Teething Babies

Minion Number 3 is 22 months. Just a few months away from the "terrible twos"; although with him it looks like "Tyrant twos" might be more accurate. I am sure we have all seen the Toddler's Rules of Possession meme that has been making rounds on social media. I recently saw it again on Facebook and thought to myself how accurately it described my tyrant of a little minion.

The other day, Minion Number 2 had decided to have a snack of peanut butter crackers. She made some for herself and after encouragement from me and daddy, she also made a small plate for Minion Number 3. She handed him the plate and he started shoving the little crackers in his mouth with much gusto. As soon as Minion Number 2 sat down with her plate and started eating her crackers, Minion 3 started screaming and having a full on melt-down. Apparently, in his eyes, her plate of crackers were also his, and she had just stolen his food. Never mind that there were more crackers there than he could eat in one setting.  Poor Minion 2, she didn't know what was going on, or why he was crying. Confusedly, she looked to me for answers. When I explained why he was crying, she tried  to explain to him that she was only eating her crackers. Of course the only thing that worked to get him to calm down was just a little bit of time.

Don't get me wrong. Minion Number 3 is a very sweet little boy, but like most toddler's he is still trying to work out the rules of social interaction. To make things worse for Minion Number 3, he has had a bad bout out teething. I know 22 months is a little late for this kind of issue. It caught me a little bit by surprise myself. Especially, since his first teething coming in only seemed to give him a little bit of discomfort.

What started out as just a mild grumpiness grew to nightmare proportions. It started a few weeks ago. Minion 3 went to bed as usual and right on time at 8pm. However, at 11pm, we hear him start to stir. We leave him be for a few minutes, to see if he would go back to sleep. Needless to say, he didn't and after just 10 minutes, the restless stirring escalated to full on wailing. I go into his room and check on him. He felt a little warm but nothing alarming. I pick him up and cuddle him a little while also checking his diaper. It checks out, but the cuddles are not working to calm him down. That is when I notice that he is acting a little 'weird'. He would push at me as though he wanted me to put him down and then he would throw himself forward on me. I put him down, thinking maybe he had a bad dream and just needed a moment to calm down, but he continues that weird behavior of sitting up and then throwing himself forward on the floor. I offered him some water to drink, frankly because watching him cry so much was making me thirsty. He would go through the motions of taking a sip, but would start crying again before actually drinking anything.

At this point it becomes apparent that he is in distress and obviously in discomfort. I feel around his ears and neck to see if I get a reaction out of him (checking of ear infections). Nothing. Finally, just completely stumped, I gave him a dose of baby Tylenol. The time it took for it to kick in felt like an eternity, but at last he calmed down and started drifting off to sleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, I lay him back down and I start winding down for bed. Shortly after drifting off to sleep (about 4 hours after I had giving Minion Number 3 his Tylenol), he wakes up crying again, and we repeat the session above.

And so this behavior continued over the next few days. Minion Number 3 and I were sleeping in 4 hour increments and it was not doing either of us any good. Finally, late at night on the 3rd or 4th night of this, I called my insurance's 24-hour nurse hotline. The fantastic nurse on the other line, compassionately asked me several questions, and finally had me look in Minion Number 3's mouth. Sure enough, his gums were swollen and I could see the white points where his new canines were trying to cut through and fill in the gaps between his incisors and his eye teeth that has already come in. In addition to those, he was also starting to get his two-year old molars on the bottom. (No wonder he didn't feel well.)

A friend of mine from high school told me about amber teething necklaces when I shared this story with her. She said that her daughter had a horrific time cutting teeth and that this was the only thing that worked for her. So I looked it up, and decided to give it a try, even though I know most of the time these things down work.



This Bambini & Me amber necklace offered a lot of the same things that other amber teething necklaces offer, but a few features made it stand out.


Features & Benefits:

• 100% certified high-quality Baltic amber
• Warm to the touch
• Safety knots between amber pieces
• Natural immune system booster
• Includes a silicone teething necklace mom can wear!

I really like that there are safety knots between the amber pieces. Minion 2 has had several bead necklaces and once those strings pop, beads go flying everywhere. Having those knots in place ensure that in the event the string does give out that there are not going to be a million of little amber pieces to try to clean up.


Another boon for me is that with this product from Bambini & Me, you are protected by our 30 day NO QUESTIONS asked money back guarantee.

After receiving it, I tried it on Minion Number 3. It fits perfectly. It fit him just slightly more loose than a choker style necklace. Normally, putting any necklace around his neck, he is irritated with it and is trying to pull it off within three minutes. To be perfectly honest, he doesn't seem to mind this necklace. And it looks absolutely adorable on him. Here I have just laid him down for a nap, and was just about to take the necklace off for him to sleep.

 So far we have noticed a great improvement. He is now sleeping through the nights again. He is eating and drinking normally. He does still run a little warm, but it is within a normal range and we have not had to give him Tylenol in several days. He seems happier, and to me that means the world.




Safety Suggestions:

• Infants should be supervised while wearing the necklace- no chewing.
• Remove the necklace if child is left unattended.
• Necklace is not to be worn while sleeping.
• Necklace is double-knotted for added protection, but if broken please discard.

Another side effect of teething is all the drooling. I have used regular bibs in the past but they usually just trap moisture next to the baby's skin which leads to chafing. With my first two children, I had reached out to family members who knew how to sew to have them create double layered bibs for my kids. I used to have them sew a cotton/polyester blend cloth over the top of terry cloth for extra absorbency. The bibs were functional if not the prettiest. I recently found bibs that I could purchase that had that same dual layer idea but were way cuter than anything my relatives and I could  have thought up.

Patoshi has created these super cute bandana style bibs. As I mentioned above they are dual layered with the underside created from a layer of fleece. These bibs are incredibly soft and really absorbent.

Another bonus for me is that these bibs do not use Velcro for the closure. As many of you already know, Velcro on children's clothes don't always work. The Velcro has a very limited life span and quickly loses its ability to fasten as the little hooks and loops age. These bandana bibs use good old fashioned metal snap closures. It also has three different positions so that baby can feasibly wear these from 3 months to 2 years.

As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update.

Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Meatloaf was right with two out of three ain't bad, except when it comes to sick children.

These past few days has created a complex mixture of emotions within me. My two youngest children have been feeling under the weather with a stomach virus. My morning started out well enough. I had gotten to sleep in because the older two were out of school for Fall break.
I woke up and got Number 3 ready for day care and running errands. My plan was to run errands and then drop him off later. Number 3 was acting a little weird and that should have been my first indication, but I just chalked it up to a restless night for him. Right before we reached out second stop, he started whining in the back seat. I stop the car and look back at him just in time to watch him throw up. Well, not just trow up, but turn into a spewing fountain of curdled milk.

 (You would not believer how many pictures there are of babies projectile vomiting.)

From his car seat he projected the vomit so violently that he almost got it on the back of the seat in front of him. It took about two seconds for the shock of vomiting to register within his toddler brain. When it finally did he freaked out. Never in his 1.5 years of living could he recall his body betraying him in this manner. Then to top it all off, he was now covered in slimy milk curds. His little mind could not wrap around the events and so he sat there, too afraid to move for fear of getting the milk curds anywhere else on him and he cried. Needless to say my errand running for the day was over.

But that was only the beginning.

When I got Number 3 home, safely in the door, I started stripping him down less than two feet inside the house to contain the mess. Number 2 comes up to me before I am done stripping down Number 3 and informs me that her head hurts and that she has already thrown up this morning. Concerned with an emerging pattern I call Number 1 to interrogate him on his well-being. He reported that he felt just fine.

I cleaned up Number 3 and got him and Number 2 some Tylenol as they felt like they were running fevers and then I convinced them both that what they needed more than anything was some rest.

What then followed is what causes me to have my internal conflict. Number 2 and Number 3 slept. The got the rest their little bodies needed. Normally all three of my kids interact with each other antagonizing and fighting creating most of the noise within my whirlwind of a life. However, with Number 2 and Number 3 out of commission my house experienced a quiet peace it had not experienced since before we moved in. I watched Number 2 and Number 3 in their cute and peaceful slumber. I also got to read a book without being interrupted every other line. For the most part my day was perfect with the exception of the occasional instance of vomit in stereo as Number2 and Number 3 coordinated  stomach onslaughts. Part of me feels bad that my children were not feeling well, but the other part recognized that I do not get many breaks and rejoiced at the opportunity for quiet.

Feeding Frenzy

Hello once again.

My youngest is so different from my older two children.

He, for the most part is laid-back and easy going, except when it comes to one thing.

FOOD.

He can be the most content baby, but when the air shifts, the tension becomes almost palatable. As the winds rise, he would start to mutate the jolly baby face into one of monstrous wrath. These signs would mean that we were 3.2 seconds away from a temper tantrum and victuals would need to be located for him ASAP.

He eats with gust,o and it is amazing that he is right on target for weight. However, food always has been a constant battle between him and myself. When he was just starting table food, his biggest complaint was that I could not spoon it into his mouth fast enough.

We developed an uneasy rhythm.

Spoon, Gulp, Scream
Spoon, Gulp, Scream

Feeding him an entire jar of baby food (no joke) took maybe five minutes. And heaven forbid, I didn't grab two jars on a day when he was feeling particularly hungry. But screaming, you know, is all a part of this joyous journey of growth call parenthell, I mean parenthood.

The real struggle was not known until he figured out that he could control his hands. At which point he thought he would be more capable than me to shovel food into his mouth.

Now feeding time became a nightly wrestling ritual. Who would maintain control over the spoon? Feeding grew more arduous for both him and myself, as well as becoming much more messy as he tried to show me that he could do it. I became formally introduced and treated nightly to the baby food facial.

Then I found a saving grace. I found these little pouches filled with baby food.

I could just take off the cap and hand it to him. Little mess for me, no fuss from him. Nick loved them. He could now feed himself at his own pace and I could finally breath a sigh of relief.

But as the nights of quiet feeding passed, I began to realize that each individual pouch was expensive, and I still had quite a few jars of traditionally packed baby food.

But I could not go back to the way it was before. I began to look for alternatives and low and behold I found them from a company called Squooshi.

Squooshi makes these little reusable baby food pouches. They remind me of little zip-top bags with a spout.

I was so excited to try these little things out. When they arrived I immediately pulled them out and started trying to fill one up. I looked over the little slip of paper that came with it, and followed the instructions. I opened the zipped end and started spooning the food in.
(Whoops! Forgot to put the cap on the spout and now there is baby food dripping off the counter and onto my shoes.) So I put the cap on and tried again.

It was a huge mess.

The opening is rather small and in the process of spooning the baby food into the pouch about half of it gets on the outside of it and on your hand. Then you have to try to close the zip top which squishes out even more of the baby food. (Maybe that is why they call them the Squooshi)

Even though they were a mess, Nick loved them. Feeding time was no longer a battle of the wills. He developed a sense of pride that you could see beaming from his happy face.

I kept using the Squooshi pouches for that reason alone, and I did eventually devise a system that made filling the pouches faster and mess free. Here is where I will share this secret with you to save you time and a mess: I learned to forget about the ziptop as far as filling goes and just to use them for cleaning. I took a cupcake filling injector, loaded it up with the baby food and then injected the baby food directly through the spout.

TaDa! After mixing up a batch of baby food and loading it in to the cupcake filling injector (the one I have and the one shown are Wilton-branded), I could fill half a dozen of these Squooshi pouches in as little as 5 minutes.



Thank you for staying with me through the entire Feeding Frenzy.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcome!