Hellobee

There have been a few product lists for teething here on Hellobee, but I have been blessed (???) with two very early teethers. Wagon Jr. cut his first tooth at 3.5 months, and Lil Miss Wagon has definitely been teething for the past few weeks, starting at the tender age of 3 months. So obviously soft rubber toys to relieve pressure and frozen plastic things to numb inflamed red gums with aren’t very useful at this age since she can’t even really grasp a toy yet. It’s also tricky because she’s cheerful and doesn’t seem to be fussy or in too much pain during the day (just chews on her fingers like crazy), and has major problems going down for bed at night.

So how do you help a baby who’s in so much pain? Here are a few things we have tried.

• Infant liquid acetaminophen. We prefer to use ibuprofen for pain relief in our house since it doesn’t pass thru the liver and its effects last longer, but LMW is too young to take it (you can start it at 6 months). So we’ve been giving her infant acetaminophen every 4 hours when her teething pain is bad, which is usually the late afternoons and all evening. The plus side to acetaminophen is that it starts working more quickly than ibuprofen, but most nights it doesn’t seem to have even made a difference– she’ll still wake up screaming every 5 minutes and we’ll have to rock her back to sleep several times before she’s down for the night.
  
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• Hyland’s Teething Tablets. These little pills are a homeopathic remedy that can be given once an hour at the worst times. You stick them under baby’s tongue and they dissolve very quickly. LMW is good at popping them back out quickly, so I kind of stick my finger into her mouth and smear it all around to make sure it stays in her mouth. I like to use these when the acetaminophen is wearing off but it’s too soon for the next dose, and while she’s drinking her bottle. She usually stops drinking after a few ounces, but once she’s got a couple of these in her mouth, she’ll usually finish her bottle. Maybe because they make her thirsty… but maybe because they calm her enough to let her relax and eat.
• Baltic Amber Teething Necklace. I have seen these around and thought they were adorable, and the idea of pain relief without having to pump my baby full of drugs ’round the clock was so great to me. Apparently, amber is a natural analgesic. When it’s worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases healing oils from the amber, which are absorbed via the skin into the bloodstream. The lighter color the amber, the more healing properties it’s supposed to have. I was so excited to get it in the mail and it looks SO cute on her. But its effectiveness is still iffy. We wrapped it around her ankle before bedtime one night and she had one of her worst nights ever, screaming every 5 minutes, so in my worry that the necklace was adding to her frustration I ripped it off and we haven’t touched it since. I’ll probably keep it to see if it helps with drooling in the future when she’s a little older.
• Baby Orajel Naturals. I wanted to stay away from Orajel because it’s not recommended for children under 2, so when Wagon Sr. came home with this natural version that’s safe for 4 months and above we were excited to give it a shot. You can apply a pea-sized amount no more than 4 times a day, but we probably use about half that amount only right before naps and bedtime. It tastes awful (like cloves) so she squirms when we apply it, but as soon as the numbing kicks in, she falls asleep easily. So far this has seemed to make the most difference. She’s been able to fall (and stay) asleep easier when she’s had some of this on her gums, and the other night she actually fell asleep at 4:45pm for her nap and woke up 11.5 hours later!! Since then the effects have seemed to fluctuate (last night she had her regular dosage at her 5:30pm bedtime and woke up at 6:30pm, 8:30pm (fed), midnight (fed), and then was up by 5:45am.