Soothing a Teething Baby

Red cheeks.  Fussy whimpers. Low-grade fever.  And the DROOL!  Your baby is teething.  I proudly welcome a good friend of mine from Ohio to chime in on her wisdom of teething children after having gone through it with three kiddos. Please enjoy!

Well,  I am on my third teething child and while I’m sure I have more to learn, I know I would not want to go through it without a few essential items. I would like to share them now with you.

#1: Teething Oil:

I read how to make this concoction in the book “Aromatherapy: A Lifetime Guide to Healing With Essential Oils” by Valerie Gennari Cooksley and I am in love with it so much I started giving vials of it away. Here is the recipe I use:

½ oz amber bottle with screw top

good quality olive oil

Roman Chamomile essential oil (I purchase my oils from www.mountainroseherbs.com)

Put 3 drops of oil in your bottle and fill with olive oil leaving a little space at the top. Screw on the lid and shake well. To give to your child, shake well, take off the lid, place your finger over the top, turn the bottle upside down, and rub on your baby’s gums. I usually do this two to three times per application. Within 10 minutes your baby should be much calmer.

I also know people who have used this method to help an older child who is having trouble going to sleep. If your child has teeth already, you can rub it between their lip and gum.

This concoction for me has been WAY better than Hylands Teething Tablets, however if you cannot afford to purchase the Roman Chamomile Essential oil, the next best thing I find is Hylands Chamomile Tablets 30x. Start with 1 tablet and increase to 2 or 3 at a time as you find necessary for your child.

#2: Baltic Amber Teething Necklace:

With my second teething child, I decided to purchase an amber teething necklace to see if it helped any. What a difference! Now that I’m on my third child, I wouldn’t let them go through teething without one! At about 3 months old I put it on my child and only take it off for bathing. If I forget to put it back on after bathing, within 12 hours or so I notice a huge difference in the amount of fussiness my child shows!

So you might ask, what makes these necklaces so wonderful?! As a trained chemist, I will try to explain a little bit. The compound in amber is succinic acid and amber necklaces contain 3-8% succinic acid (the darker the amber, the higher content of succinic acid).  Succinic acid is a known analgesic, or essentially a pain reliever. When the amber is in contact with skin, the succinic acid can be slowly absorbed into the system and act as a gentle pain reliever.

If you choose to order one of these, be sure that you order Baltic amber and that there is a knot between each bead. That way if the necklace breaks, only one bead will be lost. Technically you are supposed to take them off while your child sleeps, but I never have.

Fore more information, check out this website: http://www.amberartisans.com/frasqu.html

#3: Favorite Teething Toy:

My children have never really enjoyed frozen items to chew on while teething, they have some sensitivities to hot and cold temperatures (at 3.5 years, my oldest still doesn’t like ice cream because of how cold it is… more for me I guess!). A few years a neighbor told me about this rubber banana toothbrush and since then it has become the ultimate teething toy in our house. The soft rubber bristles massage their gums and the whole thing is flexible silicon. The other end of it has nice ridges to chew on as well. This does not work as well once they have teeth as they can bite the little bristles off and bite into the soft silicon. 

The other thing that we are using that is new for kiddo #3 is a Dr. Brown’s teether.

I am loving this, especially because it can be attached to my kiddo with a pacifier clip so its not thrown down onto the ground when we are out and about. The brown ridge along the bottom really gives them something to chomp on that massages and soothes their gums. It is really easy for my child to hold as well.

 I hope that these 3 ideas help you to sooth your teething child! 

A note from Maggie: I would also like to add how important calcium is for a teething baby.  The low-grade fever is a sign that your child does not have sufficient calcium in her body to amply prepare/carry out this particular round with a new tooth.  Be sure she is getting extra calcium at this time! The link above goes to my blog post concerning calcium. Happy Healthing! :-)