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By Carolyn Monahan, M.D.

Some children are actually born with a tooth or two. I’ve seen it twice in 40 years of practice. The rest of teeth come in over a wide variety of times and unpredictable order- it’s unique to each child. Some sail through teething, but many are crabby to the point that parents will call me at midnight or schedule extra doctor visits…. Usually the first question the parents ask is “could it be an ear infection?” & the parents are often more distressed than the child.

There are gum numbing meds to purchase over the counter which usually don’t get deep enough to reach the problem, and how many times do you really want to give oral pain relievers to a your child in their early years.

The “treatments” I was taught in Med school during the 70’s are questionable to downright dangerous. One old professor swore by the “whiskey nipple” where a tablespoon of sugar was tied into a rag that was then soaked in whiskey for the child to suck on. A year or so later it was found that alcohol could dangerously lower the children’s blood sugar causing seizures or death. Some of my friends quipped “but we can still prescribe it for the parents.” Other MDs said they gave sedatives.

“Sedatives!!!” my head screamed, “I don’t thinks so!”

Then one day a child presented with a blood blister at the site of an incoming tooth and I decided to extend my search to pediatric dentists. I called some of the most respected, and their answer was universal-

Biting.

The best analgesic for deep gum pain was biting. When biting, the pain fibers were temporarily numbed. Babies knew this and were trying to bite, but I noticed that few teething rings on the market allowed for a good clamp down on the sore gums. They were just too fat.

Over the years I found that a thinnish ring with various bumpy projections is the ideal. Metal and wood don’t give enough, and fabric is so soft that it breeds germs. Today there are many concerns about toxins the plastics most teething rings use. So where was this mythical perfect teething ring? Now there’s the rub.

A friend went to the local big box stores looking at every teether displayed and there wasn’t a single one made in the USA, and almost none made out of plastics that had undergone enough testing to be used in an adult’s mouth for a few minutes at the dentist. The thought of my granddaughter spending a great deal of time sucking on one for an extended period of time made me cringe with worry over long term effects (think breast cancer associated with some plastics).

Necessity being the mother of invention, I turned to Bella’s father for help. Working together, and including advice from Daniel’s aunt, an MIT trained chemist with 30+ years in testing, we created the Circus Teethers and BugBite.

We believe that these are a safe and comfortable solution for all concerned, and maybe fewer night calls.

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There are very few days better than my yesterday. Not only was San Diego classy with its perfect spring-y 75 degrees, but I had the privilege of doing “research and development” on our latest product line. That means that I twirled on a grassy knoll with my beautiful niece as we both grasped small planes -she held Amelia, and I flew Ace. We had to get our wiggles out before we landed the planes on their landing strips. We rushed into the classroom, found the runway that was the letter “a” and practiced our graceful descents into alphabet heaven.

As an “expert” educator with a master’s degree in education, I’ve attempted to teach her in the past, but she has the attention span of a two-year-old! Of course, her distractibility does not bother me since she is two, after all, but sitting still is not one of her many talents, and has made my lessons in the past difficult. She’s an explorer, a do-er; she is her father and her mother’s daughter, and I love her. In all of her sticky-fingered, movie line quoting, distractible glory, she is, perhaps, the most perfect person I’ve ever met, and today I taught her how to write the letter “a”.

In a world that often seems ruled by incredibly powerful boxes with wires, it was a beautiful thing to incorporate twirling in the sun into my niece’s educational plan. I hope that all of you wonderful readers out there know that I’m taking my work seriously and, while I respect technology greatly (it definitely has a very important place), I am striving to develop a program based around the philosophy of simple goodness. I want my “interactive” component to involve another person and the “movement” in it to come from little arms and not from the shifting and clicking of a mouse.

I hope that someday soon that you, too, will have a day like mine.

After Toy Fair, Ducki wanted to see his pals at the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in Boston. Carin, a Boston native, was there to help him find a few good homes.

It seems that Ducki has the travel bug- makes sense that since he is the only PVC-free American-made duck, he should see America; no news yet about his next adventure, but stay posted…maybe the next city he visits will be yours, and let’s just say that Ducki is pretty generous when he visits a city (aka: Free stuff!!!).