Help With Teething

When babies are teething, they tend to put any new item directly into the mouth. Partly curiosity and partly an attempt at pain management, infants feel the urge to bite and chew. As the teeth are growing, the cells in the gum tissue above the teeth begin to break down, which helps the teeth slide through. The urge to bite or chew is a good thing, because the added pressure helps break down the gum tissue. Give your child something to chew on! You can find homeopathic ice pops, teething cookies, tablets and gels to help relieve your baby’s teething pain. Some remedies sound exotic, using strange ingredients like whole honeybees or infinitesimally small doses of belladonna; others include the use of chamomile or pulsatilla (pasqueflower). They are all quite safe.

Other natural remedies include herbs and oils, which can alleviate pain or help your baby calm down and get to sleep. One common remedy for the pain of toothache and teething is clove oil. Cloves contain oils that have warming, numbing properties, so that even holding a whole clove against a sore tooth with your tongue can ease the pain long enough to get to your dentist. Clove oil can be rubbed on sore gums to relieve pain, but only use a tiny amount: too much can upset your baby’s stomach. Other homemade remedies include letting your infant chew on a natural licorice stick (the herb, not candy!) You can find natural licorice in health food stores: real licorice feels cool and also numbs the gums when your baby chews on it. Wild fennel, a relative of licorice, grows in disturbed areas in Northern California and other parts of the country: you may be able to harvest it yourself along the bike paths. The feathery, fern-like leaves and hollow stalks can be chewed or sucked for a cooling, licorice-tasting treat.

Some parents find that rubbing a little pure vanilla extract on the baby’s gums can soothe the crying child: this home remedy may work in three ways. First, merely rubbing baby’s gums can ease the pain by creating opposite pressure; second, the alcohol in vanilla extract will create a warm sensation that is temporarily comforting. The third way this remedy may work is in the calming properties of vanilla itself. Vanilla is known as a soothing yet energizing agent that reduces anxiety and promotes feelings of well-being. Besides that, vanilla has long been used to cure stomach distress: a baby whose stomach is mildly upset from crying or swallowing large amounts of drool may find vanilla soothing to the tummy as well as the nerves.

In addition to the previous information posted about teething I thought you may like to try your hand at making homemade teething biscuits.  If you are already making homemade baby food you will be sure to find these teething biscuits a wonderful addition to your recipe collection.

Most babies that are in the early teething stages are not yet eating eggs.  With that in mind I picked this recipe for eggless teething biscuits.
Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup dry infant rice cereal with bananas (or other flavored or
unflavored infant cereal)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
ice water

Directions:
Preheat oven 425F
Mix flour and cereal.
Gradually stir in oil. Mix a little ice water at a time (start with 1/4 cup) until dough begins to form a ball and pull away from the bowl.
Roll out to the thickness of a cracker on a floured surface and cut into desired shapes.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 10-12 min. or until lightly brown. Cool completely.

Store in an airtight container. (you may want to try 1/2 plain and 1/2 flavored baby cereal as the taste when using full flavored baby cereal is very strong!)

In addition to teething biscuits sophie the giraffe is always a soothing toy for those little gums in need of a massage.