My daughter is not yet 5 months and she has all four of her first molars cutting through her gums along with a lateral incisor. Yikes. Amazingly she is still sleeping through the night...for now anyway.
She is coping with painful gums much better than the previous issues with colic and gas. While she was squirming and gnawing on her hand, the thought "reflexology" came to mind. If it helped adults, why not babies too? I didn't get licensed as a reflexologist, but I did take a class many a moon ago and I thought I remembered the teeth being associated with the toes and fingers. I started squeezing her toes and immediately she stopped fussing and fidgeting.
Acupressure and Reflexology run along the same scope of focus, so I did a little googling. Seems there is varying schools of thought on where the teeth pain centers correspond on the feet and hands...as far as I got into my search anyway.
You will notice on this hand chart, the teeth point is where a ring would be on the middle finger.
I've been pressing and holding that on the hand that corresponds with the side of her mouth that seems to be bothering her (BOTH currently!) Really, her hands are so tiny, that if I just let her hold my finger, it goes all the way across all of her fingers, and I just squeeze. If you do some searching yourself (I put some links at the bottom) you will find that a common suggestion is pressing and holding the webby part of the hand between the thumb and pointer. I've been doing all of the above and still squeezing and holding her toes.
When she got really upset yesterday, I sat her in her bumbo seat and squeezed every little finger and toe. She calmed down. I've also read the suggestion of holding a piece of ice against the web of your hand. I may try that if she lets me. FYI - I wouldn't leave a piece of ice on a sweet little hand for more than a minute.
I also got the Boiron Teething Relief Camilia since it doesn't contain any food additives, preservatives, or numbing agents.
Video - Acupressure
Video - Acupressure
Article - Acupressure
Article - Acupressure
Article - Reflexology
She is coping with painful gums much better than the previous issues with colic and gas. While she was squirming and gnawing on her hand, the thought "reflexology" came to mind. If it helped adults, why not babies too? I didn't get licensed as a reflexologist, but I did take a class many a moon ago and I thought I remembered the teeth being associated with the toes and fingers. I started squeezing her toes and immediately she stopped fussing and fidgeting.
Acupressure and Reflexology run along the same scope of focus, so I did a little googling. Seems there is varying schools of thought on where the teeth pain centers correspond on the feet and hands...as far as I got into my search anyway.
You will notice on this hand chart, the teeth point is where a ring would be on the middle finger.
I've been pressing and holding that on the hand that corresponds with the side of her mouth that seems to be bothering her (BOTH currently!) Really, her hands are so tiny, that if I just let her hold my finger, it goes all the way across all of her fingers, and I just squeeze. If you do some searching yourself (I put some links at the bottom) you will find that a common suggestion is pressing and holding the webby part of the hand between the thumb and pointer. I've been doing all of the above and still squeezing and holding her toes.
When she got really upset yesterday, I sat her in her bumbo seat and squeezed every little finger and toe. She calmed down. I've also read the suggestion of holding a piece of ice against the web of your hand. I may try that if she lets me. FYI - I wouldn't leave a piece of ice on a sweet little hand for more than a minute.
I also got the Boiron Teething Relief Camilia since it doesn't contain any food additives, preservatives, or numbing agents.
Video - Acupressure
Video - Acupressure
Article - Acupressure
Article - Acupressure
Article - Reflexology
