So why does teething mess them up so much?

[WinkyWinkola]

My DS2 aged 7 mos has had a terrible two days.

Temperature up and down, foul acidy and diarrhoea nappies, constant gnawing of anything he can get hold of, whining, crying even howling at some points.

I made an appointment at the gp today for him but this morning lo, one teeny tiny tooth had burst through his gum. His normal sunny, serene self was back in full effect.

What an awful lot of misery over one lousy tooth. I can imagine it should be like that if the whole lot came through at once but this one, teeny little thing. Poor little lad. I was really worried at some points.

Why is it like this for them? Dazzle me with the biology.....

Wish I knew. My DD's 8th tooth just popped out 3 days ago so the last 3 days have been happy bliss and sleepful nights, until the next one. Last month we had one new tooth every week!!

You have lots to look forward to

I don't know about dazzling you with biology but... it just seems like when they have this trauma in their mouths it makes them more vunerable to other infections and bugs. A lot also seems to come down to individual pain threshhold and how they cope as individuals with that pain.
Just don't hesitate to give baby neurophen and calpol whenever you think he's suffering.
Just realised this is your second child we're talking about. Wasn't your first the same?

DS1 had a bad time teething too. I was convinced he was seriously ill!

DD seemed to coast through it. Her teeth just appeared without much fuss at all.

Odd.