It may have taken me longer than it should or perhaps I’m more in tuned than I thought but I’m so far happy to say that I have learned enough with the past 16 teeth to know how to help my toddler through the next 4, her 2-year-molars.  She very obviously started feeling the effects of this painful emerging a few days ago.  Her fingers were constantly in her mouth, her mood turned volatile and generally on the more sour side, and her sleep started to suffer.  How are we coping?

• Day time snuggles.  This girl is moody when she’s teething.  She doesn’t have much of a capability to reason in teething seasons either so in order to keep her from taking her aggression out on toys or the other kids in our home I spend as much time with her on my lap and otherwise on me as possible.  This is were baby wearing devices come in handy too.  So thankful for them!
• Toddler wearing.  I have both an Ergo (which I keep in the car for errands) and a Lillebaby that both work well for toddler wearing but I definitely have a woven wrap at the top of my baby wearing wish list!  At home I whip the Lillebaby out and strap her on for a hands free piggy back ride when she’s being too aggressive or unreasonable to talk to or to play nicely and keep her there until she seems ready for another round of playing nicely.  Works like a charm!  She just snuggles in and enjoys the ride.
• Thieves tooth rub.  Thieves essential oil blend is a kind of miracle oil.  I use it in cleaning, for immunity when we’re sick, teething, and so much more!  For teething I have a roller of Thieves that’s diluted with olive oil.  When Maisy is roughing it with sore gums I rub some of this on and it numbs those gums right up.  It’s the clove in the blend that does that wonder!  (Learn more about oils here… Essential Oil Guide: FAQ and Getting Started; or buy some oils and/or get the starter kit… [HERE])
• Tylenol.  I’m a very anti-medicine kind of girl but I’ve learned that, when it comes to teething, it is the lesser of the evils.  Maisy struggles greatly with sleep while teething.  If I give her some Tylenol before sleep times she gets the sleep she needs.  This way, she’s not grumpy from teething and tired but just the teething.
• Night time snuggles.  When teething, it is guaranteed that Maisy will wake at least once a night if not more.  The normal Maisy we’ve gotten accustomed to will wake maybe once and we can typically send her back to her own bed after some snuggling and she’ll stay there for the rest of the night until morning.  Teething Maisy, however, repeatedly gets up.  But, if we let her stay in bed with us after the first waking, we all get to stay asleep.  This lesson took me the longest to learn!

For those of you other moms out there, perhaps some of these bullet points will help you.  Perhaps not.  But I’m just thankful to feel like I understand this teething business and how best to cope finally!  Good luck to you on your teething adventures!