teething problems can be a trying time for parents, caregivers and baby. All of a sudden parents that had a relaxed and predictable baby, find themselves coping with a teething one that is fretful, no longer sleeps through the night and is irritable and perhaps even inconsolable.  Since a baby cannot easily tell mom or dad what the problem is, parents are often worried their baby is sick.  Once their doctor resolves that concern, they are left to cope with the  “teething stage.” There is no one hard and fast rule for getting through teething with your toddler, but here are some helpful hints, from our family’s recent experience with my granddaughter. 

If you suspect new teeth are the problem, you can rub your fingers over your baby’s gums and feel for bumps. Those bumps are probably teeth, which are about to erupt. Most babies get their front teeth first, but you should feel for larger and more difficult teeth to emerge in the back which are slower to emerge, larger and often more painful for baby. This at least provides you with some evidence that emerging teeth are the problem. 

Let me just say at the onset, when faced with a difficult situation, I am a proponent of taking advantage of all the help I can get.  We discovered that there are some great products on the market today to help you and your baby through teething and I bought every one I could find!  I’ll also share some tips from other mothers that wrote in to me. 

The obvious first thing you’ll need is teething gel. It works but provides short-term relief. Also, your baby won’t like the way it tastes so applying it correctly takes some practice.   We just resolved ourselves to the fact that the baby would cry loudly during the application but following that, we’d all get several hours of relief. You also should stock up on those teething rings you can put in your refrigerator which your baby will love to suck and chew.  Playtex makes a teething ring that works great and our baby happens to really enjoy biting and sucking on a cold, wet washcloth too. We also found wonderful Humphrey’s homeopathic teething strips, which work like a charm. You put the small strip on your finger and it dissolves when it comes in contact with your baby’s saliva and worked for us almost instantaneously. Several moms have recommended Hyland’s teething tablets to me but I have yet to try them. You also can use pain relieving over the counter products like baby Advil or baby Tylenol too which are especially helpful at night when you need long term relief.  One mom recommended using a little EVOO infused with cloves, which she told me works as a fantastic alternative to Oragel - soothing and softening the gums instead of tightening them up! She told me she was concerned that numbing gel could  numb the gag reflex which is potentially dangerous for a young child learning to chew and eat. You can also freeze nipples to bottles upside down in an ice cube tray with water in them for baby to suck. Yes, yes some water drips out during the freezing process, but not much. Another homeopathic remedy recommended to me is pickled ginger, which a mom reported, worked better than Orajel and the effects lasted a lot longer. She also recommended an Amber teething necklace, which is made with Baltic Amber pieces which release pain relieving chemicals when heated by baby's skin. She told me it sounds like a crock of baloney but she wouldn’t trade hers for the world! She put it under her son’s shirt so he would forget it was there. She recommends the Amber necklace from Time Designs at etsy.com. A good rule of thumb when researching products for your baby or making a selection among brands is to ask your pharmacist, since they stay up to date on the best and newest products on the market today. 

Another unpleasant outcome of teething for us was biting.  You will want to head off biting as quickly as possible before a bad habit is formed. Our baby initially delighted in biting and seeing us wince in pain. She thought it was funny! This first started when applying teething gel. We found that instead of pulling our finger out which was the obvious reaction we pushed it in which our baby found unpleasant enough to release her grip.  Hopefully these teething parenting tips and baby products will help you through the teething stage of your baby’s life and make life a little more pleasant for you and your baby. 

teething | parenting tips | baby products