Crying, I feel like a failure. Help?

[Mrsbrightside123]

Thanks for taking the time to read this. My little boy is 2, and has never ever been a good sleeper but he was going 8-7 for a while until he started getting his back molars.

He gets up around 6.30/7, naps 11.30-1ish with no issues. He has a great bedtime routine, bath, stories, cuddles, bed and he puts himself to sleep at 7.30pm.

Then it hits 12 and he is going insane. And I mean insane. He is breaking his heart crying. His back molars are cutting, so we give him pain relief, plus a drink then some ambesol/teething gel. This sometimes settles him for a while but the last three nights once it hits 2am he is hysterical. I don't understand! He is wide awake, so it's not night terrors. He's always had a night light, he has white noise, nothing is coming on to wake him. Hes just going wild. His daddy goes
To him and says he is holding onto him for dear life sobbing. The cry isn't a worrying one that I can't ignore. So I go in, then he's fine. Gurgling away to himself. Then I put him back in the cot and boom goes Wild again. I have no idea what to
Do, he's crying for hours and hours.

He's never tried to climb out his cot and has loads of space in there, nothing new in his room, not hungry or thirsty, no screens before bed for hours, please help me

[FATEdestiny]

The second molars cutting were the worse four consecutive nights sleep I have ever had with my DD. The second worse were first molars cutting.

Horrendous time. And if it's bad for you, imagine how rotten it must feel for toddlers who's on pain as well as exhausted.

The first thing to realise is that this is short lived. It wont ladt long term. Teeth cutting takes a few days, a week at most. So all you are looking for is short-term voping strategies.

My suggestions:

• full daily dose of pain relief. So give four 4h doses of paracetamol throughout the day. This builds up the highest dose in baby's system for over night.
  

• if baby continues to be upset an hour or so after a paracetamol dose, you can also give ibuprofen. Max dose of this is 3 doses per day.
  

• I've never found any benefit from any teething powders or gels. I've tried them all. But other people swear by them and rubbing something on the gums will certainly do no harm.
  

• maximise your own sleep. Bed early, nap during the day. Have a break/rest when DO gets home from work
  

• maximise baby's sleep. Have baby in bed with you for quick comforting. Or have a travel cot in your bedroom for a few days. You could even just move baby's cot next to your bed, just to make in-cot comforting easier.
  

• check for other symptoms in baby. Mine always got a sore bum when teething, so nappy change regularly and use barrier cream. It might need dribble wipes often, avoiding acidic good, tummy upset.
  

• offer cold, hard things for baby to chew and bite.