My daughter, Felicity started teething pretty early. Her first tooth erupted before she was 4 months old. Then it was one tooth after another after another....until now! My daughter has FINALLY cut her last incisor! Now hopefully I will get a break until the 2 year molars start showing their pearly whites.
Okay so I won't go into all my funny & ridiculous teething moments over the last 12 months, but I would love to share my experience DEALING with teething.
I am not sure exactly who opened my ears to homeopathic teething remedies, but lo and behold I started the endless hours of web surfing trying to find the best solution for my oh so cranky child.
I initially stumbled upon Gentle Natural's Disney Homeopathic Teething Drops:
And let me tell you it was the best stumble I could have asked for. One word describes these drops: Amazing. Here's a look at what makes these drops work:
Chamomilla 3X, 6X, 12X, 30X ............pain and sensitivity of teething, calming
Calcarea Phosphorica 6X ........................pain and sensitivity of teething
Kali Phosphoricum 6X ............................pain in mouth and gums
Magnesia Phosphorica 6X .......................pain and sensitivity of teething
Staphysagria 9X ....................................pain and sensitivity of teething
Okay so once I had these in my hand it was smooth sailing. I could handle all the drooling & fussiness in the world.....until Felicity was around a year old. I had just run out of the drops and desperately needed more so I went to Kroger to pick them up (the only place I had been able to find them!) There I was, it was a straight shot to the baby aisle at Kroger. I had a walked it a million times and could probably pick the teethings drops from the shelf with my eyes closed. My eyes raised to the teething shelf.....Orajel, orajel, hylands, and more orajel. Wait a sec where are my Disney teething drops?! I looked that shelf over countless times and also checked to make sure I was in fact in the baby aisle. I soon had to come to the realization that they were gone....forever. Kroger had stopped carrying my lifesaver and no other stores in the area carried them.
So after I composed myself, I forced myself to choose another teething product.
Orajel? I thought. No, no, no. I had heard a story of a baby's mouth going so numb that it hindered his gagging reflex and he starting choking....yikes!
Okay, okay I could go on forever about my dilema at this point, so long story short:
I went with Hyland's Teething Tablets:
Calcarea Phosphorica 3X HPUS - supports dentition
Chamomilla 3X HPUS - for irritability
Coffea Cruda 3X HPUS - for wakefulness and diuresis
Belladonna 3X HPUS (0.0003% Alkaloids) - for redness and inflammation
In a base of Lactose (milk sugar) NF.
As you can see they are much lower in Chamomile & Calcarea Phosphorica than the Disney drops. I wasn't as happy with them and I always ended up giving Felicity the maximum amount it said I could give her. Plus it was a little challenging trying to get the tablet UNDER her tongue. In fact, I don't think I ever succeeded in that endeavor.
I ended up also trying the Hyland's Teething Gel (partially because it said it was recommended by Dr. Jim Sears who is my hero):
Calcarea Phosphorica 12X HPUS - supports dentition
Chamomilla 6X HPUS - for irritability
Coffea Cruda 6X HPUS - for wakefulness and diuresis
Belladonna 6X HPUS (0.0000003% Alkaloids) - for redness and inflammation
So the gel has more calcarea phosphorica than the tablets and a little more chamomile. Plus, in my opinion it was much easier to put this on my daughter's gums once I got the hang of it.
Conclusion, teething happens. You can let your child suffer through it (and you as well) or you could try one of these remedies laid out in this post. Or you could ignore me completely :) In my experience, the Disney drops worked best of all, that is if you can find them anywhere :)
Happy Teething!
Wow Leigh! I am SO grateful you started this blog!!! I am seriously lacking for some like-minded advice in this department! I too, on your recommendations searched endlessly for these Disney drops and I can't find them anywhere I've looked either. (Target, Wal-Mart, Stop&Shop, even the local organic foods store)I've been using the Hylands teething tablets for a couple of months now, but I also get very frazzled that the 1 or 2 tablets NEVER seem to work, she always at least needs 3! (grr) Also, it bothered me that I seem to need them for more than 7 days in a row and it states on the bottle to consult a doctor if using them longer than that (yikes!) So thank you for this post, I will definitely search for the gel instead. My only concern with the numbing gel (is that how it works, numbing as well?) was that it tends to inhibit the tooth from coming up by toughing up the gums.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the info. and the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteOkay, so, Leigh, what do you say to a pediatrician who steers you away from the Hylands teething tablets due to the caffeine from the coffea cruda, and suggests that belladonna is actually not good for your infant?
Frankly, I was surprised that this particular "stand-in" pediatrician (she's not our actual doc) would suggest Tylenol and Orajel, before the homeopathic remedies. My concern is that Ben has now had too much Tylenol in the past, that he may very well work up an immunity to it.
Oh, and where did you find the Disney drops? I looked for those first, before settling with Hyland's.
My bad, I re-read the beginning of your post and saw that you found the Disney drops at Kroger.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen them anywhere else? I've been looking.
Okay, so first off Annemarie, I don't think any of the homeopathic remedies numb the gum, i think they just relieve the pain somewhat.
ReplyDeleteAs for the caffeine in the hyland drops, I haven't heard that one yet...I would think though that it's such a small amount that it shouldn't hurt a baby, ya know? But I'm definitely not an expert on that one.
AND good news! I found a place to buy the Disney drops online. Walgreens sells them online (but I couldn't find them in the actual store) Here is the link: http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100357&navAction=jump&navCount=0&nug=VPD&skuid=sku5482961&id=prod5484094
I will warn you though that the package they show online looks a little different than the one I bought in store, and they don't give you any additional information about the ingredients either. But I would think Disney only makes ONE type of teething drops...hopefully!
I know it stinks to have to pay for shipping, but they are a little cheaper than the Hyland's brand so it kind of evens out in the end.
Thanks for all the great comments!
Oh I forgot to add one thing. According to Dr. Sears Infant Motrin is actually better for teething babes than Tylenol since Motrin relieves pain AND inflammation. So in case you do need to give your little one something more (we had to for Felicity's canines) apparently Infant Motrin is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks Leigh! So funny you posted that link, I just found it too! Luckily it's in stock at our local Walgreens so I'll head down today to check it out! Thanks for all of your help! :)
ReplyDelete