Our Teething Story

Annabelle’s molars are coming in! Oh fun times! Molars are huge and the pain that comes with them seems to huge as well. When Annabelle’s first molar came in it was pretty rough, for her and for those around her. There was a lot of crying, screaming, diarrhea, chewing on everything. It was all the regular teething stuff just magnified to a ridiculous extreme. (This is also something nobody tells you about before you have kids, first time parents aren’t mentally prepared for teething when it first starts and it can take a whole lot of time to figure out what is going on with your child!). It got so bad that I finally got Annabelle her first piece of jewelry (jewelry always makes girls feel better right?), an amber teething necklace.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since Annabelle started wearing it and she now has 2 molars coming in at the same time. And guess what? She’s sleeping through the night and not screaming like she’s got fire ants attacking her. It’s not crunchy mom hype, the teething necklace is amazing! I’m kicking myself for not having tried it sooner, oh the sleepless nights we could have avoided. How many sleepless nights could I have saved myself if only I would have bought it sooner. At least we have it now.

Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t completely banish the angst of teething. There is still a lot of drool and chewing on things and a little bit of crying but it’s not half as bad as before and that’s with 2 molars at the same time! This morning she even slept until 7:30 (!!!!) She has never, ever, ever slept past 6:20 and wake up time is usually around 5am. Yesterday I still had to put something on her gums to help her with the pain. We used clove oil mixed with… coconut oil of course and it worked like a charm.

There are a lot of natural options when it comes to teething but it can get so bad and you can get so tired that you become desperate. I’m guilty of giving Annabelle baby motrin in the middle of the night after countless hours of screaming. You just want your baby not to hurt and you’ll do whatever it takes if you know it’ll help. We know there’s corn syrup in baby tylenol so maybe find something else for those terrible nights.

Don’t buy any teething gels with benzocaine. The FDA reported that benzocaine can cause a rare but serious side affect called methemoglobinemia which can result in death. Don’t feel bad if you’ve already used it, now you know so you can look for other options. What I want to know is why, why, why is this on the market? AARRGGHH!!

There are plenty of natural options when it comes to teething. Definitely the raw amber teething necklace has been the most effective for us. Here are some of the other things that we’ve done for teething:

Clove oil has worked better than any other teething product we’ve tried. You need to buy food grade clove oil that is safe for consumption and mix it with a carrier oil, I of course use and recommend  coconut oil but you can use olive oil instead. I do about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil mixed with about 5 or 6 drops of clove oil. It depends on how strong the oil is so make sure you put it on your gums and see how it feels before putting it on your baby’s gums. If it’s too strong it will burn!

Camilia drops by Boiron

Hylands teething gel without benzocaine

I hear Hylands teething tablets are pretty fabulous but I’ve never used them

Frozen peas and blueberries and Earths Best Organic Barley teething biscuits are about the only thing I can get Annabelle to eat when she’s teething really bad.

Frozen breast milk in a mesh feeder also works well.

We’ve tried a lot of other tricks for teething but this short little list are the ones we keep going to. It’s like my little idea arsenal for teething. What are some of the best things you’ve tried for teething?