Panadol and teething

DD is teething at the moment - for the last 4 or 5 weeks she seems to have been struggling through it. She had 2 teeth pop up about 3 weeks ago and I can see another one that's just about to cut plus another 2 or 3 bumps which look like they won't be far behind.

She really struggles with teething though; she's got an amber necklace which she wears round her neck during the day and round her ankle at night and woe betide me if I forget to put it on after her bath... the couple of times I've forgotten it she's been a horrible grump! She's also chewing everything in sight, and I often give her brauers teething liquid too.

The problem is at night... If I give her panadol she sleeps well, goes down around 7 and wakes for a feed around midnight and again around 5.30 and hopefully goes back to sleep til about 7. If I don't give her panadol she tends to wake somewhere between every 40 mins and every 2 hours, usually wants a feed and will then arch her back and cry and take a long time and a lot of trudging up and down the floorboards to resettle. She ses like she needs the panadol for pain relief, but I'm worried about giving it to her for prolonged periods. I also then start questioning if there's something else causing her pain other than her teeth, that I'm not tuning into and the panadol is relieving that. She's had a virus recently so been checked over twice by the gp and ears/throat etc are fine, and I'm probably just being a bit over-paranoid, but can teething really go on this long?!

Anyone got any wise words? I'm at a loss as to what to do!

It can go on for ages, with both my girls once they started with their first teeth it just kept going until they had them all with maybe a week in-between each one.

Try nurofen, it helps with the swelling gums as well as offering pain relief.

DD and I experienced a very similar thing earlier in the year, 2 months of waking up screaming in pain every night. I'd had her into the dr several times and had everything checked and she was all OK yet it just kept going on and on and on. I asked myself the same question many times - is it actually something else that I am overlooking because I am assuming it is teeth? I didn't want to just keep giving her more and more panadol without knowing what the issue was. My instinct said teeth but over those 2 months I asked the question many times!

I think something that helped me a bit was using some teething gel and seeing if that helped - my reasoning was that if I put something on her gums that numbed them, and the teeth weren't the issue, then numbing the gums wouldn't actually provide any relief IYKWIM. It at least let me know I was on the right track. The other thing that really helped was Hylands Teething Tablets, they seemed to work quite well and we cut the panadol intake waaaay down.

HTH - hope you get some happier nights soon.

Thanks girls. I know each child is different, but it does help to know that others have btdt. I'll definitely look up those highlands teething tablets, are they a pharmacy or healthfood shop thing? I'm just worried about giving her panadol on what seems like an ongoing basis.

You get them at the pharmacy.

I know what you mean about being worried about giving panadol too much - but I think if she's needing it at the moment then you should be ok. Are you able to ask your GP about it?

Also, I have heard that nurofen is really good for teething - I can't speak from personal experience but lots of friends with babies tell me to give DD that - it does help with the inflamation of teething.

Sue xxx

Oh ok, thanks Sagres.

I have some nurofen so will give that a try too

I was constantly taking both my girls to the gp for check ups too as I was worried about them being on pain killers. It was reassuring to have them checked over and on some occasions they did have other problems like ear infections.

I hope you can find some relief for your dd soon.

I can understand being concerned about giving pain killers for prolonged periods. I was giving Nurofen every day/night until I got some Brauers Teething Relief - works a treat!

I second the recommendation for hylands tablets. I find they worked best for DS if I gave them to him as per the bottle, 2 every hour for 6 doses leading up to bedtime. I have also used the 'weleda' brand teething powder which is similar to hylands just still in the powder form so you just add a little water and use a spoon it in. But sometimes he was just too unsettled so we would use panadol. Good luck, teething has been the cause of most of our sleepless nights, gggrrrr, poor bubs must be so painful and confusing for them.

It can go on for ages, and I'm another one who is wary of prolonged use of painkillers. But it is so hard to see them in pain :(

Maybe try & alternate things, and give her a night off from panadol etc every so often if you can? Especially if the gel & the Hylands tablets work.

Also, Nurofen is the bomb for teething becuase it's an anti-inflammatory (recent experience says it's good for tothache generally :p) but be careful of giving it to them on an empty stomach, not good for tummies. I try & at least give Pie some milk first.

I also use Nurophen for teething as it helps with swelling. As for teething gels - if you haven't tried it yet - give SM33 a try. It is stronger then Bongela.

Good luck - we are in the thick of teething as well and the sleepless nights are tiring and frustrating! I've been up with DS just over 3 hours now and he is finally asleep so I'm signing off and going back to bed.