Teething

[mmcirvin]

Little Teethers topical pain-relief gel = magic stuff.

Much in the manner of simethicone anti-gas medicine when she was a newborn, this often seems to be what she needs lately. But it's not easy getting it on her gums when she's in that state.

Comments

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Try it on yourself, if you haven't. It's great stuff to have when you bite your tongue or cheek. They make it for adults-- Anbesol is a brand that comes to mind. I don't know if you had braces or not, but this stuff was a godsend when it comes to those first few cheek-slicing days.

Or, you know, if you have a pile of uncut coke around that'll do the job as well. (I just found out they still use cocaine as an eye anesthetic. A friend got a chemical burn from some crappy drugstore contact-cleaning solution-- yow!)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure most of these topical anesthetics are close relatives of cocaine.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Hmm, according to Wikipedia it looks as if that may not have much in the way of active ingredients apart from alcohol and menthol.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...whereas the Little Teethers stuff is indeed a "-caine" drug.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...I did have braces, and my dentist was also my orthodontist... and looking back on the whole experience I'm afraid he wasn't really all that good at it. I got broken wires and popped-off bands way more often than most people seem to have had them, and the wires in particular sliced up my cheeks something terrible.

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

But it's not easy getting it on her gums when she's in that state.

What do you mean? When they cry, their mouth is wide open. Just stick your finger in there covered in the stuff, and rub.

[twillis.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's skeered of all the flames shooting out.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Usually it's not so much that she's crying with mouth open as that she's been fussing and grumbling with no obvious reason for hours, and not going to sleep though she's obviously sleepy and exhausted, and then I realize that she's been worrying at her teeth and gums a lot.

Unfortunately, she's sufficiently quick on the uptake now that when I come at her with the stuff, she clamps her mouth shut and starts twisting her head away from me. But after it goes on, after some crying, she usually calms down within a minute.

[megmimcg.livejournal.com]

We discovered (as our pediatrician recommended) that infant tylenol had a lot more staying power than the topical stuff in times of severe teething pain - especially when the little one needs to settle at bedtime.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

We use that too sometimes, but I get nervous about feeding it to her all the time, maybe irrationally.

I think that we may have all come down with colds as well, so she could need the Tylenol for other reasons.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Give her some ice, she'll figure it out.

Because what works with a baby I know works with every single baby.