On Teething

It must be known that infants and toddlers are great at handling new teeth - all smiles whilst showing them off and newfound freedom while eating and grinding said new teeth.

But also, infants and toddlers can become pitiful creatures as the new teeth are coming in - sore gums and biting everything in their way to find some kind of relief, having to mama-bird comfort foods, and grinding said new teeth. And probably a headache, too.

I have heard it described that if we as adults were to go through teething the way our babies do, we would pass out from the pain.

Not too long ago, j was going through another round of teething. A lot of drooling and a permanent attachment to at least one of my legs are usually the beginning of a new teething phase. And then the mighty wail, head-thrown-back, and tiny baby fists gripping Elephant, his safety blanket. Teething seems to intensify during nights, when everything is quiet {except the baby}.

The fact that he's already sleeping in his own bed by now isn't helping much either. And so, during the most painful days of teething, I grab our Little Man and carry him back to bed with us. His sweaty littly body leaning into mine, while his head rests on my shoulder. I hate it for him, when he is teething, but I'd be lying if I say I didn't enjoy those tight baby hugs. And during those early morning hours, we nurse a lot and snuggle closely, enjoying this little bit of comfort. 

j seems to grow his teeth two at a time, where e had only her two bottom ones for the longest time and after her first birthday, the rest of them came in within a week {I still blame the hormones in the dairy milk I began giving to her for the first time just a short while prior to teething}. With j, my inner crunchy-ness has been coming out more than it did with e, and so we have also successfully been using the homeopathic teething tablets. In addition I still had the amber necklace that was purchased for her a few years ago, though I strangely feel it didn't do as much good as it did for my daughter. And for the really bad days, a small dose of pain meds brings a lot of relief as well.

But medications or not, at times of teething, I am learning to love myself and my children even more. Those are the days where a little more snuggle goes a long way. And some days I wrap him up and carry my baby in the house while making dinner. It may be a little bit cumbersome to wrap an almost one year old around the already hot kitchen with the stove going, but sometimes, we gotta do what we gotta do to. Praise the Lord, and press ahead!   

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