Recently, the FDA warned against the use of homeopathic teething tablets and gels. These products, the agency said, can pose a health risk to children. Consumers were told to seek medical care if their child experienced seizures, difficulty breathing, or other adverse effects after using homeopathic teething tablets or gels.
Since then, the FDA has announced that doctors should offer safe alternatives to homeopathic teething tablets and gels. “Teething can be managed without prescription or over-the-counter remedies,” Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement…
My comment:
Johnna Stahl · Albuquerque, New Mexico
Like the CDC, the FDA believes in suffering. How much pain are we talking about here? Bone growing and pushing through the gum line. Dental pain, some of the worst pain that can be felt. Torturers use it.
Do babies deserve pain relief? Doctors used to believe that babies don’t remember pain, so why treat it? (Who remembers the pain of teething?) Turns out, that’s not really true. When you’re a baby, your brain is growing and creating new synapses, including those involved with pain. You might not remember the pain you experienced as a baby, but I can guarantee that your brain remembers.
Not every baby will experience a high level of pain with teething, but if that happens, it should be adequately treated with a mixture of baby aspirin and the other non-drug treatments mentioned in this article. There is no purpose to suffering from untreated pain.
All Things Chronic 
In order to “graduate” from my Pediatrics residency program, one was required to “sign off” on a long list of procedures: everything from IV starts to lumbar punctures to complete resuscitation to suturing….to circumcision.
At that time (in the 1980’s), circumcisions of the “routine” variety occurred on the second or third day of life. Once the little new dude had gotten used to breathing air, drinking his food, and being clothed in scratchy cotton instead of warm fluid, he was strapped to a plastic board, bound hand and foot, and his little pecker savaged with a variety of barbaric instruments of torture. No anesthesia, local or otherwise. He screamed and screamed, but nobody came to his aid. For the next week, he would scream every time he peed. And people wonder why men tend to either be violent or weak? Or both? What are they taught on Day 2 of Life? That the world is cold, hard, and excruciating, and nobody gives a shit about their suffering. I believe this is a huge part of why so many men are….the way they are.
The first time I saw a traditional Jewish circumcision I about hit the floor. The little guy was given a nipple with a bit of wine in it. He was held on the knees of his proud grandfather, who helped introduce him to the sacrament of wine. The circumcision itself took less than a minute, as compared to the 15 minutes for a medical circumcision. The baby slept through the whole thing. I’m sure he had a sore pee-pee for a few days, but nothing on the scale of what I saw in the hospital.
I did do ONE medical circ, then refused to participate in any way in that barbaric practice. For this insubordination I was sent to the Gulag (to be explained in a future post). It was worth it.
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After my son was born, there was never any question that he would be circumcised. I had no idea then that babies didn’t get any anesthesia for the procedure. Why would I think that? That’s barbaric.
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Yup.
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