Amber necklace for teething baby

thatgirlsam

Anybody who has ever cut a wisdom tooth should be able to relate to how painful teething might be!

My dd suffered terribly.. she had burning cheeks.. bum and face.. and had some sleepless nights because of teething

So yes she had calpol to help with the pain

I can't understand the problem with this?!

And I am not a woosy Mum.. I don't make a fuss over a grazed knee or bumped arm

Teething pain can go on over a long period of time and the effects of pain are well documented

Toothsmith

Teething causing temperatures, 'bad' napppies red cheeks etc is all really just 'bad press' for teething.

Teething causes teeth to come into the mouth, maybe the odd bit of soreness on the gums as they come through, but that's it.

The reason that teething is often blamed for other problems as well is to do with what else is going on in the baby's body at that time.

Babies are born with certain immunities that they have aquired from the Mum's body. Often, these are 'topped up' with antibodies received in breast milk.

This immunity starts running out at about 6 months, when the baby's own immune system starts kicking in. This is also about the same time that teeth start to come through.

So - what you have at 6 months+ is a baby that is starting to fight the bugs it's encountering in the world for the first time. This causes temperatures, 'grouchyness', bad nappies if it's a tummy bug, redness of the cheeks or body, and all the other signs of a baby that is suffering from a minor bug.

But that's what it is - a bug, not the teeth. And the reason it happens quite a lot at this sort of time in a baby's life is that it's facing and fighting quite a lot in quite quick succession.

It doesn't really make much difference practically to what you actually do about it. Calpol, hugs & cuddles and make sure they're having plenty of fluids. The 'treatment' is the same.

But it's important just to realise that these symptoms are not 'just teething' but are actually because the baby is poorly. Usually it's only a very very minor 'poorly' that needs very little treatment, but it's important to be aware what it really is in case it turns into a more serious 'poorly'.

thatgirlsam

Toothsmith that makes a lot of sense but my dd didn't cut any teeth till she was nearly a year old!

I was worried she wasn't going to get any!!

She is 12 now and still has quite a lot of baby teeth, our dentist reassures me this is fine but I think she will need braces and they won't do this till she has all her adult teeth

Will waiting so long for braces cause a problem?

Toothsmith

No - but having braces before all the development has finished would!

If you're trying to shift teeth around when stuff is still moving into place and the skull is still growing, then you find treatment goes on forever, and you get a kid that becomes seriously pigged off with dentists!

There are countries where they start orthodontics a lot younger than in this country - as young as 8 in some.

But

The treatment still goes on until the kid is 15 or 16, as there is no stable position until growth stops! In this country we tend to start later, but it's all finished a couple of years later! Countries that start youger tend to have very well-off orthodontists!



Oh - and with your kid not getting any teeth till 12 months, I bet you were still seeing signs like red cheeks and bad nappies and thinking 'a tooth must be on it's way' right from 6 months or so!

Mrs T.S. did the same with ours! Any bug or grouchyness during that time was always 'teething' despite what I said, and then, when a tooth appeared at any point, be it a week or 3 months later she'd say 'See- I told you he was teething!'

mildred1978

I know what dentists say about teething not causing sore bums etc, but I'm afraid it's utter tosh. The only time my son has ever had nappy rash is within the weeks he's had teeth, and it's usually so sore it blisters. It disappears as soon as the tooth has broken the skin. He had his first tooth at 4.5 months, all 8 front teeth by 7 months and now at 18 months just has 2 canines to come through. I'm expecting them to come soon as his bum has been sore for a couple of days now.

He was breastfed for 14 months, so your theory doesn't fit there either. If it has no effect on nappies etc how on earth could I predict with 24/48 hour accuracy exactly when teeth would arrive? His behaviour and temperament don't change one bit, apart from howling during nappy changes due to the soreness.

My GP has also confirmed that they consistently see babies with rashes and viruses, and it's very very often at the time a tooth is breaking the gum.

thatgirlsam

Also, how do you measure pain in a baby that cannot communicate what they are feeling?

Unless you can remember teething I don't think you can say that teething doesn't hurt that much

The experience of many mums would tell you that their babies experience quite a lot of pain however

onlyroz

mildred1978 wrote: »

I know what dentists say about teething not causing sore bums etc, but I'm afraid it's utter tosh.

I think it's more that the teething makes the baby more run down and prone to other minor ailments like the sniffles, sore bums etc. However, just because a baby has a sore bum it doesn't mean that it's because they're teething.

I read somewhere that serious conditions are quite often overlooked because the parent wrongly attributes them to "just teething".

mildred1978

onlyroz wrote: »

I think it's more that the teething makes the baby more run down and prone to other minor ailments like the sniffles, sore bums etc. However, just because a baby has a sore bum it doesn't mean that it's because they're teething.

I read somewhere that serious conditions are quite often overlooked because the parent wrongly attributes them to "just teething".

Should my son get a sore bum once he's done cutting teeth, I would worry. He has never caught a bug while teething (he teethes in very short bursts. Literally all 4 teeth appear below the surface and are all through within 2 weeks).

I know not every child is like that, but we seem to have 2 sectors of the medical community giving very different responses

thatgirlsam

I was under the impression its all the extra saliva they swallow which can cause loose runny poos which can lead to nappy rash

And I'm sure I have read somewhere the extra acid in all the saliva could be the cause of nappy rash]

Certainly my dd dribbled like a trooper and had nappy rash when she was teething

londonsurrey

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