How might one comfort a newborn with sore gums whose teeth are about to erupt?
I would like to know how to comfort and relax a newborn whose primary teeth (or milk teeth) are about to emerge. What about soothing the gums with a teether? I have read that they are harmful and should not be used.
Should we alleviate the soreness with some kind of medication? Or should we just leave things alone and let Nature take its course?
Please base the description of your suggested approach on specific details and proven methods.
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We use Nelsons teething sachets - they seem to be doing the trick now for the last 2-3 months.
Basically just tap the contents of the sachets in babies mouth (dont worry, they wont choke or gag - the contents will land on their tongue and gums) - baby will then chew the little "crystals/granules".
They seem to do two things:
They distract baby from the pain by giving them something to chew and feel in their mouth
They sooth the pain (which is what you want)
These work much better for us than bonjela and other "rub on" ointments.
We used a clean cloth or baby sock wrapped around an ice cube with our kids and grandkids. Worked great.
Rubbing just a little (drop on the end of a finger) scotch on the gums always worked for us. The bonus is you finish the shot (wink wink)!
I have never read anything that said teethers were bad--where did you read that?
If you aren't comfortable with using a teether (which, btw, neither of my kids ever showed any interest in), you can try giving your child a cool, damp washcloth to chew on. Our daughter preferred this, but she will also chew on her fingers if nothing else is handy. My grandmother always gave me frozen bananas to eat which, while very messy, were pretty effective. My sister-in-law gave her daughter cold celery sticks to chew on. Another of my sisters-in-law would brush her daughters's gums with an electric toothbrush and this seemed to feel good.
Medications are always hit-and-miss. We used baby Orajel on our son once and discovered it worked better at numbing our finger than numbing his gum. When your child is producing copious amounts of saliva, the Orajel just doesn't last long enough to be very effective. I know some parents (our neighbors, my cousin) who had success with teething tablets, but they contain belladonna and I could never bring myself to use them on my own kids. But these other parents swear by them.
If it came down to it, and our kids were just miserable and couldn't sleep, we'd give them Tylenol. It took about 15 minutes for it to kick in, but it at least made them comfortable enough that they could sleep or go about their day pain-free for a few hours.
Kids are pretty inventive at finding things to chew on if their gums are bothering them. When I was working on my molars as a toddler, I remember chewing on a plastic toy giraffe that had horns on its head and pointy ears, and I can remember how good it felt to chew on that toy giraffe. Must have felt pretty good to make such a lasting impression on a 2-year-old.
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