And So It Begins...

Ayden is officially teething.

"I WILL chew on you, Dragon Fly!"

He's been putting his hands in his mouth for a long time now but up until sometime this past weekend it was strictly exploration. Now we're pretty positive he's gnawing on his little hands to help relieve some of the discomfort from the infamous teething milestone.

Though I am pretty familiar with the signs, I googled "teething symptoms" just to be certain the behaviors that he was exhibiting were all, in fact, from teething. The first link that came up was from WhatToExpect.com. Here is what it said:

Just when the days of colic and ceaseless crying seemed to be behind you; when your baby was maybe, just maybe, sleeping through the night; when she was starting to settle into a regular routine…here comes the tooth fairy to throw you both for a loop!

Darn Tooth Fairy! I always had such fond memories of her...  This wasn't my most favorite reading of the day I can tell you that. So far, we've been using Hyland's homeopathic teething tablets and gel and they seem to be working.  He really loves the tablets and the gel makes him stick his tongue out even more than he usually does.  It must numb it a little or something.  It's pretty funny! We also have a teething ring that we keep in the freezer but when he uses it he starts out with normal vocalizations but they quickly escalate into high pitched squealing that make the little stork bite on his forehead turn bright red (our first hint that he's not happy). I think he doesn't like that it makes his hands cold too.

Ayden's daytime naps seem to be effected as he's fighting them tooth and nail and once he finally succumbs, they only last 20-30 minutes. However, he's still sleeping better than ever at night (I'm knocking HARD on some wood right now!). In an effort to get him some much needed rest, I finally gave in a nursed him to sleep in our bed for his afternoon nap and he slept for 2 hours!

I slept with him for 30 glorious minutes of it!

 He was also pulling at one of his ears today (which is what motivated me to double check common symptoms as I'd hate to miss an ear infection diagnosis by mistaking it for a teething symptom).  I was reassured by Dr. Sears that it is common practice for babies to pull at their ears while teething because they have a hard time pin pointing the source of the pain.  They apparently just know it's in the head region...

My sister suggested that we give him a piece of ice in a mesh feeder so that is exactly what we did at dinner tonight.

He LOVED it which confirms my suspicion about him not liking the teething ring because it makes his hands cold. I think I'm going to pump a little over the next few days and freeze it into cubes for the mesh feeder. I think he'd love that even more! I'll probably make some of it into "momsicles" while I'm at it since it's getting so hot here. It was 90* today. It's going to be a long, hot summer...

I've heard that teething symptoms come and go until the tooth actually comes through so hopefully our sweet baby will get a break from it soon!

What are your go to teething remedies? Any all natural options besides Hyland's that might be worth trying?

~Sarah