Show me those Gums

Over the course of the past few weeks Emerson has entered the “I put everything I can in my mouth,” phase. While this is a normal phase for exploration of the world, it can also signal something else; the beginning of teething.

When babies start to teeth they turn from these sleepy, snugly little bunnies into these drooling, slobbery, mood raging monsters. A laugh can quickly turn into a cry, and little gnaws quickly turn into hard chomps.

While the past month Emerson has exuded these early symptoms of teething it hasn’t been until this past week that we really think a tooth is on her horizon. She has ferocious desire – nay, an urgent need to have something in her mouth at all times. Sometimes whatever she can find is sub-par and she makes her frustrations known. As she’s vigorously chomping she’ll expel these exasperated shrieks. She’ll rip her pacifier out just to turn it backwards to chew on the silicon sides and handle. If she loses grip (or interest) in her toys she luckily has her hands to soothe those achy gums.

Another sign that even I was unfamiliar with is decreased appetite. For the past few days it seems that Emerson went from eating every two hours to never wanting to eat. She’ll happily go 4 – even 5 hours between her meals. We still offer her milk every two hours or so, but we’re lucky if she takes even an oz.

It also doesn’t help that she’s at an age where she is easily distracted. If we’re nursing and she hears a new sound, or somebody talking she needs to stop and find the source of the sound. Half the time she won’t go back to nursing afterwards, so our nursing sessions have become very very short!

Since I’m on IV’s we’ve been doing a lot more bottle feeding, so she’s still taking in enough overall milk & formula, not to be concerned… she just likes to take most of her meals in the evening hours. Her prime time for milk guzzling is between 8 and 11 pm. Just yesterday she ate around 10-12 oz in that period alone, half of her daily intake need!

While Emmie may be a bit crankier here and there, we know it’s only because she’s working hard and soon she’ll have a small white cap pushing through her little pink gums. While it’s hard to see her in some discomfort we’ve been basking in the cuteness that is her gummy, tooth-free smile.

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