My little nipper
Tuesday 21st April 2009
When I heard our newborn baby's first cry, I gave a sigh of relief, and lay back on my hospital bed. It was my fifth child with my husband, Clifford, so by now, I knew the drill. Give birth. Wait for the nurse to clean up the baby. Midwife places baby on chest. Pose for first photo. Well, that's how it had been with our other kids, Deacan, 7, Cameron, 6, Kayleigh, 3, and Ashton-Lee, 1. Only this time… 'A proud dad all over again,' Clifford, 31, said tearfully. 'Sorry, there's a problem,' the midwife interrupted, as she stood at the foot of the bed, holding our baby. 'It's a boy,' she added. 'Is that a problem?' I frowned. 'No,' she replied. 'The problem is he has teeth. I can see two at the front of his mouth.' 'He can't have teeth,' I insisted, convinced she'd made a mistake. 'He was only born a minute ago.' But as the midwife laid him in my arms, I saw there was no mistake. 'See,' she said, putting her little finger gently into his mouth and opening it. 'He has teeth.' Sure enough, there were two pearly whites sticking out of his fleshy baby gums. 'They're as big as Deacan's milk teeth,' I gasped. Clifford shook his head in shock. 'I love you, teeth and all,' I whispered, kissing our baby.
He weighed 7lb 1oz, and we'd only just decided to call him Aidan, when the consultant came to see us. 'I hear your son has teeth,' he smiled. 'Yes,' I said, grinning proudly. 'He's a very early starter!' He took hold of Aidan, opened his mouth and peered inside. 'He's got five in total,' he said. 'But why?' I asked. 'There's no way of telling,' the consultant replied. 'It's very rare. But it does happen sometimes.' That wasn't the only weird thing. I listened in amazement as he explained that Aidan didn't just have teeth, he was still teething. 'It's six months earlier than most babies,' he explained. 'And now it's started, there'll be more on the way.' He said there was nothing they could do. 'He can't have medication for teething, as he's so young,' he added. 'Well, I suppose breastfeeding's not an option?' I joked. To be honest, because I hadn't breastfed any of my other children, I'd wanted to have a go this time. But the idea of teeth chomping on my nipples made me shudder.
At home that night, Aidan didn't settle, and over the next few days, he was so grizzly, I called the nurse. 'I'm afraid it's to be expected when they're teething,' she said. 'You'll just have to give him lots of love.' So all I could do was stick with it. Sure enough, a few days later, he cut another tooth. Then another. And another. In fact, as the weeks passed, they kept on coming. The nurse told us we should keep his teeth clean by rubbing them gently with a cotton bud dipped in warm water every couple of days. But there was another problem. 'He's off his food,' I told the doctor a few weeks later. 'He cries every time I give him his bottle.' The doctor looked in his mouth. 'Baby gums are very soft,' he explained. 'Every time he applies pressure to his teeth, like when he's sucking on his bottle, they sink into his gums. We'd normally remove them, but he's too young. His teeth are very healthy, so I think it's best to leave them in.' All we could do was give Aidan Calpol to cope with the pain, and within a few days, he started to feed better. No one knows why Aidan was born already teething. The milk teeth he has will stay until he's older, then they'll fall out as normal. People are fascinated when they notice Aidan's teeth. But I'm proud. After all, not many newborns have gnashers like mine has!