Teething. What to Expect During Teething.

We had little to no problems when my daughter was teething. The larger teeth gave her more pain than the smaller front ones but overall it wasn't too bad for her. Oh, never give a baby any type of celery. They can't "chew" the strings and it is a serious choking hazard. I only used Tylenol/Motrin when absolutely necessary. I would call your pediatric dentist (or the one you plan to use) and/or your ped. with the medication questions. each baby is different and you're going to have to "feel it out" Best of Luck.

My daughter didn't get any teeth until about 11 months, but we thought she was teething from about 4-5 months on. We could even see the white on the bottom of her gums. My daughter now has all her teeth and the first 6-8 didn't really affect her too much. The Incisors and Molars were more painful, but still not a big deal. We did give her Motrin once in awhile, but it is hard to determine when they are actually teething, because you don't know until the tooth actually breaks through. Generally it only takes a day or two for the small teeth to break through, so I would use Tylenol or Motrin sparingly. Motrin works a lot better than Tylenol, but I think you have to wait until 6 months. Have you tried buying the little food nets at Babies R Us or Target and putting frozen fruit in them and letting her suck on them. My daughter loved these and they are safe at that age assuming no allergies. We usually bought a bag of frozen peaches. When she is older you can buy gogurts frozen yogurt and freeze them and they make a somewhat healthy popsicle.

Hi J.,

I have 2 daughters and went through awful teehting experiences with both. What saved my life? Hylands teething tablets! They are amazing and I learned of them on this website actually! The thing about baby orajel is you have to know exactly where the tooth is coming in, this is hard to tell especially when no tooth is present. With the tablets you just put 1 - 3 tabs in their mouth (don't remember the time frame they last), they dissolve almost instantly and they numb the whole mouth (I actually tried it myself to see if it worked, and it does). My girls also had low grade fevers but I didn't need to use any tylenol as this seemed to do the trick. It's also homeopathic so no medicine in their system. Both of my girls called them Candy, they do taste OK.

I also paired this with frozen bagels and I second what another mom said about putting frozen fruit in one of those nets, it worked for me. I didn't really like the store bought teething rings, I am just paranoid they'd puncture it and who knows what is in them. I also took a washcloth, wet it and put it in the freezer, in a plastic bag, for about 30 mins, it basically froze and my daughters loved the coolness of it and sucked on it until it unfroze. Also kept them busy for awhile.

Good luck, it gets easier.

One last thing, remember that you have to give motrin on a full stomach, therefore, until your babe is a bit older you might want to just use tylenol. Motrin is the best for fevers, but I learned the hard way it must be taken with food.

Teething can have a very small effect on your child, or it could really bother her.

Both my daughters got low grade fevers, drooled a ton, chewed their fingers until their fingers had a bunch of little tooth cuts on them, had stuffed up noses, and were generally miserable and cranky for the whole process.

When their gums are bumpy/swolen and red, BEFORE the tooth actually breaks through, is the most painful time. Both my girls got their first tooth at about 6 months. I alternated infant motrin and infant tylenol with great success. I tried to schedule the dosages to get the maximum number of nursings or naps possible for each dose. (if they took a nap at 10am and 2pm I'd give a dose at 9:30am, nurse at 9:55 after pain killer started working, then put her in bed. She'd get a more relaxed nap (ever try to sleep when you're in pain?) and be happy when she woke up, play for a bit, then go down for her second nap without fuss.

The front teeth will be "less" painful than the molars simply because they are a smaller tooth. Keep in mind, though, that these teeth are literally cutting their way through gum tissue from the jaw bone to the surface.

Have you ever gotten a cut on the mouth from a sharp chip, or a canker sore, or burnt your mouth on something hot? It hurts, and that usually only lasts a day. Even so, you aren't inclined to eat much during that time because rubbing on the sore spot hurts.

Babies' sore spots are right in the front of their mouths, and they rub when they eat/nurse for several days!

I use Hyland's teething tablets as well as another homeopathic teething liquid made by Disney, which is readily available at Target and drugstores.

I thought the whole homeopathic thing was hokey but so many people recommended it that I had to try it, and now I swear by it. I give my son the liquid so often at night, whenever he wakes up crying and doesn't need to nurse. We joke that he's an addict! (in truth there are no side effects and you can't really overdose). It really works and calms him down immediately.