One tooth, Two tooth

There is nothing worse than seeing your baby go through pain and not being able to do anything about it. It is a feeling of utter helplessness and despair. Evan is teething right now and he's having a really rough go of it. Not only does it cause uncomfortable fussiness, but he is also losing sleep, a low grade fever, constipation and loss of appetite. Oh, and did I forget to mention the ear tugging since the mouth and ear share the same nerve endings (learned that one the hard way after an emergency trip to the doctor).

He started teething a little over a month ago and the pain/irritability has come in waves. He's already broke one tooth, but this second one seems to be bothering him worse than the first. He cries and cries all while trying to put any and everything into his mouth to knaw on to relieve the pain. I used to let him chew on my finger, but now that he already has one tooth it hurts me to let him do that. I feel like I've tried everything under the sun to help him from teething tablets to Children's Tylenol to every teether ever made. It's not so much the fussy part that bothers me, its hearing his pain cry and knowing there is nothing I can do until the tooth breaks through the gum. I've even moved on to Children's OraGel. His doctor advised against it since it is easy to over dose on and could lead to a more freaked out baby due to the ease of numbing their whole mouth.

I know this too shall pass, but I'm ready for it to pass now! And the bad thing is this is just the start of it. He still has 31 more teeth to come in which means many more nights of restless sleep and days of feeling helpless. It's hard to take the ups and downs of parenthood in stride, when the love of your life is looking at you with tear filled eyes wanting you to comfort them.

So, if anyone has any advice I'm open to it, short of drugging my baby or getting him drunk (yes, its been suggested several times for me to rub whiskey on his gums or put a thimble full in his bottle and I'm not going to do that). I don't know what I'm going to do when he starts walking and starts getting bruised up from falling and running into things. I may need to ask advice on how to medicate myself for it.

This was a good day when his teeth weren't bothering him as bad. Ah, the good ole days :)