Teething Distress - What is normal? HELP

[Emma1979]

im just wondering if this is normal... our 6.5 month dd who has never been much of a good sleeper has just cut her first two teeth... since sunday, she has stopped sleeping at all during the day, if im lucky she might sleep in the pram for 30 minutes if i work hard at rocking her.... at night she has been crying for three hours plus, nothing i do calms her, she wont go to sleep in her cot (previously she would self settle at night), she doesn't want me to rock her or cuddle her, she is just miserable.... the only thing that seems to have worked is to give her some panadol around 10pm... she then wakes at 1.30am and is up for 2+ hours.... it has been five days now, the teeth are through the gum and visible.... im just wondering if this is normal... she is only getting aboud 6 hours sleep per 24 hours... i am exhausted.

she will no longer be put in her cot awake and go to sleep, i tried letting her cry but it didnt work.... im just wondering if she should be feeling better now that the teeth are through...? wondering if she has got into some 'bad habits' of not settling and being allowed up at night with us.... she won't even sleep in the bed with me....

does this sound normal? am starting to think it will never end.

[Trillian]

Unfortunately some babies suffer more than others with teething and what you've described is from teething. I would give her panadol or nurofen for children (It lasts for 8hrs) a bit more often than just at night to give both of you a rest, poor little mite would be exhausted from being so unsettled.

Even though the teeth are through, they are still coming up and can be giving her soreness still. But it is only temporary and she should start to settle soon, but if you think that any of her behaviour is from more than just teething, take her to see your GP.

[Emma1979]

thanks sherie..... i have bought nuerofen for children and plan to use it tonight.... im just concerned with giving it to her every night.... she has had panadol once a night for the past 5 nights roughly.... how long does a teething session usually last...? im just paranoid about giving her drugs too often, if that makes sense... in case there are side effects...

i managed to get her to sleep just then, i had to literally force her to let me rock her to sleep... it took twenty minutes of crying and her struggling with me before she gave in.... i wish she would let me comfort her but she always struggles so badly.... and she is getting so strong now.

[Karina]

We are having the same issues here at the moment. I dont have any Nurofen, but I do have some Brauers teething relief which seems to work, and as far as I know its ok to give every night as its "natural".

[Tobily]

Yeah I do agree with Sherie that some babies just do it tougher than others when it comes to teething

When Emily was teething we never even knew about it until she would wake up in the morning with a new tooth. She continued sleeping 12 hours solid without waking up, and having her normal sleeps during the day. It just never bothered her. We never had any problem with her except when she got her last molars at 2.5 which was a few days of crankiness but even then she still slept at night.

Toby on the other hand....completely different. He got his first teeth at 6 months after three weeks of being up screaming every night. Truly awful. He's been a very slow teether too (he's 12 months and is just getting #6 atm) but he seems to be coping better as he gets older.

Lots of cuddles and comfort and panadol if she needs it...and a nice cold washer to chew on during the day works wonders as well. Hang in there, it's tough I know

[Trillian]

Emma, if you are giving her the correct dosage, then she should be fine to have it for a few days while she gets over the worst of it. IKWYM about not being really keen on giving it to her, but I think at this stage she needs something to help her relax a little and catch up on some sleep. You wouldn't have to give it to her strictly every 4 or 8hrs, (depending on if you give her the panadol or nurofen), but just when you think it is really paining her and at night when she needs to settle.