So, we took JJ in for his 4 month appt yesterday (12lbs, 2 oz, 23.75inches tall, head circ 16.5 inches) and I asked the doctor what we could do to ease his teething discomfort. He says,"let me tell you about a patient I lost because of teething" and tells us this story:
"I am called into the emergency room one day to see a little girl, about 5 months old. She's green. After examining her, I determine she's suffering from liver failure. It turns out her mother and grandmother decided that they didn't want her to suffer through teething so they had been giving her infant Tylenol every 4 hours for the last 2 weeks! We were able to get the little girl a liver transplant and she managed to go through the chemo to deal with the rejection just fine. Then her brother came home with the chicken pox and she died about 6 hours later from a major chicken pox infection (her immune system was just that low)."
ACK!!! Like I wasn't paranoid enough about giving JJ medications as it is. How scary is that?
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OMG!! How sad is that? I can't imagine giving my child that much medicine for days on end, much less even for ONE day! I'm a bit paranoid about over-medicating, too. I don't know what you've decided to do, but this has worked for us...
First, during the day, give a cooled teething ring. The hard plastic kind (vs. the soft, gel-filled kind) work rather well. Just keep a few in the fridge. Another thing that works really well is a damp washcloth... they love to gnaw on it!
Second, just before bed, give a dose of ibuprofen... in my experience, ibuprofen works best on teething, because it really works to reduce swelling. Giving it before bed obviously helps them to get to sleep a little better (the tooth pain can make it really tough getting them to calm down!). Usually, I only have to give them a dose a single night here and there when the teething is really bad (on very rare occasions, I'll do it 2 nights in a row). If you think they need more medication that this sparse amount, I've heard that you should alternate between Tylenol and ibuprofen. I never had to do it myself, but it's good to know.
Good luck to JJ popping those suckers out soon!
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