Teething
 

I have a 5 month old boy. He's teething and it's making him miserable. Any ideas on what I can do to help him. I've tried Orajel, but it doesn't seem like it is working..

Have you tried gripe water?

Whisky. Seriously, just dip your finger in your Jack Daniels bottle, rub it on your babies teeth, and he should feel better.

I haven't tried either of those suggestions. What is gripe water?

What about popsicles or something frozen for him to chew on - there used to be teething rings that you could pop in the freezer - and the liquid center would freeze and feel cold on the gums.

"The traditional natural remedies Fennel and Ginger are contained in Baby's Bliss Gripe Water. Both have long been shown to be beneficial for easing nausea and pain due to baby stomach gas and other symptoms of colic. Fennel and Ginger are also effective for the discomforts of infant teething, gas and hiccups. Relief usually occurs within 5-20 minutes."


My mom used it with me, and swears by it. So do a few other moms I know :)

We use(d) a teether that you put in the freezer.

there are special teethers that you can freeze. Worked pretty well for my son. Also carrots....

Rescue Remedy....works wonders
Most health food stores carry it

we take washcloths wet them and freeze em. i have a 6 month old myself, and i feel your pain. our little one is not sleeping and cries more. which really is not that bad as she normally does not cry often. but i could use a nap.

I've never heard of using gripe water for teething.

In the States there are some herbal tablets that we bought that we gave to our daughter when she was teething. They worked a treat. I can't remember the name of them, but I will ask the missus and see if she remembers.

My second son had brutal teething pain. We would give him the frozen teething ring or freeze a wet washcloth then let him go crazy on it. Also found that infant Motrin helped. I have heard of the whiskey idea, but it was with wine and it was dipped on a washcloth for the kid to suck on, although we never tried it

The frozen "chew toys" were lifesavers with our kids, along with the Orajel. I'd be hesitant to recommend the whiskey method, but if you're at wit's end and nothing and I mean NOTHING else is working, go for it.

Never heard of Gripe Water. Interesting.

-Mikey

I will second that.

Freezable teething rings (we have one hand-shaped and one foot-shaped) and infant pain reliever just before nap time or bed time.

None of my kids had ti too bad. Tylenol and hard cookies, frozen teether rings, that's about all we used.

another vote for the frozen teething thingies......worked better than anything else.

Motrin and a frozen teether, those were godsends when ours were teething. My two year old still uses the frozen thing...two year molars. We've also found that the frozen teethers are great for icing down the bumps that all kids end up with. They fight us tooth and nail when we try to give them an ice cube in a baggie for a bump on the head, but break out a frozen teether and all is well.

We used children's Tylenol to get our daughter to sleep when she was particularly cranky...

Lowers the fever and sooths the ache... and let's us sleep like babies.

We also use Tylenol to lower the fever and get my son to sleep. Besides that, he won't use teething rings or anything else. My wife and I just loose a bit of sleep. We are in the midst of tooth number 7.

I still have another 2 months with my son before he starts to teeth, but I don't think I would rule out the alchol idea. I know that when my son had his circumsioision we gave him a few drops of wine, and it seemed to make him happy and forget the pain. I would never give my son more then 2 or 3 drops at a time though.

Same question but older child
 

Time for a thread revival.

My son has been teething for a while but it is at it's worst so far. He is pushing through three molars and both of his eye teeth at the same time which is causing him considerable pain, especially at night. He has spent the last two nights screaming in pain and nothing we have tried made it better. We tried baby Tylenol, Motrin, Orajel and teethers. The Motrin works for a few hours but when it wears off, there is no calming him down, even if we give him more. We also have given it to him for 4-5 days in a row and I don't think you are supposed to give it for more than a week straight.

Any ideas what we can do for the poor guy to get him (and us) through the night?

I hope people are joking about giving their kids whisky to help with teething pain.

What about making teething biscuits?

There are 2 products made by Hylands - they are essentially herbal in nature and contain chamomile (or a derivative) along with some other ingredients. They make both tablets that dissolve on the tongue and a gel applied as orajel is applied. This helped our daughter but sounds like your guy is going through the really hard part. You can try these products - I could never find them at the big drug stores, always had to go the smaller or independant route.

Anyway, they seem to help sometimes in combination with baby Advil.

Hylands teething tablets. You can usually find them at a grocery store or drug store. My son never took to the frozen teethers, infant tylenol always seemed to do the trick for him. I hope he feels better soon, f6! Teething isn't fun for kids OR parents.

Also, kutulu...no one is suggesting giving the child alcohol to ingest. Just rubbing a small amount on the teeth simply because it numbs well.

We've been giving j8earette jr lemon slices lately.

She is kind of confused at first by the strange taste, but it sure does soothe her teething pains.

This was suggested to us by someone who raised kids in Brazil. Apparently it's all the rage for teethers...and results in the child not having any violently vicseral affinity to sour or bitter tastes.

So far so good...we went a few months with the pharmacueticals, but orajel had her throwing up...and tylenol is not a good daily rememdy.

Give it a shot. I've seen mixed results, but hey, it could just work.

-bear

Wouldn't that be bad for any teeth that are already through the gums? That's a pH of 2.3, you should probably wipe her gums and teeth after that.

am i the only one that has been told NOT to give frozen teething rings? my son will be 5 months but has been teething for the past month or so and thankfully he is fine but i don't give him frozen teethers. i refridgerate his but he prefers a clean cloth that had been dampened and cooled. also, i have NEVER heard about giving gripe water for teething. Gripe water is generally to relieve gas and you can make your own by either using fennel seeds or anise seed (star anise is much too strong) and boiling water and pouring it over a couple of seeds. also, you might want to help it along by taking a cool clean cloth and placing it over your finger and running it over his gums. that helps cut them much quicker. try freezing a banana and slicing it into rounds - it melts fast and is healthy.

If you read the instructions that come with teething rings, they all say "refrigerate; do not freeze".

We've mentioned this practiced, and it has been approved by her pulmonologist, gastrointerologist, speech, physical, and occupational therapists.

It was originally recommended by a NICU Nurse Practitioner.

So...no...actually it is not bad for her teeth or gums.

Thanks for looking out though.

-bear

When it was worst for my daughter the Dr said to alternate Tylenol and Ibuprophen. You can give them every 3 hours if you alternate. If you doubt this, call your pharmacist. Ibuprophen (motrin) is supposed to be given every 6 hours. If you do things this way then the meds never completely wear off.

Also I gave my daughter frozen wah clothes. I never used teething rings. She seemed to reject them anyway.
Once she was old enough and has a few teeth I gave her partially frozen grapes. She loved those and chewed on them constantly.

I used a pen once. On myself, for a wisdom tooth, which was pretty funny in physics class.
Teacher: "Dammit, what ARE you doing?"
"Teething, sir."
"I see.... well.... do it quietly."
"Yessir."

But seriously, I've seen whiskey in action. Seemed to work something awesome. (shrug) wouldn't do it myself, but to be fair, it worked.

i have a 4 and a half month old, and it seems her drool level has really picked up lately? Does this mean we will probably see teeth soon? My only thought is that maybe it means her body is getting ready to move on from the 100% milk diet. But anyways, what is the average age that teething occurs. She is such an angel now, sleeps 12 hours a night, never cries, seems so happy. What should I expect? Back to more tears and sleepless nights???

I swear by the Hyland's teething tablets. They worked quick and were easy to use. At bed time I would give him the tablets followed by ibuprofen to keep him pain free for the night.

side note: when my son got a bit older, he found a forgotten bottle of the Hyland teething tablets and ate them all. I quickly called poison control and they said it would take 6 whole bottles to see any bad side effects. So, moral is, the bottle is NOT child proof so keep it far away, and they are natural and safe to give to infants as directed.

Don't forget that quite a few of the older teething rings on the market have phthalates in the plastic to act as softeners - don't know about the US, but the EU have just baned all phthalates from children's toys and teethers.

Freeze some carrots - or use frozen oven chips (fries). The gnawing helps the teeth along, and the food is pretty nutritious too.

For any child that is having trouble sleeping I was recommended to give Piriton paediatric elixir (this by my brother who is a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon). It's an anti-histamine, so helps keep the swelling to a minimum, and has the added side effect that it acts as a mild sedative - but don't take my word for it - ask your pharmacist.

Don't forget that too much paracetamol (acetaminophen/Tylenol) causes irreversible fatal liver damage. No NOT fuck about with that stuff.

My son's doctor told us that drool is a sign of teething. I've never heard or read anything about it having something to do with a change in their diet. I do know that it will happen quite a bit when she starts chewing/sucking on fingers, toes, toys, etc.

Most things I've read say that the average age for starting teething is 6 months but every person is different. She just may be starting early. As far as what to expect, it depends on the kid. The usual response seems to be crying at night when it seems like the pain is the most intense. There are good suggestions above to help you both get through the night. During this time, watch for them to chew apart anything they find. My son work up from a nap and had an urge to teeth on something. He grabbed a book off of a nearby table (which he had never done before), pulled it into bed and chewed off half of the binding before I found him. He never made a sound.

Of all the teething rings and toys we've tried, our 7mo old's favourite is a kiddie toothbrush. He likes the feel of both the bristles and the rubbery handle. It was a suggestion from our family Dentist and he's hooked. There isn't any dental hygiene benefit of course, but it may help him get accustomed to brushing when he is older. It's pretty cute too!