Mad Mom's Guide to Teething

Well, 4 teeth down, how many more to go? That's right... baby's teething! It's funny, you here the horror stories about how babies constantly scream and cry when they're cutting teeth, but it's actually before the teeth are cutting my baby is fussy.

It seems like it takes weeks for these tricky little teeth to rear their cute pearly goodness. It's hard to tell at first if the baby's teething. The first thing I noticed was he was drooling so much! We had to keep a bib on him and contemplated attaching some sort of drool catching contraption to his chin to collect all the "strings" of drool that incessantly hung from his lips. If you wanted to hold my kid you had better get on your rain coat and rubber gloves!

This started a few weeks before it even looked like any teeth were going to come in. After the constant drool calmed down, his gums got red and puffy. This was the sure sign of teething. Anything and everything went into his mouth. We did invest in teething rings, but he doesn't like them. I think they're too hard. He really loves to chew on his bottles' nipples. This is a bad habit to get into though because once those four front teeth are all the way in, he'll bite right through that nipple and milk will be everywhere... Speaking of, I gotta hand it to those moms who are still breastfeeding at this point! OUCH!!!

Anyway, my baby was at his fussiest when his gums were inflamed. I'd seriously have to hold him all day until he'd just fuss himself to sleep. We'd try everything... bottles, Oral Gel, teething rings, change of scenery... nothing worked. He just wanted his mommy to hold him. That's really cute and all and someday I'm sure I'll wish I were right back there, but Mommy needs a break! There's only so much whining and crying a person can take. My hubby is now working in the evenings so that leaves Mom up for baby time all night. That's wonderful and I really enjoy the time we get to play together. But... after a long day at work, I just want to relax. Can your teeth wait until tomorrow?

One time my husband and I were so desperate he actually did the whiskey trick. I cringed when I saw him reaching his finger in the bottle of Crown Royal (secretly wanting to rip the bottle from his hands and take a big long gulp!). He stuck his finger in the baby's mouth and more cries to the tune of What-in-God's-Name-is-That-Nasty-Stuff!? I hate to say it, but it worked. That was the first and last time that's happening. I felt so guilty getting my 6 month old liquored up so we could have some peace. Hey if our parents and our parents' parents did it, what's the worst that could happen? We didn't turn out so bad... except for the occasional binge on the weekends. Kidding!

So all of you Mad Moms who have teething babies, here are some great tips I got from my Twitter Tweeps: (I have omitted the obvious Baby OraGel and teething ring tips-you already know those!)

• Make ice cubes of formula or breast milk and let the baby suck and chew on them.
• Clean and peel a carrot for the baby to chew on. (My baby LOVES this -and it works!)
• Make a slushy nipple: Use an old bottle nipple, fill it with juice, water or milk, seal it up as you wish, and freeze it till it's slushy- my little guy would prefer this one since the teethers are too hard.