As a mom (or dad), is there anything worse than seeing your child in pain but not being able to fix the problem?
Levi is teething, and hearing him scream for two hours at bedtime last night because he was so uncomfortable made my heart ache. Short of rubbing alcohol on his gums, JB and I tried everything we could think of to relieve his discomfort, but Levi was just inconsolable. We gave him ibuprofen, Hyland’s homeopathic oral gel, an ice cube wrapped up in a baby washcloth…nothing seemed to alleviate his pain. We were eventually able to rock him to sleep at 9pm (or perhaps all that screaming finally wore him out).
Levi has been showing signs of teething for the past two weeks, but last night’s crying episode was the worst so far (although today doesn’t seem to be shaping up to be much better). His screaming and extreme fussiness, plus my frustration and sadness over it, put a slight damper on the wonderful long weekend we spent as a family. We shopped, saw friends, swam at the pool and had a BBQ. But I hate, hate, hate not being able to make Levi feel better when he is hurting, and I have a feeling that what happened at bedtime will not be an isolated incident.
Tell me: How have you dealt with a teething infant?
{photo taken on Sunday, May 27th}
Poor Levi!
We rub ibuprofen directly on Harper’s gums. We used to do the orajel but a friend of mine who works at a pediatric dentist said the orajel just numbs the gums and then when it wears off there is rebound pain. Don’t know if that’s true or not but rubbing a little bit of Tylenol on her gums seems to work.
We also fill the pacifier bulbs with water and freeze them. She loves a freezy bink!
Have you done the Hylands teething tablets? Those are the best!
Besides that, when she’s hurting the most…we nurse nurse nurse.
Good luck PJ!
OMG. In the last two weeks, my kiddo has gotten 4 new teeth. And there are still more coming. It’s been a total nightmare. Has really made me appreciate the “good days.” The nights have been so hard. I’m hoping that they’ll all be out soon and then will get a nice long reprieve before molars. Ugh.
P.S. Baby motrin. It does help. We only use at nighttime. Other than that, distraction… 🙂 Ice cube in a mesh feeder. I’m afraid of the teething tablets (no offense to the previous poster!) due to the belladonna content. 🙁 And yes, nursing. Totally.
Yes, baby Motrin has definitely been more effective than baby Tylenol! I hadn’t heard about a problem with Belladonna in teething tablets, and I’ve been using the Hyland’s Teething Tablets. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
For anybody curious, here’s a link that explains more: http://www.hylands.com/news/teethinginfo.php