Parents of teething babies know that it can be incredibly difficult to helplessly watch your fussy babies suffer. Especially when pain from their crowning teeth keeps them from sleeping, many moms and dads are open to trying pretty much any trick to soothe them. That's why one mom from England tried a noise machine for her daughter, but when that stopped working, she had to come up with a new solution — fast.
Danni Atkins's baby girl has been in so much pain that it keeps her up at night.
"She's been teething really badly since 6 weeks old, constant dribble and screaming," Atkins tells CafeMom. "She's slept through the night maybe twice and she's 13 months old."
So to help soothe Lyra in the evenings, Atkins started using a Ewan Dream Sheep Sound Machine. This trusty white noise helps keep her calm at night.
When the Dream Sheep ran out of batteries one night, Atkins opted for the next best thing: her vibrator.
At bedtime, Atkins realized that the sound machine needed new batteries, which she didn't have in the house. She didn't know what to do because she didn't want to leave her phone in Lyra's nursery, so she came up with a genius hack: to turn her vibrator on and put it on the floor.
"I was wandering around the house looking for something to make white noise because it really soothes her and I didn't want to use my phone for two reasons: 1. It's my baby monitor with a WiFi camera and 2. I'm quite lonely because her dad left when she was 3 months old after having an affair and I've just met someone new," she says. "It's going well so I wanted to talk to him [on the phone]. I wondered if it would work and I'd been rocking her for over an hour with no joy but as soon as she heard the noise, it settled her straight away."
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The vibrator worked its magic and the sound of the vibration put Lyra to sleep.
"I put it on the floor for about 15 minutes and I was giggling to myself that I could hear it thrashing about," she says.
After being pleasantly surprised over how successful it was, Atkins posted her tip on the parenting Facebook group The Motherload for others to keep in their back pockets. "If it gives someone a laugh then that's all I wanted to do," she says.
Other moms were seriously impressed and praising her for the quick thinking.
Many impressed moms are calling it: Atkins is a genius.
"Holy sh*t balls you are my new hero," one parent wrote.
"You are the future ," another added.
But some asked: Why not swap the batteries?
That would have been an easy and more PG fix, but Atkins explained that it wouldn't work because the vibrator doesn't use the same size battery as their noise machine. "Ewan takes super special sh*tty annoyingly expensive batteries," she commented.
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Some are celebrating her as the Kim Cattrall of motherhood, with the reminder that Samantha tried this too.
A "Sex and the City" episode employed a similar hack when Samantha was watching Miranda's baby.
"You're basically Kim Cattrall to me now," one mom wrote.
Others are just glad she didn't have her baby try chewing on it!
"Haha yeah, before reading and just seeing the bad mom part, I was thinking a child's found vibrating then the teething part, I thought oh god no you've not given it to the child as a teether," one person wrote. "Then got to where it was really going and still wet me self laughing x."
"Oh my god! I thought you'd given the vibrator to your baby to chew too!! " another added.
"I just did a spit/laugh type thing," one mom commented.
But instead of slamming her, many are getting in on the laugh.
"What happens when you want the vibrator along with your phone for some action? ," another joked.
And for those who don't like Atkins's idea or wouldn't consider doing it themselves, she has an important message: "To any haters, get a sense of humor and get a grip because I am an amazing mom," she says. "I would do anything for my little girl … including using the buzzing sound of my favorite toy to help her sleep!"
