So Tired Of The Teething Excuse

[Daycaremomof2]

My one year old just cut her first molars. She had no diaharrea, fever, or runny nose. These were molars-the big boys of teething!! "Teething" is just an excuse for people to bring their child to daycare and justify to themselves that its ok to leave your sick child at your provider's all day so they dont feel guilty.

I am on a mom's forum as well, and so many mothers always blame teething, and call it teething from the start. I can't tell you how many mothers of 2 month olds complain about all of the teething problems their new baby have. "She's drooling- must be teething. She's fussy- must be teething. She's sick- must be teething." Then when no teeth come out for 7-8 months later, it's no big deal, because by then they forgot all about it. Seriously.... how many 2 months olds do you know with teeth?

[Kaddidle Care]

I had a teething excuse for crankiness for 3 days last week. DCG wasn't sick...just a sourpuss and really grumpy. On day 4 when dad brought up teething again I said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this isn't teeth...it's two and it's going to be terrible." Dad said he wanted another opinion. ::

:: Just wait until he hits 3!

My first son acted a little "off" one day at 3 1/2 mos. and I happened to check his mouth and there was his first tooth.

My 2nd son screamed about everything and teething wasn't a fun thing. I think the older they are when they teethe the more they feel it - tougher gums.

Still.. runny noses, soupy poops - nope, not teething. The parents may be stuffing them with juice bottles to calm them and that would cause the soupies.

I know most of you love to care for babies but our center is 2 1/2 -6 and we don't have to deal with "teething isssues". In fact, at the moment, we don't even have any in diapers! happyface

[Meyou]

My one year old just cut her first molars. She had no diaharrea, fever, or runny nose. These were molars-the big boys of teething!! "Teething" is just an excuse for people to bring their child to daycare and justify to themselves that its ok to leave your sick child at your provider's all day so they dont feel guilty.

I am on a mom's forum as well, and so many mothers always blame teething, and call it teething from the start. I can't tell you how many mothers of 2 month olds complain about all of the teething problems their new baby have. "She's drooling- must be teething. She's fussy- must be teething. She's sick- must be teething." Then when no teeth come out for 7-8 months later, it's no big deal, because by then they forgot all about it. Seriously.... how many 2 months olds do you know with teeth?

There are kids that really struggle with teething although I think they're the exception, not the rule. One of my girls got teeth several at a time without a peep but the other struggled with every single one. Horrible drooling, red cheeks and rash, mild fevers and just miserable pain. The tooth would break through and her personality would change immediately. We kept her home from daycare several times because she was just miserable. her 6 year molars were the same although she didn't drool at 5.

[Daycaremomof2]

She definitely struggled, just no physical signs of illness, I guess is what I mean. I noticed she was teething yesterday, after wondering for the past week why my child was acting posessed! She threw her head back and screamed and I saw 4 corners of teeth poking out in the back of her mouth on both sides. I'm not saying it's not going to hurt at all, but I would love for someone to show me the scientific evidence between diaharrea and teething.

[Meyou]

She definitely struggled, just no physical signs of illness, I guess is what I mean. I noticed she was teething yesterday, after wondering for the past week why my child was acting posessed! She threw her head back and screamed and I saw 4 corners of teeth poking out in the back of her mouth on both sides. I'm not saying it's not going to hurt at all, but I would love for someone to show me the scientific evidence between diaharrea and teething.

Oh I totally agree with you there! My dd never had a runny nose or diarrhea but she was still a hot mess for several days with each tooth.

[cheerfuldom]

I think the point is that when a parent has been complaining about teething for the first 4 years of their child's life, it's time for them to wise up and see that it doesn't take that long for teeth to come in. Its an easy excuse so the parents dont have to do anything about the problem or admit that their angel is a little monster sometimes.

[MissK]

There are kids that really struggle with teething although I think they're the exception, not the rule. One of my girls got teeth several at a time without a peep but the other struggled with every single one. Horrible drooling, red cheeks and rash, mild fevers and just miserable pain. The tooth would break through and her personality would change immediately. We kept her home from daycare several times because she was just miserable. her 6 year molars were the same although she didn't drool at 5.

^^^ I agree. My daughters didn't have a problem at all with teeth. Our oldest just opened her mouth and had one one day! Now our youngest, our boy...has had a problem from tooth #1. never fevers or diarrhea or anything just crabby, not sleeping, red cheeks and horrible drooling. Once that tooth popped through he was back to his normal self. So while he definitely doesn't exhibit the other symptoms some parents think teething causes it definitely affects him differently and is harder on him that it was my daughters.

[Unregistered]

Any time that I or my husband isn't feeling well, we always remark that we must be teething...LOL! I have a 3 1/2 year old here part-time who is apparently a perpetual teether...I expect that she'll still be teething by the time her wedding day rolls around...

[seebachers]

I am crabby and ouchy today......at 41 I must be teething too

[mommacat]

I actually had a parent tell me that her,"teething child's diarrhea was caused by swallowing all that drool

[AnneCordelia]

My one year old just cut her first molars. She had no diaharrea, fever, or runny nose. These were molars-the big boys of teething!! "Teething" is just an excuse for people to bring their child to daycare and justify to themselves that its ok to leave your sick child at your provider's all day so they dont feel guilty.

I am on a mom's forum as well, and so many mothers always blame teething, and call it teething from the start. I can't tell you how many mothers of 2 month olds complain about all of the teething problems their new baby have. "She's drooling- must be teething. She's fussy- must be teething. She's sick- must be teething." Then when no teeth come out for 7-8 months later, it's no big deal, because by then they forgot all about it. Seriously.... how many 2 months olds do you know with teeth?

Two of My own four children had two teeth before three months old and six teeth by six months. Notba fever, whine or anything out of those boys. :-)

[saved4always]

I can understand why parents do that but.....

Two of My own four children had two teeth before three months old and six teeth by six months. Notba fever, whine or anything out of those boys. :-)

My own 3 kids never got fevers with teething. But I have had parents try to blame teething for fevers.

Parents will sometimes grasp at anything so they don't have to miss work. I understand, when I worked full time, I only got 5 sick days on a rolling calendar. So if I called in, I did not get that sick day back until that exact date the following year (call in on 2/10/2012, get that sick day back 2/10/2013). I was always on the edge of going over my sick days at which point I would have gotten a verbal warning. It was very stressful for me and I am sure I sent my kids to daycare when they were borderline sick because I was afraid for my job. That is when I decided to quit and stay home with my youngest. With 3 kids, it was just too much; someone was always sick. So it no longer made sense for me to work outside my home.

That being said, it is not ok to bring sick kids to daycare, tryiing to pass it off as teething or whatever. I can understand the stress of working but I don't allow sick children to come to childcare and I will send them home if they develop a fever anytime during the day.

[MarinaVanessa]

I actually had a parent tell me that her,"teething child's diarrhea was caused by swallowing all that drool

You can blame that on Dr. Sears. He's an author of some baby books. It's so rediculous I want to choke him.

There are a lot of doctors that disagree with him. ALOT, as in pretty much every other doctor there is. They also say that the stress on a baby's body could cause their immune system to weaken which causes them to be more susceptible to illness so baby's could possibly be sick while teething but the symptoms aren't directly caused by the teething ... in other words, baby's have a higher chance of getting sick while teething which is why so many babies get fevers etc. during this time.

I think the comment above about how a baby's gums recede is interesting. I'll have to remember that one.

[sharlan]

I had one child that had a horrible time with getting new teeth all the way through grade school.

He ran high fevers with every tooth. He also got horrible fever blisters on his lips and canker sores in his mouth.

[jessrlee]

I just cut my wisdom teeth and I ran a low grade fever, my nose ran, my eyes ran, I had a total attitude problem, and bathroom problems. Maybe I had a bug at the same time, but I gotta say I have a lot of respect for my little guys that do this all of the time.

As long as the parents are honest about illness I let "teething" kids come to care. I find it hard to figure out if they are actually teething or have a mild cold, as I would allow for both I just make them comfortable and apply orajel