Teaming Up Against Mommy

Dani and Kara have been the best of friends since we brought Kara home from the hospital. It didn’t make sense to me then—Kara didn’t do much as a newborn that I figured warranted the attention 21-month-old-Dani  was willing to give her—but Dani clearly could foresee the best-friend potential her sister possessed from the first moment they met.

These days they can entertain each other for hours, and often at bedtime they try to. Dani asked to move into her sister’s room when Kara was a little more than 15 months old, and at first she was willing to follow the rules in order to sleep within sight of her closest playmate. But as Kara’s speech has developed, she has become the chatty-Kathy of the twilight hours, and more often than not Kara is the reason I become grumpy-Mommy at night, and threaten to separate them again.

During daylight hours, I usually am grateful for their mutual occupation with one another, as they play dress-up and host tea-parties, or play with chalk and use the backyard slide. Their playtime enables me to do the dishes, take a shower and change the laundry…or at least attempt to.

What usually begins as playful-antics can (of course) quickly turn into sibling rivalries of one sort or another. Kara has a toy Dani wants, so Dani takes it. Dani chooses to play her video game, and won’t let Kara play or even watch. Kara still fits into the smaller dress-up clothes, and Dani wants an equivalent available in her size…NOW! Kara’s ready for her nap, and the whining begins. And Dani begins to mother her, which Kara finds unacceptable.

When Kara’s whining begins, I get frustrated, and usually tell Dani to knock it off. But when Kara and Dani’s emotions both begin to spiral out of control, particularly when they are doing exactly what they wanted to do in the first place, I have a hard time keeping my cool. Then I discover the disasters they’ve created in my “downtime,” and I instantly transform into neat-freak-Nancy, losing it over out of place Barbies or dried up pieces of Playdough between the deck-planks outside.

And, when I am in the middle of something, like a brief but important phone call, and they either start whining at my feet about nothing in particular, or fighting over something that I determine to be irrelevant, than it is nearly impossible for me to stay calm-and-collected. In fact, in those particular situations, it rarely happens.

Developmental Milestones of the Mouth: What to Expect and When

If you've just celebrated the birth of your first child, congratulations! Welcome to a world of rapid development and baby milestones. You might now find yourself wondering what you can expect when it comes to oral development and hygiene.

Before the eruption of your baby's first tooth, you can expect a lot of drooling and perhaps some general fussiness. This can occur as much as three months prior to the appearance of the first tooth. Additionally, your baby will want to chew, in order to ease the pain and pressure of cutting a tooth. While you may consider topical treatments such as a soothing gel or a homeopathic tablet, these are fine but not truly necessary. Give your baby a cold or frozen rubber teething ring to munch on, or for excessive fussiness and restlessness, you may consider administering a children's pain reliever such as Tylenol.

Even before the first tooth appears, you can begin an oral hygiene routine by wiping his or her gums with a soft, damp washcloth after each feeding. No toothpaste is necessary at this point. Remember not to allow your infant to fall asleep while nursing or bottle feeding, as both breast milk and formula contain sugars, and falling asleep while feeding can cause these sugars to pool in the mouth.

Most babies cut their first tooth around six months of age, but this milestone can occur several months earlier or later. The first tooth to erupt will most likely be the lower primary central incisor. If you're breastfeeding, don't worry - you don't have to switch to bottles just because your baby cuts his or her first tooth. It's easy to train your baby to avoid biting while nursing, in order to minimize mom's discomfort.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends taking your child for their first dental visit within six months of the eruption of the first tooth, but no later than the first birthday. Be sure to care for baby's new teeth by brushing and flossing gently twice a day. Use a non-fluoride "training" toothpaste until he or she can spit out, usually around age 2-3.

Your baby will continue teething and cutting new primary teeth until around the second birthday, when the two-year molars arrive. It's important to help your child take good care of his or her teeth, and to establish an oral care routine.

Some time around the age of six, baby teeth will start to loosen and fall out as permanent teeth make their way to the surface.

Woelfel's dental anatomy, its relevance to dentistry

The Dental cosmos

Appleton's medical dictionary

The Journal of the American Dental Association

Items of interest