Mommy Monday – Teething Pain

Apr 9, 2012 By Rae in For Moms 1 Comment Tags: Mommy Mondays

Oh, friends, we have been through it.  If you have even one child over the age of 6 months, you probably have been through it too.  Teething is a pain for everyone!  Apart from Claire’s molars, she really would just be in pain for a day or two before each of her teeth broke through the gums, and then, she was back to normal.  Her teeth always came in perfect pairs, too (at least, within a few days).  But, Ellen is a whole different ballgame.  She started showing signs of teething and teething pain near the end of August, when she was only 3.5 months old, but her first tooth didn’t break through until mid-December.  Yes, a whole 4 months later!  And, her teeth come in one at a time, as in… after a month of three of her top teeth coming in right in a row, the fourth of that set is still trying to break through.  (sigh)  Anyway, I am not inviting you to my pity party here.  That is not the purpose of this post.  The purpose is more to encourage those that are going through this or may be soon!

You all have seen how sweet and smiley Ellen is.  She’s the happiest baby that I have ever been around for more than an hour (a lot of babies are super happy during my shoots, fortunately).  But, this was the face I was faced with last week…

Before you judge me for taking pictures of my sweet daughter while she is crying in pain, please, note that these images are not all that well exposed or in-focus, so know that I took them very quickly.  I was cringing the whole time, and really, I think Ellen was mad at me for doing so, as I couldn’t really get the “happy after” picture I had planned on… we went straight to bedtime routine.  Anyway!

What do I do when she is in pain like this?  Well, there are tons of ideas out there.  We’ve tried frozen fruit in those mesh thingies, which she didn’t love.  We’ve tried teething rings, which are okay to a point.  We’ve used teething gels, which are messy and neither one of my girls loved that numbing sensation.  And, of course, as a last resort, we’ve done Motrin or Tylenol, but we really try to save that for when nothing else works OR when sleep is being sacrificed.  But, usually, the thing we always reach for is Hyland’s Teething Tablets.

I was very surprised, as I met more and more mothers when we moved to the Philadelphia suburbs, that many moms have never heard of these!  I can’t imagine surviving teething without these, honestly, and everyone I know that uses them will repeat the same.  I usually keep two bottles in our house at all times: one in Ellen’s nursery and one in the diaper bag.  They dissolve in no time in baby’s mouth, so there isn’t a risk of spilling or choking.  Ellen actually will stop crying as soon as she sees the bottle!

These tablets can be found in just about any drug store or natural food store.  They are sold in a box, as the bottle is pretty tiny.  They aren’t cheap ($10ish), but they are so worth it!  I did hear through the grapevine (Facebook) that there was a voluntary recall recently, but it wasn’t because they weren’t safe.  It was just the size of the tablets were inconsistent in a few batches, or as best I gathered, but they are homeopathic.  So… there isn’t a huge risk of overdose (2-3 tablets at a time) like there is with Tylenol or Motrin.

Anyway, feel free to voice your opinions in the comments or let us know what worked for you.  I hope that this is helpful to those of you that are going through this, too!  A happy baby means a happy mommy!!  :-)

**Side note: no teeth were produced during her spell of “teething.”  (double sigh)  We have two, maybe three, that are so close to breaking through.  One of which seems to be playing peek-a-boo with us.  (Is that even possible?!)  One day, I swear I see the tip of the white, and the next day, just gums.  Not possible, right?  I am making this up in my head more than likely.  ;-)