You've survived sleep deprivation and the "new parent jitters," and finally your baby is sleeping through the night, sort of. Now, a new issue has reared its ugly head: teething.

What started as intermittent crankiness has now ballooned into fits of sobbing and a watershed of tears. As you try to soothe your baby, you think to yourself, "I wonder if this hurts me as much as it hurts him?" And because he can't tell you how he feels, you do what you can to ease his pain and swollen gums.

When Baby's first teeth begin to "come in," most feel a certain amount of discomfort as the teeth push their way through the gums. The swelling of the gum is a result of the pressure the tooth uses to break through the gum-line tissue. The stretching and puncturing of the gums are what cause the actual pain.

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