The Secret to Good Parenting

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Hyland's Teething Tablets. Write it down. Here's a picture.

See the picture of the baby on the package? He's not crying or fussy, and he's obviously teething since he's gnawing that teething ring like a hungry dog attacking a chicken bone. Look at his sweet little blood thirsty eyes. Ok, I'm exaggerating on that last sentence, but the rest is true. And if you've had a teething baby you may have believed that last exaggerated sentence more quickly than those who haven't experienced it. 

Many educated people with multiple letters after their names on the signature of their emails would tell you that children don't get fussy when they are teething. My own children's pediatrician whom I adore told me the same thing. And there does tend to be a movement towards over medicating children that I don't want to be a part of. So I know many parents use "teething" as an excuse to give their children an extra dose of Tylenol or Benadryl when they don't want to sleep. But I do believe that some children experience pain during teething. I mean, their teeth are ripping their way through baby's tender gums. That's got to hurt some. I also think babies, just like adults have different tolerances to pain. So while some babies can pop up a few teeth without batting a sweet little eyelash, some are miserable drooling messes who can't sleep and only want to chew on their hands, your hands, pacifiers, anything they can get their stubby little fingers on. 

My husband and I discovered the magic of Hyland's Teething Tablets when our oldest child went through the process. Someone was kind enough to share the secret with us and so I'm passing on the majesty of these unassuming little white tablets to anyone who cares to read this blog post. My son is very dramatic. Even though he is adopted, he inherited this trait straight from me. I can't even get mad at him for it because it's like looking into a mirror. I should have known that he would be dramatic by the way he went through teething. He is usually extremely laid back and easy in general. When he was teething, he cried non stop. If he actually fell asleep, it was short lived. The pain would wake him up. I gave him pain relievers sparingly because, as I stated above, I'm not one to over medicate my child. We tried every type and brand of gel that is supposed to numb the gums. They seemed to work for a short period of time, but his whole mouth would get numb, which only led to more drool. When we were told about the tablets, we were skeptical. "Yeah right," we scoffed, "a homeopathic tablet is supposed to make my child fall asleep instantly and stop crying from the pain?" So we bought some just to try it out, and went ahead and picked up an extra bottle of Ibuprofen for when it didn't work.

It worked.

The next time he cried and drooled and began shoving things in his mouth all at the same time, I slipped in a teething tablet under his tongue. He kept right on crying. Then as it started to dissolve, he slowly started to forget what he had been crying about. I gave him another. He sucked on it and pressed his tongue against it until it dissolved, and then he fell asleep.

I had forgotten about the baby NyQuil until my nearly four month old began drooling her way through several outfits a day. She's pretty tough and seems to have a high tolerance to pain and pesky brothers always trying to tickle her feet. She hasn't started to get fussy, but there are times when sleep doesnt come quickly. I'll give her a pacifier and rock her and she fights me unearthed tooth and nail to shove the pacifier out of the way to make room for her chubby tiny fist. Tonight was a hand chewing night, and I had a brand new pack of the tablets. She dropped the pacifier and immediately started crying. I saw my opportunity and took it. I slipped a tablet in during the wide open mouth wail part of the cry.  It immediately started to dissolve. I put her pacifier back in her mouth and Voila! Instant sleep.

If only everything in life was so instantly gratifying. Now I, too, need to go sleep while the euphoria lasts.