Ouch! Teething!

Baby boy sprouted 6 teeth in the last 40 days, that's an average of one per 6.8 days! His four canines and the two upper teeth have all revealed themselves and thus bringing with them the dreaded teething pains and irritations.

I read somewhere that the canine teeth were the most painful ones of all the teeth and for the past month I really do feel like I've been dealing with a unbelievably fussy child. He wasn't always very fussy there were the treasured few days here and there when (I'm guessing) the teeth stopped growing that he would turn into an absolute angel, smiling happy all day long before turning back into the little devil the next day as though to give his worn out mum a much needed time out.

Signs to look out for when teething are the obvious swollen gums, irritability, sometimes the child will refuse to eat due to painful guns (R was fine but he would reject foods that were too hard or chewy), a little bit of runny poo and especially in the case of canine teeth the child will most likely be touching their cheeks a lot.

Some people say children will run a low grade fever when teething but I personally have never found that with R.

I used a teething gel from when R first started teething to help sooth his gums and I found it definitely helped, especially at night to make sure he didn't wake up multiple times from the pain and assured him and us a restful night.

Also extra hugs and kisses are definitely essential in making the teething period more tolerable.

End of the day

Sometimes I get this weird feeling like...Really? I'm a mum!? As though the last two years passed without any recollections and suddenly there is a beautiful little child laying next to me.

I look at this child as though it is the first time I've laid eyes on him and I sigh, not because I am sad, but because I am happy. Because I cannot imagine life without him anymore. However hard the obstacles ahead for both of us (and daddy) we will go through it together and my life however busy stressful or tiring will be worth it because I know that everyday, at the end of the day, like today, I will be able to look upon this him as if it were the first day, and say to myself 'well done'.

A toothy problem

Every time after one of my sons teeth pops out, I always go through an enormous guilt trip and over compensate him by buying him one (or thirty) new toys.

This might sound like a really strange ritual, but let me explain.

In all honesty my son is not perfect, he has a bit of a hot headed temper (which I take complete responsibility for), and he has a tendency to scream on the top of his voice if he doesn't get what he wants. All these are the toddler norm (I presume) and in general he's a really happy guy who enjoy socializing and playing and eating (especially the latter).

However, in the last week I have lost it with his temperaments on more than a couple of occasions. This has made me question my abilities of being a parent, and reasoned with myself whether or not he really is the devil reincarnated (seriously).

This is of course until I touch the little bit of hardness poking out of his gums that I realize...ahhhhh he was teething!

The thing with teething is that you don't really know it is what it is until the tooth surfaces itself. After all the child cannot say or express himself, we can only guess, perhaps it was this or that. This mixed with our own doubts of our parenting skills creates a very stressful time for both the parent and the child.

I guess after all this, the lesson that should be learned is, no matter what happens remember to be calm, because even though the child cannot control his emotions we as adults cannot loose our heads and do something we might regret and make a difficult situation even worse.

Keep Calm
And
Take a deep breath

Will be my mantra from now on

Namaste