As the sun rises after night number 3 of our battle, I can literally feel the black under my eyes. Sometimes we get lucky and only one Cub is unsettled but last night was the worst with all 3 cubs battling 'The Teething Monster'.
I hate seeing my babies in pain and when you’re camping there is the added stress that you will disturb other campers around you. If only one baby is unsettled you also worry that your other children will wake up and make an already hard situation even harder.
I remember one night with Keira, I walked over 50M away from the campsite (we were on cleared private property) as I was so worried of people being annoyed at us.
I have battled teething a fair few times now and as much as it's easier said than done, it's really important not to stress out. Don’t worry about what others “might” be thinking, chances are they probably don’t even realise or have been where you are and are empathetic. Just stay calm & focus your energy on comforting your baby and not your surroundings.
Teething is a part of growth. There’s no worser feeling for a parent than your baby being in pain. We don’t want to be up comforting our poor baby so if you are around, have some compassion and don’t make the parents feel worse than they are. I can assure you we aren’t just laying there letting our babies cry, we are doing everything we can to comfort them.
Teething is very tiring for you & your baby. You may feel like because your baby is no longer crying; laying in your arms or next to you with their eyes closed that they are asleep, but sometimes their little bodies are just so exhausted that they have no energy. They want to sleep but just can’t so throw your schedule out the window, if you have one. Let them nap at odd times & in ways they normally wouldn't.
Bonus points if you can nap too.
Make sure you can access your medicine kit. We put ours up in a top cupboard which was safe and out reach , but it turned out a little difficult to get to when you're holding a crying baby, trying not to wake anyone else (except hubby, he can wake up), trying not to turn lights on and, well, a bit hazy from lack of sleep. So, it has now been re-homed to another cupboard which is much easier to get to.
Bonjella can take 5-10mins to start working and Pandal can take 15-20mins.
Every minute counts & you don’t want to be running to the car in the middle of the night or having to lift furniture to retrieve it from it’s storage place.
Remember, you are not alone. All babies teeth AND it does eventually finish. At the time it feels endless but there does come a point when all their baby teeth have pushed through and you don’t have to worry about comforting a teething child... until many years down the track when they’re 25 calling you to complain about their wisdom teeth... or was that just me? Sorry Mum.
Invest in a good teether that doubles as a toy. My first daughter had no interest so I never really looked into them but my twins chew like crazy. I realised the teething rings, although great, were pretty boring when our cubs weren't teething. Kmart sell a great range of teething toys.
I feel like all you do as a parent is look for cues but sometimes they can really help you understand what your baby is going through especially the obvious ones, unless you're like me who realises afterwards that there was plenty of warning I just didn't put the whole puzzle together. I know some of these can indicate other things but the most common signs of teething to remember are:
Good Luck! I'm off to take a nap
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