As previously mentioned, my almost-eight-month-old daughter is teething. For some mothers, this is an extremely unpleasant time in their and their child’s life. For others, it’s a cause to brag about how your daughter’s cheeks just turned a bit red and then voila! the next day there were two bottom teeth.

If you are a mother like the latter, don’t talk to me right now.

I got up every hour for the last eight nights in a row to nurse my daughter (because it’s the only thing that would stop her from screaming for hours on end) on totally sore and empty ta-tas—and I had just started weaning her off them!

I am tired. So is my husband who gets up with her at 4:30 a.m. and so is my daughter for that matter. The last thing any of us want to hear is how easy you had it, but you know it’s only cause we are totally green with envy and if there is some magic potion you are using, please tell me!

Every kid is different, but for the most part, the teething period for an infant is pretty regressive and regrettable. We had just gotten our daughter to somewhat sleep through the night—not an easy task for a baby who has the same amount of energy as a teenager hopped up on Red Bull 24/7.

This teething thing, most of which happened while my husband was away on business, really turned her sleep upside down. She went from waking up once to twice a night to about five or six times. Sounds like a party right?

We do have a couple teething rings, but they don’t seem to wind up in her mouth hardly ever. Everything else winds up in her mouth, but somehow the teething rings are the only things in her play yard that just wind up getting tossed around.

Some babies love them however, and if you’re in need of a good teething ring, check out CVS for a number of great brands ranging in price from $2.49 to $5.49. T.J. Maxx only had one type, the Infantino (which looked identical to the Mom to Mom teether) little tubes teether and rattle for $3.99. Infant Tylenol seems to work a bit but it doesn't completely cure the issue (you can also find this at CVS and any other pharmacy around town).

Supposedly we’re nearly out of the woods for a few months, though—I pray anyway! Apparently, the first bottom two and then the top two middle teeth (incisors) are normally the first ones to arrive, somewhere between 4 and 8 months—check!

The rest then fill in from the front to back, skipping the cuspids or canine teeth until month 18 or so. By three years old, your child should have just about all their full 20 baby teeth. So hopefully our head-start will give us a break somewhere in the middle here and get us back to some sleep. Keep your toes crossed for us!

Our baby girl is not only drooling like a fat kid at an all-you-can-eat buffet, she’s also rubbing her eyes like crazy, has a runny nose and does not want to feed from a bottle no matter what’s inside.

I definitely attribute all these to her teething, but many doctors believe that these symptoms are not because of teething at all. Many doctors believe that these symptoms and other complaints parents have—like diarrhea, a low-grade fever, and refusal to eat, are the result of an infection.

A number of these doctors have been reported as saying that perhaps babies obtain infections easier during the teething period because these babies are under a higher amount of stress and are putting their hands in their mouths more, transferring bacteria into their bodies easier.
Some of these doctors take it a step further and say that teething causes babies no real pain at all and to these doctors I say “Whatever!” If you saw this normally completely jovial child right now crying and carrying on you could not possibly think that. Besides, I remember what it was like to loose a tooth, I can only imagine what it feels like to have one rip through virgin gums.

With all these aches and pains, it’s no wonder the first few years of everyone’s life is left in the dark abyss of our minds, impossible to remember. Why would anyone want to remember what it was like to poop themselves, fart uncontrollably, and cry from tooth pain?

I await the age of three for this little one when her memories start to form cement in her mind and the teething is done with. Maybe then we’ll all get to sleep again!