No More Toothless Grin

Saturday, June 27, 2009

filed under: angela chee

A mom celebrates her son's milestone.

Angela Chee: Yea! My son finally got his first tooth -- well, actually he got his first teeth (two bottom teeth). Why am I excited? Because he's a year old and, while I loved his toothless smile, I was starting to get worried that he'd never get teeth.

For months, starting at about 6, he's been teething -- chewing on things, drooling. Every time he got really fussy, I kept thinking a tooth must be coming. Moms told me he might get a fever or wake up in the middle of the night too, if he was teething. I waited ... nothing. Months went by -- no teeth. He even started walking and was still just gums. My pediatrician said not to worry; some infants don't get their first tooth until 14 months. But still I felt that was really late, especially when I go to playgroup and all the babies have a mouthful of teeth. I guess I should be thankful since I breastfed up until 11 months and some moms warned me about the painful biting. Yikes!

I know each baby is different, but every mom knows inside that you don't want your baby to be that different. So when those little white pearls started peeking out through his gums ... I was relieved.

So if you're in the same boat and waiting for your baby's teeth to come in ... don't worry, it will happen eventually.

So now I guess I just have to wait for the other 18!

Angela Chee is a television host, voice-over artist and creator of TheZenMom.com as a resource for other moms because motherhood isn't always so zen. She is a first time mom.

filed under: angela chee

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My two kids were exactly the same way. My 16 month old only just has four teeth. She didn’t get the first one until 14 months and in the last two months received 3 more. Our pedi dentist actually told us kids who teethe late tend to have better teeth since they have more time to build up calcium for them. Our three year old who was a very late teether certainly has lovely teeth.

- Nicci

Posted 06/27/09 01:11 PM

I felt the same way. My son did not get his 1st tooth until after his 1st b-day, and I was soo scared he would never have teeth. He was on the later end of most things and is now walking, talking, chewing, etc. I decided to adapt my husband’s way of thinking: If he is still toothless and immobile at 18, then we have problems. CC

- Anonymous

Posted 06/29/09 09:49 AM

My son is only 8 months old and his first just popped through a couple of days after I first read this. Even then, I’d had tons of people asking how many teeth he had… um, none yet! 8 months isn’t that old, and I certainly wasn’t worried yet, but apparently many people think they should have them before that. A year or more must be horrible for the parents - putting up with 4 more months of questions than I had!

- Anonymous

Posted 07/03/09 08:36 PM