Teeth

Teeth are the Bain of most parents life's. From the age of approximately 6 months any unexplainable thing that happens to your child from nappy rash to dribbling will be blamed on teeth. "Sorry he's a bit grumpy, think it's his teeth", "sorry not sure why my daughter is having a tantrum, think it might be teeth". Didn't sleep well? It must be teeth. A bit hyper / quiet? Teeth. Anything can be blamed on teeth - my previous GP even said that when he first started teething could be cited on death certificates of infants.

We've been lucky in general with teething but have had our ups and downs and certainly aren't through it yet. My daughter had two bottom teeth through at 6 months and then nothing more for ages and ages! In fact another 6 months! The first two were fine but the next few caused more issues. On her first birthday she was fine, next day nursery called she had a temperature of 39! We picked her up but also had lunch plans at the hand and flowers so she had to come too. They were brilliant but it was slightly embarrassing her spitting out two Michelin starred chips and carrot! She sat on me the whole time and despite calpol was getting hotter and hotter  so when we came back we went straight to he doctors to hear she had a chest infection, tonsillitis and an ear infection. Poor little lady and then  a few days later two teeth appeared. This pattern happened for the next 3/4 pairs of teeth that came through, she would have a very high temperature and require antibiotics then a few days later more teeth would appear. Her fangs came through quite late (end of last year) and seemed ok but we had a sigh of relief, no more teeth for a while before those dreaded molars came through and a dentist appointment in January it confirmed they didn't seem like they were coming anytime soon. Then tonight as I was brushing her teeth I spotted something - to my shock it was half a molar! The gum is still covering half the top but it feels like it appeared out of no where! So the little lady got an extra sticker before she went to bed for her new tooth which had probably been there for some time. It looks like the other bottom molar will be greeting us sometime soon.

With our son things are happening a little quicker although it started exactly the same. Two bottom teeth on the stroke of 6 months. However at 10 months he has 6 teeth as four massive top teeth have also greeted us. I've been grateful that he has more teeth before he started nursery in the hope that he won't be as ill as his sister was at times. So far he has had grumpy stages and much like his sister really bad nappies when the teeth cut - think the worst nappy rash you've ever seen which weeps plus horrendous poo, which isn't that rare for my children! But we've been lucky so far and I'm hoping it continues!

Some tips for teething:

1. Funky giraffe bibs for dribble
2. Bongela / teething gel
3. Cucumber 
4. Teething rings cooled in the fridge
5. Calpol and nurofen - keep them topped up. Don't worry about giving them it. If they're in pain then give them something to relieve it
6. Nelson's teething powder. It's a natural powder and I don't know how or even if it works but it does seem to provide some relief to them
   
7. Remote controls - you know at the end of the day you can have as many teething toys as possible (Lamaze toys with some teething parts on are good) but they are still going to want to chomp on your remote control or phone or glasses... Anything that's solid!
8. Gin - obviously this is for you not them! But after a day with a grumpy baby perhaps it's you that needs the relief and I often find that gin is a good help!

So if you're going through teething, good luck! It will end and isn't always as bad as you hear (but it sometimes is!). Each child and actually each tooth is completely different.