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My inlaws came to visit today, and my mother in law picked up Gabe to hold him for a bit. He promptly started to chew on her hand, and within 5 minutes of her arrival, she says, "Hey, I feel something in his mouth!" I wrestle him down, pry his mouth open, and lo and behold, there is AN ACTUAL TOOTH. Already out of the gums. Exposed. External. Broken through
the skin.
I AM HIS MOTHER, AND I NEVER NOTICED THAT HE WAS TEETHING A TOOTH.
If you come over and look in my medicine cabinet, you'll find that I have daytime baby oragel, and nighttime baby oragel, and infant tylenol and infant motrin. In my fridge I have 4 teethers, and in the freezer I have one. Do you think I gave him any of these? Do you think that when he woke up at 1am, 3am, 3:15am, 3:30am, 4am and 7am the other night, that it even occurred to me that he might be teething? Friends from my new moms' group complain left and right that their babies are teething, and I sat here thinking, "boy am I glad Gabe isn't teething."
Someone should call child services on me. I suck.
Of course, now that my inlaws are here, today Gabe acted like a complete fuss pot, as if to demonstrate that it is obvious to any random bystander that he is teething, and I am a negligent mother that never noticed.
So we have two options here:
(1) Worst mother ever.
(2) Best teether ever, who gives no indication that he is teething.
For the sake of my delicate sensibilities, I am opting for option 2. I already feel guilty enough.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
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20 comments:
Don't feel bad. The exact same thing (mother-in-law visiting and looking in babe's mouth) happened to me yesterday. I hadn't checked in a week and then she checks and there it is! It's funny that our kids are born on the same day and have a tooth discovery on the same day.
How about not worst mother ever but first time mother? Cut yourself some slack!
From someone who knows from good teethers, I can tell you without a doubt that this is a case of "Best Teether Ever." I mean really, Gabe deserves a ribbon or something. A certificate of appreciation?
Did I tell you that when Lady popped her first tooth, she had been "off her game" on a visit to my parents' house and I blamed it all on the travel? Then when we got home, all of a sudden, there was a tooth. But she never screamed or anything, was just kind of out of sorts and chewing on everything through all of the excessive drool. In retrospect, duh. But at the time? Never occurred to me that it could be a tooth. Now that he's popped his first tooth, you start to pick up his teething signs, which will probably be a lot like his "about to hit a milestone" signs, so then it's fun to try and figure out if he needs tylenol because he's teething or no tylenol because he's about to start crawling and you don't do tylenol for that.
At any rate, you, my friend, are blessed with an excellent teether.
If he hasn't yet tried out his brand-new tooth on yer delicate anatomy, then he certainly deserves the title of Best Teether Ever.
Oh my God, it's TOTALLY number two! I am so jealous of your little toothy guy! ALB has been teething (with the fussing and the drooling and the general crankiness) since he was four months old. He's now more than eight months, and still no teeth. What the hell is up with that?!
Trust me, that tooth has to be a VERY recent addition, because you'd FEEL that little bugger!
And, maybe that's a clue as to why he went off nursing for a bit -- sometimes the pressure needed to nurse plays havoc with those little teeth and gums! All in all, I'd say it's very considerate of him to not bite you AND stop nursing so he made sure not to bite you. Clearly a case of Best Teether Ever. Clearly. All the facts are in, Counselor.
Totally not your fault - babies are so random, there's always an excellent chance you wouldn't even notice him being "extra fussy" - I know I never do with Zoe. You need to give yourself some credit - if he was utterly miserable, you'd have noticed. He probably just wanted a bit of extra comfort and you obviously provided him with that.
So... verdict? You rule!
I never noticed things like new teeth. Some mother in playgroup would ask how many teeth my baby had, and I'd have to go look in the kid's mouth.
It sounds like that kid of yours is growing fast!
I am so jealous that Gabe broke a tooth! Sean's drooling and nawing on everything, and teething like mad and nothing yet!!
You are not a bad mother! Just lucky your son isn't "teething"...!
It's hard to know the difference between teething and just general fussy. I have friends who every time their child cries or drools a drop, they blame it on teething and out comes the medicine ect. So, ease up on yourself. I did the same thing with tooth #3 on mine the other day. It happens to all of us.
What they all said.
I missed the first one, too. But after that it was, "when in doubt, orajel and baby motrin!"
I think he is an excellent teether and you are an even better mother - what a team! I can't believe he has teeth now! Where has that little baby gone? Good luck with the feeding with a tooth - ouch!
Obviously it's #2. Obviously.
Clearly option 2. I can't even imagine you in the other category...
He is clearly, obviously, couldn't-be-anything-else-but, the best teether ever (and here you can read it on the internet in your comments, so it must be true!).
Trust me, any of us with kids can tell you stories about the time we realized we were the worst mother ever for missing something. Like the time Curious Girl woke up at 4 a.m., a week after her first surgery, crying, crying, crying, and feeling kind of warm. And then she started projectile vomiting. I called the doctor, couldn't get an appointment until 3:00 that afternoon, and I spent the day with her in the sling, just sitting on the bed or walking around, while she slept, cried, or vomited, feeling warm the whole time. When they took her temperature at the doctors, she had a 104 fever, and immediately gave her tylenol. Why had I not thought to either a) take her temp or b) give her tylenol to bring the fever down? Another one of those first time/worst-ever mother things.
So enjoy the tooth, and may he continue to wield it lightly :).
Option 2, clearly
When my niece was 3 years old,(She is now 15!),her mom took her to the doctor because she didn't seem 100%. When the doctor looked in her ears he threw a fit and yelled at my sister-in-law that her daughter had a raging double ear infection and why didn't she bring her in sooner?????? What kind of mother was she?????
My sil yelled back,"WELL I GUESS I WON'T WIN MOTHER OF THE YEAR!!!!"
The problem was that my niece happens to have a very high tolerance for pain and she never said a word. She was three!!
So,don't feel bad. Those new teeth are sometimes hard to see at first.
You're at the easy stage now. Lillianna is 9 and has lost 13 teeth so far. Wiggly teeth that are hanging by a thread gross me out!!
too funny! julian just got his first tooth this week and i had no idea it was coming in.
i vote for option 2 for both of our kids. :)
I keep stopping whenever I start trying to fill out Mimi's baby book. Want to know why? One of the pages has a tooth chart and a place where you can keep track of when each tooth came in.
I have no. earthly. idea. when any of Mimi's teeth came in. Yeah, I can look at pictures to try and "remember," but I have no physical record of any sort.
So please don't feel bad -- you have the rest of his teeth to catch up! ;-)
Wow, was I glad to read your blog and see that you and I are VERY similar in this sense at least. I only read this page, but I noticed my lil girl has fangs coming in like dracula, and has been miserable. I suck for not tending to it! thanks for being so honest! Your being the best mother you know how to be:) PS> i love halloween to. Check me out at www.wackymindblog.blogspot.com
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