Apple as baby teether

From Tim:

Our one year old daughter has found a favorite way to sooth her sore mouth when she's teething.  We buy small apples in the grocery store, peel them whole, and then our daughter grabs the whole thing and sucks and chews on the apple.  She is a finicky eater, so she mostly spits out the small bites of apple she manages to dislodge, but this has really helped her when we don't want to give her Tylenol.

[Just keep a close eye on your baby -- the chances of her choking on a too-large piece of apple are slim, but still... -- Ed.]

Tags: Baby, Teething

Comments

[none]

I recommend asian pears, they dissolver rather than breaking down into chokeable pieces.

[bbum]

Agreed on both counts; Apple (and other fruit) makes for wonderful teething relief and there is a definite risk of choking.

My wife found these devices that look kinda like pacifiers, but have fine mesh nets for the bit your baby would suck on. The "handle" part could be unscrewed such that you could put fruit (or whatever) into the mesh net.

Baby can then teeth all they want and the only bits that get through are small enough not to be a choking hazard.

Beyond Apples and many other fresh fruits, we found that frozen berries worked well, too.

[momma2mingbu]

We used celery stalks. If they don't have very many teeth yet, there is very little chance that they are going to bite anything off of it. (Still need supervised though!) They are cold and hard and can reach the BACK of the gums if that is where the child needs it! (I've found that most teethers you can buy don't do any good for when those painful back teeth are coming in...nothing reaches back there!)

[Lisa]

I always used a refrigerated cucumber. It seems to be just the right size and if it is cooled provides a bit of relief.

[Rob]

We've found that frozen french fries work wonders. By the time they've thawed it they are able to eat it. It also has the luxury of easy storage and simple delivery.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

Here's the feeder bbum was talking about:

http://www.babysafefeeder.com/

[tracy]

You don't need to buy the feeder: just cut up a muslin cloth or even a washcloth and wrap it around a wedge of apple (or carrot, pear, whatever) and fasten at one end with a rubber band. The small pieces are contained within the muslin.

[Christy]

We put frozen grapes in the baby safe feeder.

[momma2mingbu]

Other good teethers -

Wet, frozen washcloths.

Ice cubes in the baby safe feeder.

"Breastmilk popsicles"

baby sock with an ice cube tied up inside of it

[Heather]

I heard from a friend that freezing a pacifier filled with water worked great for her teething daughter. My son was just annoyed when I tried it on him.