My Teething Artist

Well, over the last week, ever since I've been telling people that Eric's first tooth was starting to come in, I've been getting the same exact response from everybody:  there's a place in such-and-such a place that sells necklaces to help with teething.

You mean amber necklaces?
I don't know, but they really work.  You should buy one.
My response?  Well, Eric hasn't been reacting too badly because of the teething, so I think I'll hold off, but thanks for the advice.  I'll consider buying one if we have a problem.
Then, I feel like I'm being judged as being a bad mother for not buying my son a teething necklace.

Let me start off by saying that I had never heard of teething necklaces before coming here to Spain.  Working a few hours here and there in my friend's nursery school, I was met by the question- You're a dentist- so do these necklaces work?  What necklaces?

I got to the babies' classroom and noticed that the vast majority of babies were wearing amber colored necklaces around their necks.  Rather than answer, I responded, shocked, isn't it dangerous to have your baby in a necklace 24 hours a day?  I guess I've gotten used to seeing little baby girls with earrings, but all babies in necklaces seemed a little weird to me.  I had to admit that, despite being a dentist, I had never heard of teething necklaces before nor had I ever seen a baby actually wearing one up until now.

Anyways, truth be told, I tend to like natural alternatives to problems when there are some available.  I had better results with the patch of eczema on my leg with vinegar and virgin coconut oil than I ever had with the prescription steroid creams given to me by my doctor.  I'm also aware that, for now, the FDA makes it illegal for venders of natural products to show scientific studies showing the benefits of those products because products must be submitted to the FDA as "drugs" and not "foods" (in most cases) to be able to make claims.  So, it doesn't make it easy to know what actually works (even if it has been shown to work in scientific studies).  It also makes it more difficult to know what doesn't work unless you want to actually go out and try it yourself.
In this case, though, although Baltic amber has succinic acid in it, and I consider myself open minded, even I have a hard time believing that there would be enough in the beads that could rub off onto the baby's skin to help with the pains of teething.  So, I decided to consult Dr. Google, and, of course, couldn't find anything to really help me either way.  I did find other mothers very similar in thinking to me (In this case a " cloth diapering, clothesline-using, breastfeeding, Ergo-wearing, organic container-gardening, babyfood making, composting AND worm farm type of gal" who likes "going the natural route if possible, but on the other hand (is) a scientist by trade..." ) with the same questions.  I felt myself highly relating to them, and must admit that I, also on the science side of the study spectrum, also use cloth diapers part-time, have worn my baby at times, organic garden, make my baby food, compost, but I don't have a worm farm nor do I use the clothesline so much any more after getting sick of hanging up each and every sock, having sun-bleached colored clothes, and having towels that were stiff as boards. :)  I did also find the comments section interesting because other people swore by the teething necklaces.
Most other sites that I've found have tried to keep an open mind, like me, but are also skeptical. Others say that they can't prove they work, but think that enough people think they do to make it possible- so you should buy a necklace from them to try it out.   I then decided to consult another highly accurate source, the Mythbusters website :), but there although several people were asking the question, it really hadn't been addressed.     

I instead decided to give Eric some food to chomp on as it seems like he has been very happy to be given the chance to eat by himself lately.  I gave him pieces of cucumber, fresh from our organic garden, because I'd read that cucumber wedges were good for soothing teething pain.  Eric started to really bite off pieces, though, so I was a bit worried about him choking on a hunk of cucumber, and took it away.

He is very good at eating bananas by himself now, and I give him half of a banana at a time and let him chew away.  He actually prefers to eat them that way now, and is sometimes stubborn about not wanting to eat from a spoon.  (I'm too old for that now, mom!!)  So, I've started to give him small pieces of other fruits and even meats for him to eat by himself.  When eating small pieces of chicken, though, he starts to put too many pieces in his mouth at a time, and then I worry about him choking again.  He takes a really long time to swallow the meat, and it tends to accumulate in the roof of his mouth until I give him water to wash it down. Incidentally, he seems to drink more water when I offer it to him in a glass with a straw than he ever did with the sippy cup.  So, I give him that option often.  In the end he eats a lot less chicken when eating small pieces, so I make sure to give him at least one of his bigger meat and vegetable meals as puree each day.

One day, since he was already very messy from trying to eat bananas and pieces of avocado by himself, I decided to give him something messy to do.  I had seen that you could make finger paints for babies using corn starch, water and food coloring.  Since he likes to smear avocado pieces all over his high chair tray, I figured he would love the project, and I made some for Eric to see if he'd want to play with them.

Making a mess is fun!

I was surprised, though, that he didn't seem to want to smear the paints around on the paper that much.  Maybe I shouldn't have had him do the project on his high chair, which he associates with eating, because he seemed more interested in eating the "paint" at first.

Little by little, though, he did smear some of the paint on the paper.  Most of the time, though, he seemed to just prefer to play with the piece of paper. So, I decided to let him get out of the chair and play with the paper on the floor.

Messy Eric explains the significance of his work of art

My little artist finished his first work of art by throwing the paper around, swishing the paint (and, likely, avocado and banana) around on the paper, rolling around on it, and spreading it with his feet.  He eventually decided that his work was finished, and proceeded to spread paint, banana and avocado all over his ball and a couple of toys that were waiting for him on the floor.

I decided that it was time to clean off Eric, the high chair, his toys and the floor, and put him to sleep for his nap.  Afterwards, I decided that, although the experience was fun, I probably will wait another couple of months before letting him express his artistic side like that again. :)
For a limited time, though, you can download a picture of his prized abstract expressionist work of art right here:

I don't think Jackson Pollock has anything on this budding artist, do you?
Well, next week we are looking forward to celebrating the fiestas here in Denia.  There will be activities for the kids in the barrio of the first group of marineros, where Mauri's parents live.  Being as active as he is, I plan on letting Eric be a part of the fun, so I'm sure I'll have lots to show and tell you all soon!!