MAM and Nuby Teethers

A huge thanks to everyone who gave me video-monitor advice. I'll let you know what we end up doing.

Today I'm going to talk once again about the joy that is teething.

This misleading picture makes it seem like he's HAPPY about teething. That is not the case.

My pediatrician was like, "He's going to be teething until he's two..." so she wasn't a big fan of relying on numbing gels or meds for that long (as previously mentioned in my Sophie the Giraffe post). And I didn't want to either. We've gotten through 7 months without any sort of Baby Tylenol, and I want to keep that streak going for as long as possible.

I'm writing about teethers again because Baba got his first tooth at 4.5 months... and now he's got 4 (the top-center 2 and the bottom-center 2), and therefore the drooling doesn't stop. Nor does his constant search for crap to stick in his mouth to make things feel better.

In addition to Sophie, I'd had this Nuby "IcyBite" key-ring teether

and this MAM "cooler"

for a while and was always just putting them in a little bowl in the fridge. Baba really dug them... for like 10 minutes. Then he would lose interest. But last night I tried putting them in the freezer in order for the water/liquid in them to, you know, FREEZE.

I am aware that many teethers are not meant for the freezer. Maybe these ones aren't, either (packaging is long gone and I couldn't find out online), but I tested them out on myself to be safe (as well as I could without exposed gums...), and honestly do believe that they're pretty much made to be frozen. At least the MAM one is, for sure.

So after suffering through about an hour of extreme fussiness before bedtime last night, I remembered I had the MAM thing in the freezer. I gave it to him, and it was like a damn miracle. IMMEDIATE change in attitude. This picture was taken long after the usual ten-minute disinterest mark.

I can't get no satisfaction... until now.

I wish I could've gotten a video, because BG was moving this thing all around to every corner of his mouth and switching between the three prongs. He was gnawing it like there was no tomorrow. He loved it. I can't believe I hadn't been freezing it this whole time.

The bottom line: Fellow parents, learn from my mistake. Rely on a freezable teether when your little guy or gal gets cranky. I was able to find both the Nuby IcyBite key ring (which he also LOVES... and which lasts longer since there are more "cold parts") and the MAM cooler at my local CVS and Walgreens, and they're both cheap ($6). The MAM one is designed to help infants reach their back teeth, and I do believe it works. Both products are BPA-free and all that good stuff, too.

You know what's even quicker, easier, and cheaper? Putting a small, wet washcloth in the freezer and then letting your kiddie chew on that. I haven't yet tried this with Baba G, but I know his daddy used to love to chew on cold cloths when he was a baby, and BG does seem drawn to wet washcloths when I wipe him down after a meal. So I'll have to try my own advice soon!

Any other teething tricks I need to know about?

- e