TEETHING: is it true that teething only produces teeth and no other symptoms??

[SydneyB]

DD, nearly 7 months, has had a week or so of snotty nose, green watery poo, nappy rash and generally a bit under the weather and the nursery tell me she's definitely teething. But on other hand, other people say this is just other stuff going on and that teething produces no symptoms in itself. Just curious as to what other peoples experience was? No sign of actual teeth yet!

[NineUnlikelyTales]

Maybe because they are just so much sturdier and more resilient by that age Aitch? I dunno. Have they really done proper research into it or are they just saying 'there is no evidence for it but we haven't really looked into it properly and we like to have a definitive answer for everything just because we're the professionals'?

[SydneyB]

Guess this is co-inciding with start at nursery where there are a gazillion bugs. Heigh ho, guess it really doesn't help to know WHY its happening if there's nothing you can really do about it.My mum has used it to explain every symptom since DD's birth and there aint no teeth yet. That, and the other staple catch all explanation - wind.

[NineUnlikelyTales]

Am feeling sensitive on this issue today, having had 3 sleepless nights with DS, who has his finger pressed against the top of his mouth constantly, is drooling for Britain (I blame DS for all the recent flooding) and is only calmed during the day by bonjela and at night by Calpol. He also had foul nappies. It happened just like this last time he cut a tooth too.

[Aitch]

did you read the piece, nut? it's really good, not too stuffy and dead interesting.

[NineUnlikelyTales]

I just read it Aitch and yes it is interesting isn't it? I really enjoyed the historic stuff. I'm not convinced about the studies though as some of them were quite old and there were no references to numbers of children involved, methods etc.

[LucyJu]

I'm obviously in a minority of one, then.

Teething produces teetch, IME.

I've seen so many people witter on for ages about "he's teething" and using bonjela, homeopathic crystals etc.... but weeks - even months - go by, and no teeth. Maybe the reason LO is unhappy is because the parent is erroneously blaming teething and failing to address the real problem, whatever that might happen to be.

Could anyone please explain to me how teething could be linked with bad nappies? By what physiological process could this occur?

Babies typically start producing larger amounts of saliva at around 6 months, which is the approximate time that the first teeth ussually come through. This tells me that it is a sign that the baby is physiologically ready to eat solids, as saliva helps in the digestion of food. So yes, I accept that drooling could be associated with teething. But is association the same as cause?

[gordieracer]

Every few weeks my wisdom teeth give me problems, and I get all these symptoms, apart from nappy rash, and I feel like crap

[NineUnlikelyTales]

Lucyju

Teething = increased saliva = swallowed saliva = more acid in the system = upset stomach = bad nappies = nappy rash

I think that's how it goes anyway

[bristols]

Lucyju and NineUnlikely - the other way of looking at it is:

teething = increased saliva = increased dribbling = less saliva swallowed = strong, dehydrated wee = nappy rash.

It's probably a bit of both.

My DS has his two front, top teeth coming through and he is really suffering.

[FlamingTomatoes]

the consistancy of saliva changes when a child is teething, so altogether possible that the increased acidity will strip a child's arse of skin. And does.

[bitzermaloney]

Well my ds has had all the supposed 'symptoms' of teething on and off since he was 3 months old (now nearly 11 months), including constant huge rivers of drool, fingers in mouth and random crying at night, red cheeks... and where are his blimmin teeth then? Not a single one! So many people have looked at him and said "Oh he's DEFINITELY teething, look at him". Dh and I just laugh cynically now. He's never going to get any.

[SeamonstEr]

the way I see it is
tooth moves, it hurts, creates more dribble which creates runny poo and poss nappy rash.
dribble makes faces sore as they are constantly wet.
It hurts so they whinge/cry which makes them hot and bothered, perhaps they get headaches too. They may not want to eat as much as tummy full of dribble and mouth hurts.
It all makes sense and although may not be a disease to diagnose and cure, it is still real and affects most babies at some point.
pretending it doesn't exist is nonsense.

Poor little lo's.

[ruth2007]

Thanks for the article Aitch. So when she wakes me up again tonight for the umpteenth time I just need to get my hands on a Hare..........

[Aitch]

btw i asked the govt dental advisor about wisdoms, cos mine hurt. he said that wisdoms cause problems cos there isn't space in the jaw for them and the jaw has more or less stopped growing at that point. earlier, your jaw actually grows beacuse of your teeth. people born with no dentition actually have teeny jaws and there has been an interesting expt into not treating over-crowding with extraction, instead using massage etc and it was amazing the difference in the size of jaw between twin one and twin two. totally, totally unethical i might add, one ended off looking like plug from the bash st kids and the other a handsome chiselled brute. nightmare...

[duchesse]

Exactly, Aitch. My 14 year son has been having no-extraction orthodontics for 18 months, and the brace he has been wearing has stretched his palate by around 3/4 inch in width. From looking like an Ork in January 2006, he is now turning into rather a handsome young man. We deliberately waited to find a minimal intervention dentist as a standard one would have pulled six healthy teeth from his head as soon as look at him. It just makes me cringe when say their kid is getting train tracks at 12, particularly boys, because you just know that there is a receding chin in the making... I don't know how standard orthodontists can sleep at night.

[Aitch]

ooh really duchesse? that's interesting. the govt guy said that non-extraction was the route more dentists were going round these days. what would i have lookd like if i hadn't had 11 teeth out, i wonder?
i do have a stoopid small chin, i'd have to say.
i'm going to try and find a photo of the boys, it was AMAZING!

[Aloha]

My dd has really had pain with some of her teeth - ie lots of crying, broken nights...oh look, a tooth! And of course she has. I can remember the pain of wisdom teeth coming through. It hurts!

[Aitch]

i don't think the dentists say there's no pain. just all the other symptoms might just as easily be down to a tummy bug, that's all.

[Enid]

I didnt really like that bit in the article about babies learning that they get played with if they fuss at night

anyway, as usual I have no truck with articles. In my experience, yes teething causes other symptoms, some children more susceptible than others.

dd1 didnt suffer at all
dd2 was sick every time she cut a tooth and ti took me 2 years to work that out
dd3 has horrid nappies, rubs her ears, gets a bit grizzly and drools

[SydneyB]

Hmmm, this all v.interesting. In a way, hope it IS teething and will go soon. Have been driven mad cooped up all day with DD, VERY grouchy, snotty, dribbly, won't eat (although will gnaw side of highchair - advanced BLW??), won't let me put her down. Ventured out for 5 mins in rain, DD grizzling so much had to carry her and push pram whilst it peemed down. Praying for little white gnasher in am and end of the grouch.

And end of sodding, sodding rain.

[Aitch]

yeah i thougth that ws a very smart-arse 'man' thing to say, too. but the research stuff is interesting. they weren't small studies. dd's tooth is cutting right through now and she's had stinky nappies today, but then both dh and i have gippy tummies also, which suggests tummy bu rather than teething to me.

[ScoobyC]

Ds definitely gets symptoms when teething - drooling, nappy rash and lots of pain so general grumpiness.

Re teething symptoms but no teeth, I don't see this as evidence the symptoms aren't actually related to teething, but more likely that the teeth are growing and moving but haven't cut through the gum yet.

[Mamamoor]

DD2 (16 months) is very dribbly at the moment, doesn't want to eat much and is whingeing for England (no, make that the world!) - so on past experience with dd1 am pretty sure she is teething (again!). At least she isn't doing what dd1 did, ie. screaming in the middle of the night and acting like something out of the Exorcist! - thrashing about in your arms and when placed on the floor (safest place) writhing around like a caterpiller on speed!- scary. We were sure she was possessed!!