Teething - f**k me, is it meant to be this bad?

[purplemunkey]

DD is 5 1/2 months, after weeks and weeks of excessive drooling we finally saw the tips of her first teeth coming through on Weds. 'Yay!' we thought... then the screaming started. She's abandoned sleeping for the time being and is instead screaming the house down. Over the last few days we've tried bonjela, Ashton & Parsons, Chamomilla, Calpol and lots and lots of cuddles but little seems to console her. Very upsetting all round .

Is this par for the course and if so how long does it usually last?

[RatOnnaStick]

Par. Once the tooth is properly through it should settle down. I seriously suggest you get some ibuprofen in though, it works very well for sore swollen gums as its antiinflammatory. Use it with calpol in between for the best coverage. At 3am when nothing else works you will be grateful for having both to hand.

[mewkins]

I feel your pain. Ds is now 10mo and since just before his first tooth at 6 months he has been gripey on and off. It is mainly during they day that he gets upset (whinges for food, chomps on rice cake, scream when it hits a sore bit of gum, whinges for food etc) and we have a week or so of respite before it starts again. It was never this bad with dd.

[Ihavealwaysbeenastorm]

Ibuprofen, paracetamol alternated (so calpol then after 2 hours ibuprofen then 2 hours later calpol Again) and anbesol. Anbesol was purchased saviour, calmed ds down almost immediately!

[glenthebattleostrich]

Ibuprofen is better than calpol and you can cycle them when it gets really bad.

I know he's only 5 months but some cucumber circles are very soothing on the gums.

[Ihavealwaysbeenastorm]

Also get the liquid form of anbesol it's easier to administer, the gel just gets swallowed.

[eurochick]

Take care with the dose- a lot of ibuprofen us every six hours rather than every four.

[yongnian]

It's a complete design flaw in the human species, I always feel.
No actual advice as pp's have it right.

[purplemunkey]

Good to know it's par for the course. I'll try ibuprofen and anbesol. Thanks for the tips

[AnotherStitchInTime]

Until the tooth cuts then you get some respite until the next one (bitter experience dc3 is 16 months and seems to have been teething continuously since he was 5 months!). Give ibuprofen at dinner time with food, it is always worse at night so before bed helps. The other things might help a bit in the day time, but take it from me paracetamol and ibuprofen are the solution if it is really bad. I am not one for over relying on medication and avoid giving it to my kids as much as possible, but if they feel even half as bad I I did when pushing through my wisdom teeth then I figure they need some pain relief.

[TiredOfLife]

God it's horrific isn't it. The only thing I found horrifically worse was reflux.

I would 100% get out to the shops for nurofen / calpuprofen based on ibuprofen as others have said. It reduces inflammation. Calpol is great for temperatures and bongela is ok for a little grumbling but ibuprofen will help so much more. You can as others have said alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen or give together but you'll get a longer coverage of pain relief alternating.

I found teething toys craps, but end of a hair brush always seemed to be favourite to chow down on.

Once the first ones break through you'll get a little rest bite until molars

[purplemunkey]

There is sooo much snot. I spent the day getting covered in tears, drool and snot. Poor DD. I had no idea teething was so difficult!

[Strawberrybubblegum]

Poor little mite. If it helps at all, you might find that the rest aren't quite so bad. DD's first teeth caused similar full on screaming and major upset (I remember the onset to the hour) but the rest just caused general grumpiness and fragile behaviour.

[purplemunkey]

Fingers crossed DD is the same Strawberry. After another evening of screamining she's woken up chatting away to herself just now do hopefully we're passed the worst of it. Thanks everyone

[Linguini]

Mine has just had his first come through. It's been a nightmare! He wakes up much more in the night, i use bonjela before bad answer when hw wakes up, but the only thing that settles him is bf, so he's bfeeding far more then i'm running out of milk by evenings. Plus he's had constant diarrhea so we've had 2 successive bouts of nappy rash... Awful!

I havent been using any pain relief meds but after reading here i think i will try something next.... Ta for the thread good timing. Poor little ones.

[drspouse]

My lovely little sleepers, non-criers, especially DS, only ever woke up to cry in the night past about 6 months when they were teething. But boy did we know it. DD is unputdownable and screams for hours at bedtime too. She cut four teeth in four days last week. I will be traumatised for some time.

[purplemunkey]

We've given her ibuprofen tonight but I still can't get her to stay in her cot without crying. She's asleep on my bed while I lay next to her pissing around on MN

[AntiHop]

7 mo dd is having same at mo. Dp and I are done in. Plus getting any medicine into her is a major battle.