Cutting Incisors

No more deliciously cute toothless smile... Very much like Ana, Oggie has his top two incisors pushing out through the gum line now.

After almost 2½ months of cutting teeth, resulting in sleepless nights and terribly fussy baby, there is finally something to show for it. The little white buds are almost like two little grains of dirty white rice.

It's a good thing memory is not solidly established at that age, so, Oggie is not going to remember all the pain, just like Ana doesn't remember her teething woes... but, boy, he is having a tough time with it.

And just when I was taking a deep breath to heave a sigh of relief in anticipation of possibly better sleep at nights now that they are out, I had to abort it mid-breath as his bottom two incisors are getting ready to cut through: his gums are puffy like little corn kernels, inflamed and sore-looking, plus his cheeks are flushed, with low-grade fever, and he simply won't settle down for naps or sleep at nights... pretty much the same symptoms as for his top two incisors continue...

So, the wonderfully cuddly-sweet cheerful baby has just been a barrel of poo lately.

Homeo teething tablets worked great for Ana, so, I am using the same for Oggie - as much as allowed - to ease his discomfort. His pediatrician cleared using Orajel™ but I am not sure I want to use benzocaine too much, despite studies showing no negative side effects. Besides, Orajel™ did nothing much for Ana; and the few times I have tried it on Oggie, it seems to wear off within an hour or so, leaving me with a crankier baby somehow.

Chilled water-filled teething rings, frozen pacifier, freshly washed cold mommy's finger, even chilled sippy cup with water seem to offer short-term relief.

I know this too shall pass. I know babies the world over go through this, some taking it a lot easier than others. I know I survived Ana's teething. But, unfortunately, simultaneous sleep-deprivation for mommy and baby has lead to a very chaotic household, and an addle-brained lady-of-the-house (c'est moi).

canine buds are showing, finally

The upper two canines have cut through and I can see the tiny buds along with the red sore-looking gums around the two new teeth.

That's the good news.

The not-so-good news is that either the arrival of the caninies, or something unconnected, has made her moods rather pronounced - when she is happy, she jumps around, laughs, plays well, but, when she is upset, nothing seems good enough.

Maybe that's part of being a toddler. Maybe this is where tantrums start...

In any case, she seems to not wake up so many times and scream as much at nights for the last 2 days.

She does wake up early, calling out for me from her crib, and when I bring her over to my bed, she points to her diaper and in an anguished voice says, 'cheej bapoo, cheej bapoo' (change diaper) till I change her, and then she wants to get down from the bed and run around and play. At 5 or so in the morning, most days!

could it be canines?

Looks like it, so far...

Ana had her first tooth out on new year's day - at least the tiny white bud that we could see - after months of cutting teeth and sleepless nights. It happened to be her upper incisor on the right side.

Then in quick succession came the two lower incisors and other three upper incisors.

Gone was the cutest toothless smile I ever saw!

And, gone were the sleepless nights as well. She sort of breezed through her two other lower incisors, I barely saw them coming - one fine morning she seemed to have woken up with two extra bottom front teeth.

I was ecstatic. So much so that, I was beginning to worry something was wrong: why is she sleeping through the night? Is something wrong? I kept checking on her a few times a night just to be sure - but, there she was, apparently all the teeth that were cutting through for months came out pretty much back-to-back and she seemed to snore away happily through the nights for about 3 months.

Until the molars wanted to come out, that is. It just took a week or so, that's it - a tough sleepless week - but, her first set of molars were out and she seemed to take it in her stride and carry on being a busy toddler.

Well, now that she is 19-months old, (note to self: stop using months as Ana's age indicator), the sleepless nights are back with a vengeance.

From what little investigation she allows us while brushing her teeth, it appears that the canines might be making an appearance, hopefully shortly.

It is a good thing memory is short-term at that age. If I can remember all the pain I endured while cutting my first set of baby teeth, I would probably be a nervous wreck worrying about what Ana is going through.