Teething

Oh what an enjoyable time this can be! (Enjoyable? HA!) Baby is restless, grizzly, doesnt sleep as much, drools like a rottweiler, just to name a few. But in a way it can be kinda exciting that your baby has his/her first tooth. Its all a part of growing up,

Babys' teething is different with every child. For most it can first happen between 4-6months, usually around the same time that you start them on solids. But its not unusual for a baby not to get their first tooth until they are 12mths old, and it's totally normal. Because every baby is different.

So what can I do to make it easier for my child?

If dumping them on their grandparents for a week isnt an option, teething rusks are great, as is anything cold. A great peice of advice I got from another minti member (sorry forget who you were, feel free to own up at the bottom of the page lol) was to quarter-fill a baby's bottle of boiled water or juice, and place it in a cup, standing up-side-down. (You will need a slow-flow teat so it doesnt drip out) place the upsidedown bottle in the cup in the freezer (whoa that was a mouthful), leave to freeze, and give to child to chew on the frozen teat. Depending on their age, frozen fruit is great to suck/munch on too, but closely supervise your little one because of the choking hazard. If they are still grizzly, apply a tiny amount of teething gel onto their gums, (Herron baby teething gel works super-quick) and watch out for a fever, which is common amongst teething infants. In which case, give them some baby panadol and a luke-warm bath to bring the fever back down. If all else fails, hire a babysitter and go out for the night lol.

Another thing that is common with teething infants is the change you will see to their nappy. In short, it will be rank. Their first teething poo will be a peg-on-nose moment, and you may want to have a bucket nearby in case of spontaneous food emission from the person's mouth changing the babys nappy. (Also known as vomit.)

Also common is drool rash, in which case, those bibs you can get with the teething bits on the edge of them are great, they kill 2 birds with the one stone. If they start to get a rash, bepanthen or a similar barrier cream works great.

In short, remember that each child is different. Some lucky babies will pass through teething without even batting an eyelid. Others will think the world is coming to an end. Whichever your child is, this is something you cant escape, and the better equipped you are, the easier time it will be for both parents and baby.