Arrghh, teething

They say teething starts around 4 - 7 months.
My cute (adorable even!) 3 month old seems to have missed that memo and decided now is the perfect time to start cutting teeth.

If any mum had complained to me abot teething, prior to my daughter I would have sounded very earnest and had a very convincing concerned look on my face, all the while thinking "seriously, complain much! How bad can it really be?"
And then when I was pregnant with my daughter I got the toothache from hell and being pregnant the dentist could only give me a "quick fix" that helped with the pain but didn't stop it. I had to wait until my daughter was born (5 months later) before I could have the proper work done when the baby was safely away from x-ray machines and other bits and pieces needed to perform root canal.
Life went on and I thought nothing more about it until my daughter started teething and I felt helpless when trying to make her feel better. Then it suddenly dawned on my under-performing, over-tired brain - this is like the 5 month toothache I had and I whinged and bitched about.
Nothing I tried worked for me and half of these things aren't recommended for babies so how was I supposed to ease the pain my baby was going through?

My daughter started showing signs of teething at 5 months. She was irritable, got rosey red cheeks, drooled all the time and constantly putting things in her mouth to chew on. When she couldn't find a toy she would normally gnaw on her hand.
Her bottom two teeth were the first to break through but that wasn't before they came up and down for 2 months. Just as soon as you would see the white just on the surface of the gum it would disappear again and pop back up a week or so later, along with the irritability.
At 7 months, her first tooth finally cut throgh the gum.

Being older than 6 months, I was able to give my daughter rusks. When she got a temp, I was able to give her panadol. I put small holes in dummies and froze them for her to suck on, I always had teething rings in the fridge and was always available for cuddles when she just wanted some comfort.
My savour was Hylands teething drops. They were little white homeopathic tablets that I used to put on her tongue and they would dissolve. Within 20 minutes of giving her a tablet she would calm down and relax. I really believe that these tablets made sleeping through the pain possible for her (and me).

Now happy and healthy 3 month old seems to have the same nasty signs of teething. Red gums, white at the surface (hard to imagine if you've never seen it before but really amazing to witness) drooling (I forgot about the constant changes of wet clothes) colourful nappy changes and just a little bit irritable. He's a pretty chilled bub so he seems to be handling it all quite well - but he picks his moments...
And I forgot about the biting while feeding part. Ouch!

So, did my teething tricks work well enough last time to try them again this time or should I opt for something new, like the amber teething necklace - although a boy wearing a necklace doesn't seem right when his sister isn't wearing one??
Hylands teething drops are no longer available so it's not possible to test their performance on my son.

I've decided on teething rings, chilled overnight in the fridge. A dummy filled with water and frozen. Strangely enough massaging the gums. My daughter would never have let a finger near her mouth but my son seems to love it when I rub my fingers over his gums, it stops the rolling tears and brings a smile to his little face.
My newest addition to the teething game is Chamomilla. They're homeopathic drops just like the Hylands so I'm hoping they have the same calming effect. The directions say to use 5 tablets a time for adults and children over 2 so I'm going to start with one tablet and see how I go. It's homeopathic so it's near impossible to cause any bad reactions.

As for the nights where baby is in pain and we're both feeling miserable sitting in the rocking chair at 2am wishing we were both sleeping..... It wont' last forever.
Just another 2 years to go.....