Relieve pain and inflammation naturally, at any stage of teething. I could have saved so much money on teething toys if I had known this earlier.
My Early Teether
Sage’s first tooth popped when he was about 6 months old, pretty early for most babes, but that varies, widely! It felt like forever when it finally popped because he was a complete drool monkey from 3 months on. There were times where that first white pearl came up, just to go back down for a few more weeks. How awful is that?!
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine; the teeth, gums and tongue connected to our internal organs, and body systems via energy meridians. Having healthy teeth, tongue and gums reflects a healthy internal system. Bad breath, decaying and loose teeth can show an unhealthy or potential internal issues.
At 16 months, Sage has all but his second molars. In the last 10 months, he’s cut 16 teeth, that’s a new tooth every 2.5 weeks.
When Teething Rings Don’t Work
We had the teething rings and soothers first. But he never really cared for soothers in general, so those were useless. The mesh feeders which you can put ice cubes in for your babe to suck on were a huge mess. Dropping over and over and dripping over all his clothes made him cold and unhappy. Although, the necklace I will say was pretty awesome and got the most use. Sage seemed to really like it for the sensory stimulation and distraction while I was carrying him. Overall, none of these things actually helped him with teething pain and inflammation.
He is a fast and furious teether that is way too busy to use his teething toys for longer than 12 seconds. I’m sure most of them will all be resurrected if we decide to move one day.
Starting Solids While Teething.
When we started him on solid foods, I chose to do purees over the trending baby-led weaning. I’m not a fan of exclusive BLW, but I’ll share my thoughts on that in another post. I am, however, a big fan of purees because you can sneak in extra nutrients in many ways. Adding in herbs and spices not only helps develop his palette, it introduces him to so many new flavour combinations. Not to mention, the health benefits of herbs and spices are incredible.
I made all of Sage’s baby food weeks in advance. Prepping things like apples and clove, pear and nutmeg, butternut squash and rosemary for the stage 1 foods. I portioned them all into those 125mL mason jars and froze them. The night before, I would take out the jars I needed and thaw them in the fridge for the day.
Numb the Pain Naturally
Instinctively I fed Sage a LOT of food that was straight out of the fridge or even partially frozen. This was not because I was lazy, in a hurry or didn’t care about heating the food up for his comfort. Quite the contrary, this was done to help ease his pain and discomfort. Inflammation and pain is handled far better with cold/icy temperatures than warm/hot. More inflammation to the gums can happen if too much warmth/heat is applied, leading to more pain and discomfort.
“I Would Never Do That” – My Mom.
The first time my mom saw me just take a jar straight out from the fridge and begin feeding him, she was appalled. “I never fed my kids frozen food, why aren’t you heating it up for him?” I get it, there’s nothing better than a nice bowl of soup when you’re not feeling well. But I know when my whole mouth is rearing in pain, that’s the last thing I want to eat.
For those of you who’ve had their wisdom teeth taken out, what did your dentist recommend for aftercare? Popsicles! Yes, nice cold popsicles to help soothe the pain and reduce the inflammation.
Breastmilk for Inflammation
Breastmilk contains a potent does of anti-inflammatory properties. Nursing more frequently gives your babe extra vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to help healing and reduce stress. Breastfeeding helps to comfort and calm your babe through the skin to skin contact and hormones being release. Bottle feeding offers similar feelings of safety and security because there’s a feeling of closeness and nourishing support.
What Teething Toys ARE Good For
Teething toys like the rings, soothers, mesh feeders and necklaces are great during teething for distraction, pressure and sensory development.
There are SO MANY toys on the market that boast to be the best, dentist-approved and yada yada, yada. Ultimately, every babe will differ in how they tolerate and cope with pain and discomfort. What is best for you and your babe is not necessarily good for my little guy’s preferences. Sometimes it can be an age-related developmental preference. I tried to get Sage sucking on a cold wet cloth early on, but only until recently did he find comfort with it.
Just remember mama, this is only temporary and you will get through this tough time.
