Teething--old Wives' Tale or Truth?

BOTH of my kids were cranky and had the disgusting poop - ONLY when they were teething. My Dr., who has a daughter the same age as mine, said absoultely it's because of the teething and no amount of naysaying could get her to believe otherwise since she'd experienced it herself and there were no other reasons for it. I trust our Dr. completely.

Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that the newer they are to the practice the less they know.

Not only that, it also seems that they are more and more likely to dismiss anything that parents are concerned about.

Do they think we're stupid? We know our kids better than they do and we know when something is wrong - even if it doesn't show up in a blood test or exam.

Well, I was told that the issue with icky poop and teething was because of the excess saliva teething creates.

Hi A.! All those things can be teething symptoms. The body does funny things to compensate when it is in pain or going through major changes.
The poop situation could be from food transitions as you had mentioned. I would suggest goat's milk as it is easier to digest than cow's milk.
It's funny how people can have different opinions on things. Our ped. told us that teething symptoms can and do exibit themselves in fevers, loose stools, wakefulness, crabby periods, etc.... even if your child did have a virus the dr.'s office would not do anything to combat it. They would just tell you to ride it out.
I agree with you that the fingers in the mouth does indicate teething. Our daughter's molars seemed to be particularly painful for her. Hyland's teething tablets were our lifeline.
Bottom line is....every baby is different and no one can know your baby better than you! Have a great day!

I've heard that all that is just old wives' tales too however the ONLY time my daughter ever gets a diaper rash is when she is teething!!

Hi A.-

For whatever it's worth, my pediatrician told me the same thing about my now 4-year old when he was teething, and yet, there he was, with the same symptoms that you're describing, at approximately the same time. And they always stopped once the tooth had cut through.

So, we always gave it a couple-few days before worrying that it might be something more, e.g. a virus. And everything was always fine.

Good luck!

M.

I read an article that said it was all a wives' tale and asked our ped- he also said a lot of it is wives' tales and that people just blame everything on teething although it may or may not have anything to do with the fact that the child is teething. He said all the "symptoms" occur while our kids teeth from about 6 months unitl 2 years so it is easy to blame it all on teething.

My little one now has ten teeth.. and I think, is working on her 11th... She has the top and bottom front 4 and then her 1st molars top and now bottom on the one side... I never thought to link the acidy poop and teething. I just assumed it was something i was feedin her.. I havent considered a virus because it is so random... I think our kids are just teething..

Doctors have different opinions when it comes to teething. One of our doctors told us no, loose stools, crabbiness, fevers, etc are caused by teething. A specialist at Childrens Hospital told us, yes, they are caused by teething as children swollow more drool hence making more liquidy stools, crabbiness is caused by the pain of the tooth coming through and the fever is the bodys way of fighting what is happening.

So who knows. I just know that in my experience with 3 kids that they drool, chew, get a fever, and VERY crabby when teeth are popping through. You know your child best so you know how he responds to teething.

OK, maybe teething doesn't "cause" these things, but they sure seem to go together a lot! I think the acid stomach is caused by stress which is caused by pain and discomfort in the mouth.

They also don't believe that cold and rainy days affect arthritis, but anyone that has it will tell you that they hurt more in the cold an rain than in the sunny and warm days. Reason is probably that we tend to tense up when it is cold and relax when we are comfortable. Technically the cold doesn't cause the pain, but they go together.

The old wives have been around a lot longer than modern science. Doctors don't always get it right, remember the butter/margarine debate?