Teething pain

Poor Rosie. She's really suffering at the moment with her teething. With Tobes his teeth just seemed to appear. Apart from the occasional use of Bonjela, he never had any problems. Not so with Miss Rosie Rae.

It started with on overproduction of mucous and a cough. I took her to the doctor many times but since she wasn't running a fever they just said to let it run its course. The English docs are big on non-intervention, building up the immune system and riding things out. I grew up getting a penicillin shot if I sneezed funny. I don't know if things have changed in the States too but here it's very hands-off.

OK, so Rosie wasn't running a fever. Perhaps she wasn't ill. Could it be allergies? The doctors didn't want to prescribe anything because Rosie is so young. "You don't want to give a baby a lot of drugs and if it is allergies she'll probably outgrow them eventually." Okaaay. Hmmmm. So what I'm hearing is that instead of giving her medication to make her more comfortable we'll just let her be miserable for a year or so until she outgrows it. It is an understatement to say that I was not thrilled with that answer.

Next step, the homeopath. I've dabbled in homeopathy over the last year or so. Someone recommended arnica before my cesarean with Rosie. I was dubious but was very surprised at the positive results. When Toby had terrible gastroenteritis last year and the GP took the usual 'let it run its course' approach I decided to talk to the Neal's Yard homeopath and the remedy worked within two hours and Toby slept through the night for the first time in weeks. So I'm a convert and now have my own little homeopathy kit at home but this time Rosie needed professional help.

After an hour talking to the homeopath (appointments with our doctor are limited to 10 minutes each!) I was told that it was probably related to teething rather than an allergy and Rosie was prescribed a couple of remedies. Within a day her symptoms improved but, as I'm discovering with homeopathy, it seems to bring a condition to its head and at the moment Rosie is drooling like a tap and has developed an unsightly rash on her chin. Poor little thing is falling apart. I turned to my home kit to deal with her other symptoms and added some Calpol for good measure and things seem under control now. Rosie is more comfortable than she was and will hopefully be back to normal as soon as those teeth break through.