Archives for posts with tag: Teething

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Aren’t you tired of seeing the same baby products everywhere? Of perfect moms commanding you to buy the last item of this brand you already know? These 8 items promise to change your routine, as they are innovative for babies and parents. And they are available online! No need to be showered or have baby ready to go to shop these.

1.

Grape tooth wipes - Special Needs Essentials

Oral care for the dummies! The disposable tooth wipes developed by pediatrician Dr. Ray Wagner help prevent children’s tooth decay early and safely. Wrap one around your finger and gently wipe baby’s teeth. They are naturally flavored (apple or grape) and individually wrapped for your convenience. Can even relieve teething if placed in the fridge 30 minutes prior to use.

2. theraputty set of 6

Unlike most play dough, this one comes in different colors and resistances from xx-soft to x-firm, letting babies figure out which one works best for them or progress from one to the other. This is a 6 different recipes pack and you don’t have to make any single one of them at home! Tan is xx-soft, yellow is x-soft, red is soft, green is medium, blue is firm, and black is x-firm.

3. Color My Bath - Special Needs Essentials

Color My Bath non-toxic tablets fizz releasing color when dropped in your child’s bath. The innovative thing here is that they are all natural, non-staining and eco friendly, as they are made of food grade coloring, soap and perfume free.

4. Safety toothbrush - Special Needs Essentials

Serving also as teethers, safety toothbrushes introduce baby to oral hygiene softly, so that they won’t be scared when time comes to do this regularly. They can play with these first quality items by themselves as they are big enough not to be pushed too far. Let them explore!

5. Knobby Q - Special Needs Essentials

“Beyond the pacifier” is what they say. This high end bumpy, round teether offers a fun mouth exercise for little ones without latex, lead, BPA, PVC and phthalates. Meanwhile, the little stem of the Q encourages side chewing and the big size of the item keeps mouth open for sound play. Plus it makes a cool bracelet.

6. Oddballs - Special Needs Essentials

Oddballs are the coolest toys of this list. No boring squares and triangles here, these 4 unique sensory balls have modern graphics and gorgeous colors that even adults love. AND a portion of each sale goes to Free The Children. This non-profit “carries the power of WE globally, empowering communities to lift themselves out of poverty through [their] holistic, sustainable international development model, Adopt a Village.”

7. Turbo Bubble Blower - Special Needs Essentials

Full disclosure: the Turbo Bubble Blower is not the toy that will teach baby to blow. But isn’t it nice to play with a frustration free toy for once? Just pull the trigger and thousands of bubbles will pop up in the air, stimulating baby’s visual sensory development.

8. Bath Toys - water flutes - Special Needs Essentials

Water flutes are also frustration free. No need to place fingers in the right spot, just fill them with various amounts of water and blow to hear beautiful music during bath time. Plus, instructions are included so mommy doesn’t have to figure this all out by herself 😉

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We are honored to have Sarah Lyon from OTpotential.com share a guest post today about simple sensory strategies that can bring relief to complex problems! Sarah Lyon shares with us her solutions to sensory problems as a mom and an Occupational Therapist. We hope you find her ideas helpful as you educate and interact with your child!

Sarah OTPotential.com (1)“My son has a biting problem. He is almost 12 months old and whenever his world gets a little too exciting he will start chewing on me with his five razor sharp baby teeth.

pencil toppers2bAs this is a painful experience, I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to analyze why this is happening. I know that chewing helps soothe his gums during teething, but you can’t tell me that his gums just happen to start hurting when he gets excited or frustrated. At first I thought the biting was purely behavioral and that he was doing it to get attention. While this may be a part of the problem, I noticed the other day that when he gets upset in his crib he gnaws on the railing. If that is solely an attention getting device, it is a very poor one as I took me a long time to notice the behavior.

__017640_previewFrom my pediatric occupational therapy courses and my time spent working in the mental health field, I know that oral motor is one of our powerhouse senses, meaning that it has a remarkably strong ability to soothe when our bodies are feeling disorganized. My guess is that, in his own little way, my son is unconsciously tapping into this powerhouse sense to help himself feel calm.

KnobbyQ1-editedI’ve taken to carrying a knobby chew toy for him to bite in replace of my arm. I’ve been surprised at the times this has actually worked. Granted it isn’t a fix all, and he still gets a very firm “no” for biting. But at least I have a framework for thinking about the situation and a strategy to try.

This is what I love about sensory strategies, very simple tools and approaches can sometimes bring relief to very complex problems. We may not be able to “fix” the underlying cause, but they can sure make day to day a whole lot easier.”

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

OTpotential.com

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