My 4-month old is starting the teething process. I am not sure what sort of teether items would help alleviate her discomfort. Any ideas? She seems to want to chew on everything.
T. M.,
For my daughter who is now three, I used to get a baby washcloth put it in sterilized/bottled water, put it in a plasic baggy and let her chew on that. With my kids they didn't like the teether toys. Another thing we used to do is just mash up ice and hold it for her while she would gum it...messy but worth it!! Good luck!
I used to take baby washclothes, freshly laundred, with no fabric softener. Fold then in half then roll them up get them wet and freeze them.
Frozen waffles
Fist size carrots, too big and hard to consider a choking hazard
Frozen yogurt
Hope these ideas help.
Hi T.,
Frozen mini bagels work well (nothing broke off of them when I watched our little guy - they just got soggy), as do the frozen washcloths that others have mentioned. We also used Hyland teething tablets and had great success.
I'm not sure of the name but there are these natural teething tablets that you can buy at Fred Meyer's. You put a couple under your baby's tongue and it just works. My son has been teething and this has made him less fussy. He doesn't like the cold teethers, but this works. They are located in the Organic section of Fred Meyer's. I just asked someone who works there and they knew exactly what I was talking about.
Hello T., well, I used to give my kids those earth's best teething biscuits, which they enjoyed, but they got kind of gross after some chewing...But I was in the store yesterday, and a grandma had her teething grandson on her hip, and she mentioned he is getting in back teeth, and LOVES frozen bananas for teething. Sound safe and good to me. Anyway, just don't give your baby plastic teething rings...toxic pvc's etc..Good luck!
Clove tea helps a teething infant. Homepathic teething tablets are also helpful. Don't fret if a homepathic remedy has such ingredents as belladona becuase it has less the a mole (6.022 x 10-23nd)which is a very minute amount of each ingredent. Sorry for the science lesson. I prefer compilmentary medince and I like to do the research to make sure what I use for my household is safe.
If you choose to use "medicine" be careful. Many of the numbing gels are much too strong and can actually numb their throats. The herbal teething tablets contain herbs that you should research before using (nightshade) so you know what you are giving your child. For my daughter, we didn't do anything special and she was just fine. She chews on any toy she can and that's about it. Nothing special.
If you're breastfeeding, you can freeze your breastmilk like ice cubes and give those to have her chew on through a mesh pacifier. Also, you can make strong chamomile tea, chill it and dip a wash cloth in it and let her chew on it. The tea really helps.
frozen carrots and the hylands teething gel and tablets.
they seem to like things that they can get back in their mouth.. however it is scarey that they also choke themselves.. but if you watch her... my babies always liked to chew on those toddler spoons the plastic ones.. anything shaped long so they can reach all their gums not just the front ones.. and my finger was always a good relief too!
a cold wet washcloth is good (and inexpensive)
there are lots of teething items out there... the one thing you want to be careful with though is if they are filled with water and the instructions say not to put it in the freezer to chill it that you don't do that... put it in the refrigerator. and make sure she can hold on to it - another of my kids liked the little blanket that had different teething textures on each corner.
when one of my kids got older and was teething at 9 months or so.. I put them in a high chair and let them chew on a frozen green bean or french fry.. she LOVED it.
There are some great ideas on this post - just a word of warning. I bought teething rings, soft gels, hard gels and teething beads and my 5-month old rejected each one. He preferred to chew on a cool cloth more than anything! Now that he's 6 months, he will reach and grab for the teething beads, but all the other aids he wants nothing to do with. Watch and see what your little one likes. Hopefully it's something simple! Good luck!
frozen pizza crust feels good and is hard to break off. Teething tablets or gel worked well for us too. The teething biscuits I feel should be saved for older babies, as I thought they break off in big pieces too easily. Good luck!
Nothing worked on my 4 besides the old fashioned remedies ( clean chicken drumsticks, long hard steak strips, washcloths, etc.. If you find you cant find anything that works and try this please hold this for the baby and dont leave her alone with it... oh and those hard round lollipops works too as hard popsicles but they will get angry from being too cold so dont let her lick as much as she would like. The best advice however for this is your mother with her old fashioned remedies. I say this only because then you can pass it onto your children. Good Luck
Frozen washcloths, teething rings/beads, infant tylenol, all can help. Figure out what textures seem to give her the most comfort and get her something(s) with that texture to it. Until she is older I would not recommend frozen waffles or Hyland's teething tablets. When both of mine were that young teething blankets and tylenol helped the most. If your LO is bottle fed warm milk can also help as the sucking can help to equalize the pressure from emerging teeth. HTH best of luck.
Frozen Waffles! They are doing the trick for us! Our little one just got her 5th tooth and is working on the 6th. Take a frozen waffle and quarter it. They will munch on it til it gets soft and then give them another quarter. It works really well. Additionally, I find that frozen mango pieces in Munchkin bags works very well too!
