Teething

Mara began teething at approximately 3 months. This is a little early for the average child but early teething runs in Josh's family so its not totally out of the blue.  At first we noticed she wanted to chew on EVERYTHING.  She went from having little interest in putting anything in her mouth (besides the breast) to wanting everything in there.  She'd shove toys, fingers, our hands, basically anything within her reach.

Then the drool started.  Lots and lots of drool.  She's never been much of a drooler so this really confirmed for us that she was teething.  We also noticed that her nose started to run and she was tugging on her left ear a lot.  Originally I thought she was getting sick but after some research learned that these two are classic teething signs.  At this point she wasn't really fussy just starting to display the classic signs.

This past week teething has gone from 0 to 10 overnight it seems.  Our poor girl is in pain!  The drool has kicked into overdrive and I think has caused her to spit up a bit as she is producing crazy amounts of saliva.   She is still shoving everything in her mouth but now seems to be taking great pleasure in gnawing on things.  Its like she's saying, "Ah that's better."

Unfortunately she is also having trouble nursing.  I don't know if its due to the pain or the fact that she's pretty congested, likely a combination of both.  She's been only eating for short spurts and pulling off every few sucks or so which is a double edge sword because it makes her take in so much air. (air=gas) Last night she was running a mild fever and wanted nothing but to snuggle and be held.

We've been trying everything under the sun to help her get some relief.  We've been using the Nosefrida and saline to clear up her nose.  Parents be warned babies LOVE this...not.  We have also tried Hyland's Teething Tablets but really haven't noticed the major difference other parents report.  From our local cloth diaper store I picked up a baltic amber necklace.  This is supposed to relieve some pain and help with the drool.  I'm not sure about the pain but it has majorily cut back on the drool!  My latest effort was a sample of pumpkin butt teething oil.  Think of this stuff as the homeopathic version of Orajel.  We've only applied it once but baby girl calmed down and has been sleeping on me for three hours.  Conciendence?  I'm not sure.

Overall teething is rough.  Rough on the parents but mostly rough on the little ones.  Sleep sure I'm a bit deprived but mainly I feel bad for my little girl.  She's in so much pain and if mama can take it away then sure I'm there.  I just hope for her sake we see those pearly white pop up soon!