Left Central Incisor Broken Through!

Desmond has his first tooth.  Unbelievable.  Just blows my mind.  Not just because he has a tooth, which changes the landscape of his beautiful pink old-man-baby-gums, but because I made a creature that had teeth buds!  Think about it.  At one point, I had a full set of mini teeth buds growing inside of me.  Reminds me of that scene in the last book of Twilight...you know the one I'm talking about.  And yes, I read the whole series like 3 or 4 years ago.  Hopefully, once I finish writing my dissertation, that would cancel out the fact that I've read Twilight.  Anyhow, it's now grown to the point that when he's drinking water from a glass or eating food from a grownup spoon, you could hear his tooth clanking. 

It's really hard to see and he doesn't like me poking around in his mouth as much as he used to.  So, he'll turn his head and purse his lips.  I only catch glimpses of it when he throws his head back and chuckles.  So many people have warned me that teething will be the worst few weeks of my life.  Our pediatrician said that only about 30% of babies show the "classic" symptoms of teething: pulling on ear, fussiness, etc.  Desmond has been putting things in his mouth ever since he could grab them.  Every single thing goes into his mouth the second he grabs it.  And when other people (usually moms) see him doing so, they always remark, "Oh, there he goes!  You'll see a tooth in there soon!"  This has been going on for about 4 months and I don't have the heart to tell them that they're the thousandth person to say so and that I don't think he'll be popping out any teeth anytime soon.

The second I felt the nub of a tooth popping through, I giving him the following teething-friendly items:

Oh Plah! Teething Bracelet

Somewhat generic teething ring

Wooden rattle (given to Des as a Christmas gift from his Aunt Melanie)

I also ordered him this:

An amber teething necklace!  It's not meant to be chewed on...it's long enough that I don't worry about it being too tight on Desmond's chubby neck but not long enough that he can play with it and pull it.  Each amber bead is also individually knotted so that if he does pull too hard and pull it off (not very likely), all the beads will stay in place.  Anyhow, the way it's supposed to work is that the heat from the skin releases succinic acid, which acts as an anti-inflammatory.  Not once have we had to give him acetaminophen.  It may be that he's one of the 70% that doesn't exhibit the symptoms, but I like to think that the amber necklace helps, partly because it's so stinking cute on him.  However, one thing that has been different is that his poops are...for lack of a better word...more watery.   He'll drop a load and all of a sudden, what I think is pee would start leaking out of his diaper.  So, I go change him and realize it's not pee, it's poo water.  Yes.  Fecal water.  My nanny says that her son had the same types of poops when he was teething.  This is a common side effect (maybe due to the increased saliva production?)  Oh, the glamorous life of a mom...

We also got him this popular item:

Sophie the Giraffe, made out of all-natural rubber and food-grade paint

But he's lost interest after about 2 days.  He prefers this:

Yep, that's an old bottle of Mylicon (the anti-gas medicine that doesn't work) that we washed out.  He likes gumming the top of the dropper: it's rubber and squishy.  

So, if you're baby is around 6 months and everyone is telling you that it's going to suck and to dose him up with acetaminophen, try other non-drug alternatives first.  You may be in the lucky majority that won't ever need to give their kid drugs for teething...if so, hooray!  No fussy babies.  Well, not due to teething.

P.S. Even though he's getting his first tooth, he's making this weird face that older people who have no teeth make.  His lips sort of flatten out, his chins disappear, and his cheeks puff out, like this:

He does it ALL the time.