All I Want Is My Two Front Teeth
Josie is heading toward 16 months and she has, like, 2.3 teeth. There’s the two little fellers on her bottom row and the one little nub we can see coming in on top. We suspect that more are coming in, because she was teething last night. But we’re starting to feel like our perfect little angel is also going to be a perfect little toothless angel. Which wouldn’t make us love her any less, but could lead to serious social and dietary problems.
It’s not something we’ve ever worried about, really. But in the past few weeks, I keep running across babies who are Josie’s age, or a little younger, and who have these great big mouths full of teeth. We went to this Tot Shabbat thing, for instance, which Josie spent running around with this very sweet little boy who was a month younger than her and who had every single tooth. It was almost freaky to see this tiny person with a mouth that looked ready for a Colgate add.
The truth is, I find Josie’s look — the Gummed look — cuter than the Toothed look. At the same time, it’s one of those things where we pretty much know we’re going to have some sleepless nights in the days to come. Because, after all, her teeth are down there somewhere (right? right?) and they’re not going to stay down there forever. My mother insists we shouldn’t worry, because Lorenzo, my beloved nephew, got all of his teeth seemingly overnight. She tells this story over and over.
So it’s going to seem odd to be asking this at this stage in the game, but are there any other Babbleonians whose kids had teeth that came in this late? Or are we as freakish as I feel like we might be?
And also: is there anything we can do when her teeth do start to come in, en masse? Other than our usual procedure of giving her a rum rag and putting on earmuffs. Should we be worried about the fact that Josie is older (and therefore more powerful, and therefore more powerfully capable of expressing her displeasure)? Is there some magic incantation we can say to elicit these missing teeth? Perhaps putting a poster of Julia Roberts over her bed? Or okay, scratch that — maybe Barack Obama?
Any mouthing off on late teething syndrome most appreciated…
Can I suggest taunting her? At 10 months old, my dd did not have a single tooth in her mouth. I began telling her that if she didn’t get started soon, she was going to go to pre-school without teeth. Well, she showed me what she thought when a few weeks later, she bit me one morning and the teeth didn’t stop coming after that. She’s almost 2 now and has had all her teeth since last summer. Yes, taunting works…. (not, just kidding for all of you who take this kind of thing seriously)
Believe me when I tell you that you do NOT want them to come in all at once. 1 tooth = 1 tooth’s amount of teething pain, while 8 teeth = 8 teeth’s amount of pain, and there is not enough ibuprofen in the world to deal with it.
mine has 4 morlars coming in and all the little teeth next them peeking out, her gums are red and she is drooling like a dog. Pray that they don’t come in all at once or you might be tempted to ship her off the grandparents until they are all done. We use crack( Ibuprofen) because it helps with the swelling and anything frozen. Frozen waffles are her favorite because she can gnaw on them instead of the wood. Ice cubes crushed, and a frozen rag. And lots of cuddling! Good Luck
I know one friend who swore by frozen bananas cut in half for her kids, apparently they were hella helpful for her little girl to gnaw on what with the yummy frozen-ness. Baby anbesal works great too, I used to use that back in my babysitting days (at parents request of course) surprisingly the baby anbesol works better then the grown up kind…
Since I’m not a parent, I may not be qualified to comment, but I am an aunt of two. Close enough. Anyway, according to my parents, I got my first tooth at fifteen months. Must of all come in at once. I can’t really remember:) In my case, slow teeth meant only one cavity and no braces! Her teeth may be taking longer, but think of what you’ll be saving on dental and orthodontic care.
my son didn’t get his first tooth until he was past a year old, now he’s 27 months and has 10 teeth. my mom says i was the same way. it’s just one of those things that’s different for different kids – like how some babies have tons of hair right from birth and some kids are basically bald until they’re 2 or 3. it’s nothing to worry about.
i second the frozen bananas. we’d cut them into chunks and put the pieces into those teething feeder things.
Frozen fruit will save your life in desperate times.
But don’t worry about her edentulous mouth. I met a baby who was over 1 year and still had no teeth while my daughter had 8 teeth by 9 or 10 months.
Cooper is almost 15 months and has 6 teeth, all in front, and two molars are beginning to peek through. My neighbor has twins who are two. One had a full set of teeth by age 1 the other is still looking for all of hers to come in. They do come in eventually. No worries there. As for teething solutions, baby tylenol or motrin are must haves. I tried orajel, that did NOTHING except make Cooper make lots of ugly baby faces and cry. Bread with a good crust is a favorite. Cooper also still uses a pacifier, without which life as we know it would be IMPOSSIBLE. He may graduate from high school with one in his mouth, but he is surviving the teething.
Ugh. What you should do is savor these non-teething days. Our daughter, who is 10 months old, woke up with a 102 fever just after New Years and was drooling like Niagara Falls (she never drools). I flipped her over and sure enough – FOUR teeth at once! The girl hasn’t been right since, but there is relief in sight, as two of the four have broken completely through. Load up on the mesh feeders for ice and the baby motrin – that works better for us than Tylenol, for some reason.
I haven’t tried the frozen waffles but will shortly because I keep catching her gnawing on her rocking horse, the little woodchuck.
When my daughter was Josie’s age, she had a mouth full of teeth and NO hair. None. Totally bald, but she could gnaw down a porterhouse steak, no problem. We were a little concerned.
Now, she’s 9 and has gorgeous auburn curls half-way down her back.
Josie will get teeth in her own time.
Neither of my kids had any teeth until after their first birthday and they got teeth at a normal rate and have all of their teeth now. (Although their molars are behind.) Now, my almost 8 year old is traumatized because he still hasn’t lost a tooth. (Which means we are hoping that the tooth fairy won’t be ruined before she even visits!) Bizarrely, little old ladies will tell you it’s good that the baby’s teeth are late because, “That means they’ll keep them longer.” What does that mean? They won’t need dentures until they’re 84 and three quarters instead of 84 like everyone else?? Also, I embarrassing lost a baby tooth in high school, so I know where they get it from. Just be glad she isn’t getting teeth like me – apparently I got the eye teeth in on top first before the middle ones and had little baby fangs for a while. Darling, I’m sure.
Highland’s Teething Tablets and Tylenol are a godsend. Ditto the frozen fruit. And, surprisingly, our son really enjoys it when we clean his gums with those rubber gum brush things and the flavored baby toothpaste. He was screaming last night because both top front teeth are coming in at once, and we just massaged his upper gums with the brush….he went from bawling to giggling in ten seconds.