Do you give baby calpol for teething?

[jinglesticks]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but i don't know who to ask!

I think dd (5 months) is teething. She is dribbling and biting and not feeding as well and she has started crying espesially at night which she has never done before. I have tried giving her one of those cold biting rings which she quite likes but it doesn't really help. Should i give her calpol at night? I worry about giving unnecessary medication, but i hate to see her suffering! what would you do?

Thanks for any advice

You shouldn't give calpol to those under 6 months I think, but to be honest I did give mine half the dose to help when they were suffering with teething.

You can also buy bonjela as well which may help a bit.

The other thing which my HV said to try was to put a damp flannel in the freezer and let him suck on that once it was really cold but I admit I didn't do that one.

Good luck.

You can give calpol but have you tried bonjela? Ashton and parsons?

It may also be developmental. Drooling, biting and not sleeping are all normal at that age. DD was like it at 5 months and had not teeth until 12 months.

Infant calpol can be used from 2 months iirc.

I forgot about Ashton and Parsons but they worked a treat too.

Ashton and parsons powders were great, helped both of mine.

I did give calpol occasionally if the pain seemed really persistent, and it helped.

thanks a lot for the advice. Haven't heard of ashton and parsons before. What is this?

They are teething powders, you can get them in boots of if not most chemists with do ones called Teetha

I use Nelson teething granules which seem to help. I read somewhere that ibuprofen (eg neurofen) is better than Calpol if it is teething pain. It seems to sort out my 6 m.o. DS when he's clearly in pain. (But I'm fairly confident his is teething related as he has two coming through.)

But I agree with ShowOfHands, it might be a developmental stage rather than teething. Many 4-5 month olds start waking more frequently in the night, and not feeding well can go with a growth spurt.

Yep - lots of calpol and lots of nurofen (especially when the molars came through!)

Calprofen is very good - I think ibruprofen is best for dental pain (that's what my dentist said anyway)

Gave a triple combo of Calpol, Ashton & Parsons powders and Bonjela when they were at their worst at night, so subsequently they weren't too bad (although that might be a little rose-tinted!). If teething, you should be able to feel the sharp tooth-buds underneath the gum-line with the pad of a clean finger - think I'd cry too if had those erupting through my gums!

If the teething seemed to be bothering them then yes I did give brufen rather than calpol. I also sed teething gel/powders too.

By all means, give the powders a go, but they did absolutely nothing for my DS, other than a momentary face when I tipped them in his mouth!

We used the hard stuff - anbesol & ibuprofen. Ibuprofen was definitely better than paracetamol. Although for 2 memorable days I was alternating ibuprofen with paracetamol almost every 3 hrs.

In my defence I would not normally medicate my DS so much, but he had 6 teeth come through all at once. Poor little mite was inconsolable otherwise. Start low, but increase if not having any effect.

I was told not to use Bonjela but Calgel is the infant equivalent. Its Fab.

I use Infant suspension, which is prescribed by my doc (for my DS2 who is 21 mths) which is the same as Calpol but another doc in the same practice told me "there is no pain associated with teething"

You can even buy it (Calgel) from the Poundshop

yes, calpol / baby paracetamol, either should take the edge off the pain.

The gels seem to help too, but we never had any success with the powders.

Anbesol is very good for teething - if you put it on your own gums you can feel it working very quickly. Dd1 had her first teeth come through at about 4 months, and it caused her a lot of discomfort and put her off feeding, so we gave her Calpol as well.

Bonjela teething gel is suitable from 2 months.

Baby nurofen is much better as it is an anti-inflammatory and so helps swollen gums.

Another vote for baby nurofen. It lasts for 6 hours too, rather than 4. More sleep for all concerned.

capal then 2 hours later ibuprofen.
ashton and parsons powder
calgel

Ask for the generic version of baby Nurofen/Calbrufen at a chemist. Exactly the same stuff but 1/3 of the branded price.

Occasionally used, it's a lifesaver. So was Calgel. The Ashtons powders are homeopathic, though, so views on usefulness will vary enormously.