There are plenty of moments in parenting that are absolutely magical and breathtaking, once you have kids you wish you had them sooner for the joy they bring to your life is to be truly amazing. There's no better job in life than being a parent and I love the day I became a dad.
But there a moments that are hard and milestones that are challenging to get through. Most of the milestones are great to get through even if you have a few accidents along the way as with toilet training. Toilet training is probably one of the least celebrated milestones. There should be parties in the street, festivals of celebration and public holidays declared every time a child becomes toilet trained! No more stinky nappies 🤣 it's a massive under rated event. My favourite nonetheless for all the reasons above.
Another milestone that is oh so bitter sweet is teething, now I was really fortunate with lil miss 4 she teethed with no issues, not even the slightest of hurt or discomfort. I was a little worried and took her for a check up and the doctor said it was normal. Some kids handle things differently and my lil girl was a tough one. I don't remember teething as a kid but I remember having my wisdom teeth come through in later life and the pain was so intense I took to my gums with a knife to cut away the gum. Short term pain long term comfort. Probably not the best idea and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as I'm sure it's quite dangerous but I was in a significant amount of pain and had to do something and couldn't afford the thousands of dollars in dentist bills to do what I did with a knife in a matter of a few seconds.
I disinfected and I was good as gold.
For obvious reasons, I am not going to use this same approach with my son, I would not dare. However, he is currently teething and what I was spared with lil miss I am receiving 10x with lil bloke. He is not sleeping at night, has high temperatures and isn't coping very well. Bonjella has become my friend but even so, it is not that good to prevent all the pain he is going through.
I got an hours sleep the other night, I remember the sleepless nights with lil miss when she was unwell. It is so much easier with just one child though, you can collapse on the couch holding them. When you have two there is so much work to be done. Breakfast, lunch, dinners, bath, clothing, keeping them occupied. Oh my! Doing all that with 1 hr sleep I just want the day to hurry up and end.
There's not much that can be given a few months old baby for comfort, their bodies are still quite small and can not handle medication without significant risk. I have some baby panadole which is paracetamol for pain. But most of it which is administered through a oral syringe will just end up spat out. Children don't know or understand what it is and purely go on taste and texture.
I also get scared using chemicals and drugs on such a small baby and I will most likely just end up not sleeping this week or month depending how long teething takes.
It is still an exciting time and milestone to reach and I look forward to not having to rely on breast milk or finely mulched baby food. I remember lil miss had enough teeth by her first birthday to eat a sandwich. I can not explain how much easier my life was being able to hand my 1 yr old a sandwich and many of the other parents were in awe as many were still preparing baby food.
It was a great help on weekends when mum wasn't around to provide breast milk or our storage was running low I was able to make meals for lil miss and it was her early teething that got her excited and involved in the kitchen with me to cook. The moment food hit her mouth she was hooked and addicted to making it.
She even loves getting involved and turning our meals into baby food and is in shock at the process. "ohhhhh that's how you make baby food" she'll often try some and is blown away saying "dad dad dad that tastes just like my dinner! it's cute to watch and no doubt I'm helping build and develop some great basic foundations.
The meals I cook are quite exquisite and great, my wife hasn't gone near the kitchen in over a decade. I sometimes whine and complain and her response "Why would I cook when you can do it so much better than me?" 🤣
I'd like to know of any other options available to address teething, so far a few have said to freeze bread crust and provide that to lil bloke to chew on. The cold will numb his teeth and the hardness of the frozen bread will help the teeth cut through the gums.
I think my biggest issue is at nights, I can deal with day time issues but not being able to sleep at night is really challenging and I am finding it hard to get through each new days.
What are your tips and tricks, what worked well when your children were teething and for current mums and dads going through it now. How are you coping?