Teething

It blows my mind a bit that little babies have to deal with the pain of teething. The sharp pain of knives cutting through their gums for days, weeks, sometimes months without relief. Some children start early, some late, some get one a month, some several at a time, every child is different. By the age of 2, approximately, kids have 20 teeth. Most start at about 6 months and get about one a month till then, at least that is what I read when I looked this up. Then again, how many children fall under this category.

Not my son. He started teething at about 2 months, chewing (or gnawing) on everything, lots of drool, and bumps on his gums. I had heard of lots of other children starting at this age and only getting the first at about 6-8 months, or even having the tooth almost out and the go away till later. Well at four and a half months the first tooth poked through. And then another came and another and by six months he had 5 teeth and showed no sign of stopping. Now, I have to say that he has been pretty good with the teething, mostly a lot of drool and chewing, a little complaining, but not too bad. He went through a period at Christmas, where they were hurting more and didn't want anything in his mouth which made feeding hard until I figured out to put orajel on first and then he would eat. The chewing also became a bit of a problem with nursing and after being bitten several times, I decided to wean him from nursing. He is now 7 and a half months and has eight teeth. And I thought, maybe now there would be a break. The next teeth he is supposed to get are his one year molars. However, I was wrong. It has gotten worse. I can feel the bumps of the one year molars coming in on one side. And these have not been as easy as the others. This week has been a hard week. Lots of crying and complaining and only wanting to play in mom's lap and having a hard time sleeping. I feel so bad for him. The tylenol and orajel don't last long enough and I am not one who likes to use a lot of medication anyway, but I'm at my wits end sometimes. I feel like I'm making some bad habits right now, but I know he's in pain and want to help make him feel better as much as possible.

Some people have said that it is nicer to have them get their teeth at younger age, to make it easier on them. I don't know if that is true. I don't know if it is better at a younger age or when they are older they can maybe deal with the pain better. I don't know. All I can say is hopefully these teeth come in soon and I can't wait till it is done. Maybe that will be the only comfort is that he started sooner, he will be done sooner. Who knows.