Unfortunately I did not know this in advance, but there are many other parents out there who have experienced the exact same occurrence with their own children when using Baby Orajel. I found online posts dating back to 2008 from parents with literally the same experience – their baby became unresponsive in seconds, went limp, turned blue, became responsive again after 15 seconds or so – it was like someone wrote my same experience. What’s more, I learned the FDA warns against giving babies Benzocaine – the active ingredient in Baby Orajel. The use of benzocaine gels and liquids for mouth and gum pain can lead to a rare but serious—and sometimes fatal—condition called methemoglobinemia, a disorder in which the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream is greatly reduced. Children under 2 years of age are of particular risk, with almost 80% of reported benzocaine gel related cases of methemoglobinemia having occurred in children under 2.

Chloe has since been checked out by her pediatrician and they think she will be just fine. Unfortunately her Doctors can’t definitively say if what happened to Chloe was a reaction to the benzocaine in the Baby Orajel vs a “breath holding spell,” or something else.

Please, do not give your children Baby Orajel. The potential temporary relief it may provide your baby from teething is simply not worth the risk. This product is incredibly misleading (look at the age of the child on the box) and should be properly labeled with a large warning or simply removed from the shelves and not advertised for babies. Please don’t put your kids at risk. Please share this post with your friends, especially those with teething babies, so nobody else makes the same mistake.